The German neobank is losing its chief product officer to another start-up. The exit comes as N26's co-founder appears to bow to employee plans to unionize. 

N26 is losing its product boss, Georgina Smallwood, to an urban mobility start-up at the end of this month, «Finance Forward» reported on Monday. The German blog said Smallwood, an Australian who is one of the highest-profile female fintech experts in Europe, would be replaced by co-founder Valentin Stalf for now.

Stalf, who started Berlin-based fintech in 2013 together with Maximilian Tayenthal, is in the mids of an ugly dispute with N26s staff. He backpedaled his initial opposition to plans by employee to set up a works council, in a post on LinkedIn and in an interview with the fintech blog (in German).

Testy Back-and-Forth

The move follows a testy back-and-forth which included N26 initially going to court to block the move, according to media reports. «We believe that there could be a more modern, digitally-enabled, and globally inclusive alternative to a traditional works council, especially for a diverse international business like ours,» Stalf wrote, saying he was speaking for management.

«That said, we fully support formal employee representation in all its forms, including a traditional works council.» A work council is a peculiarity of German corporate life: an elected body of employees who enjoy a say on matters relating to employees, both collectively and individually.

Prominent Exits

N26 has grand plans for Europe including Switzerland as well as the world's largest financial market, the U.S., its top European executive told finews.com in May. N26 isn't the first start-up to struggle with employee matters: mobile rival Revolut has been criticized for a high staff churn and questionable handling of human resources matters.

The exit of Smallwood, who departs after less than two years, is the latest setback for Stalf, a graduate of Switzerland's prestigious St. Gallen business university. N26 has also lost U.S. boss Nicolas Kopp as well as chief people officer Noor van Boven recently, the German blog reported.