Flinks Announces New CISO

Flinks is proud to announce its newly appointed Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to lead its innovative security program.

Pierre Bannon, Flinks’ new CISO

Flinks is entrusting Pierre Bannon, a leading IT Security and Data Privacy expert, to fill the highly strategic position of CISO.

With over 20 years of IT experience, Pierre has a strong background in the Canadian banking industry, serving mandates as Senior information Security Consultant for Desjardins and National Bank.

Impact on Flinks Clients

Pierre’s expertise will contribute to strengthening Flinks’ security posture in a phase of rapid growth, and help distribute its suite of instant digital KYC, account verification, and risk-assessment business solutions with the highest security standards. This will positively impact our financial institution and fintech clients in the money moving, business and personal lending, wealth management, accounting, and insurance sectors.

A little over a year into existence and just shy of 8 months into commercialization, Flinks already gained the trust of over 100 Canadian, American, and UK-based businesses, including the likes of global leaders like TransferWise, acclaimed innovators like Wealthsimple, and established national technology firms like Acceo.

One element has mattered more than others in Flinks’ journey so far: trust. Flinks strongly believes trust to be the most valuable currency in the financial industry. This announcement supports Flinks’ deep commitment to go beyond compliance, and adopt  an innovative rather than a traditional approach to security.

“In recent months, we have impressed institutional players in Canada on several occasions with our cutting-edge, industry-leading security approach and posture. That explains in great part why Flinks, a 1-year old firm, is already able to count some of Canada’s leading financial institutions as clients”, says Julien Cousineau, Flinks CTO. “With the arrival of Pierre as CISO, we will have the ability to take our security to a whole new level.”

Impact on the Financial industry

Flinks openly shares its vision that security is a shared responsibility. In the upcoming months, innovation and discussion with regulators will be central to Flinks’ vision for better protecting consumer data.

“Canada’s financial industry, like the rest of the world, is entering an era of Open Banking. The issue of data protection and data privacy will be of increasing significance for regulators, financial service providers, but most importantly, for consumers. Flinks intends to take a leadership role at the global scale in the next 24 months on that issue” says Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, CEO of Flinks. “Having an information security veteran like Pierre join Flinks’ ranks as a key leader in the position of CISO is exceptional for our team, for our clients, and for the financial industry in general.”