Credit Suisse is trawling Silicon Valley for innovative fintech input. Now, the Swiss bank has set up its own data laboratory, run by a former Yahoo'er.
Jacob Sisk has been named head of Credit Suisse's lab in Silicon Valley, according to «Handelszeitung» (in German). The U.S. born Fisk took on the role in April, according to his Linkedin profile.
The data expert declined to comment in his new role, and the Swiss bank was also mum, saying it is too early to talk about the lab's activities.
Innovation and Finance Expertise
Sisk is tasked with finding «scalable solutions for the bank's current and future technological challenges.» The lab seeks to combine Silicon Valley tech innovation with the Swiss bank's financial expertise.
Lucia Waldner, head of the Credit Suisse Research Institutes (CSRI), the bank's think tank, has said the firm wants to help develop complementary and disruptive technology (in German).
It's the Data, Stupid
Sisk is a seasoned expert in this: the data expert spent several years running a research group for financial data provider Thomson Reuters. Prior to that, he advised numerous fintech firms, hedge funds and investment banks as a data specialist.
He is an unmistakable data nerd: most recently, he was head of a group of data specialists who worked on client and user friendliness at credit card firm Capital One.
Games Programmer
Fisk began his career as a programmer after quitting his studies in philology. He later earned a Masters degree in mathematics and an MBA, focused on quantitative social sciences.
He programmed video games and honed his quant and data expertise as a data specialist at Yahoo.
