Steven Cooper joins Markaaz Global Advisory Board

We are delighted to welcome Steven Cooper, an accomplished CEO and Non-Executive Director with a proven track record of leadership and transformation, to Markaaz as our newest advisor.

Steven brings decades of experience in driving growth and innovation across the financial services industry. His expertise spans banking, payments, and wealth management, with a consistent history of delivering transformational strategic change, leading large-scale technology and digital initiatives, and fostering organizational and cultural evolution.

Currently, Steven serves as CEO of Aldermore Group and an Executive Committee member of FirstRand Group (Africa’s largest bank), where he is spearheading the strategic repositioning of Aldermore. This includes a multi-year investment program focused on overhauling the organization’s culture, leadership, technology, and market strategy. His ability to blend vision with execution has made him a driving force in shaping the future of financial services.

Steven’s earlier roles include serving as CEO of C. Hoare & Co., where he modernized the UK’s oldest private bank, achieving significant growth through new digital capabilities and diversified revenue streams. At Barclays, he held multiple executive positions, including CEO Personal Banking UK & Europe and CEO Barclaycard Business & Global Payments, leading transformative initiatives that drove customer-centric innovation and large-scale growth across geographies.

Steven’s extensive non-executive leadership experience includes roles with Cashflows, Experian UK, and Robert Walters PLC, demonstrating his regulatory expertise and deep understanding of private, PE-backed, public, and family-owned businesses. A passionate advocate for social mobility, he regularly speaks on the challenges faced by disadvantaged groups and champions initiatives such as apprenticeship schemes to create opportunities for underserved communities.

At Markaaz, Steven’s strategic insights, leadership acumen, and commitment to social impact will play a vital role in advancing our mission to be the single source of truth for business worldwide.

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About Markaaz:

Markaaz is the single source of truth for business, enabling banks, fintechs, and other institutions to verify and onboard more businesses with greater confidence and efficiency, accelerating access to vital services. Powered by Markaaz Directory of over half a billion global business records, it offers comprehensive coverage and validates millions of potential customers across more than 200 countries. Markaaz empowers businesses to deepen their understanding and make data-driven decisions by enriching business data with 196 attributes. The company’s proprietary matching algorithms deliver the best business match rates in the industry, resulting in more customers, higher revenue, and lower risk.

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