Keeping an ear out for disruption

DISRUPTION is the buzzword in the world of financial services these days. But while everybody wants to talk about blockchains and artificial intelligence, Ed Eger would rather listen.

"The danger I face as a CEO is if I lead the conversation without listening carefully, I can end up driving us in a direction, and people may well follow, but they'll be reluctant to tell me I'm not going in the right direction," says Mr Eger, who is president and chief executive of online foreign exchange trading platform OANDA. "So I feel like my style has always been - and people who work with me have at times teased me about this - I will ask a lot of questions."

The 55-year-old American has taken a long and winding road in the world of financial services to get to where he is today. After earning his Master's in Business Administration from Harvard University in 1988, Mr Eger joined consulting firm McKinsey & Co for three years before moving on to Wells Fargo. Subsequent stints at Standard Chartered Bank in East Asia and Advanta led to an illustrious career at Citibank, where Mr Eger held leadership roles for payment products and credit cards.