Vincent Fraser introduces himself to WP, shares what he plans to do for advisors at the wealth tech firm
Croesus announced today that Vincent Fraser has been appointed President of the Canadian fintech company. Fraser succeeds Sylvain Simpson and had served on the Board of Directors for Croesus since May of 2023.
Ahead of the announcement, Fraser and Simpson spoke with WP about the leadership change. Simpson, for his part, explained the transition process, which is the culmination of over two years’ of work. He noted that he will continue to remain involved at Croesus as both a board member and as Strategic Advisor to the President. Fraser explained why after 25 years in leadership roles, including 12 as CEO of Processia, he decided to take on a new challenge at Croesus. He outlined the opportunities and work that he sees ahead for the fintech firm while emphasizing what he plans to deliver for advisors in his new role.
“I like to say that we have a winning condition, Sylvain has initiated the process and he will act as my strategic adviser going forward. I’m known to the board, I’m known to the employees, I’m just not known yet to the market and to our clients,” Fraser says. “But this natural continuity will be made possible thanks to Sylvain and the succession plan that he put in place.”
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Simpson began the Presidential search process two years ago after turning 59. He wanted to ensure that the new leadership would have the firm’s long-term goals in mind and put in place a committee that could arrive at a leader who shared that mindset. Fraser had joined the Croesus board in 2023 with a view to that succession plan and after a series of meetings and work on a development plan in Switzerland, he decided to put his name in the ring. Fraser resigned his board seat, put his name forward as a candidate, and has now been named the new President.
Since leaving Processia in 2022, Fraser had been involved in starting another organization which allowed him to consult and offer strategic outlooks. He found, though, that his passion for business was not yet fulfilled and a new challenge was required. Croesus has become that new challenge.
Fraser’s new goal is to accelerate growth for Croesus. He believes the company has tremendous capabilities, but thinks it can move even faster. He will be looking at strategic partnerships, consolidation, or even acquisitions to power that growth. He wants to keep serving clients in Canada and abroad. The new office in Switzerland offers Croesus a springboard to expand in international markets, first in Switzerland itself as well as the UK and other Western European markets with robust wealth management industries.
As he looks at the existing Canadian business and the work Croesus seeks to do for advisors, Fraser says he will spend the next few months learning. He is already meeting with clients and internal experts to fully understand where the strategic goals for the advisor community should be. He wants to learn exactly what Croesus’ clients and the Canadian market need before he sets the exact direction.
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Both Fraser and Simpson emphasized the continuity inherent in the decision to name Fraser as the new President.
“I’m not retiring,” Simpson says. “I’ll stay involved, I’ll work on special projects, and we already have a backlog where I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I would like to, and I will obviously serve as an advisor to Vincent, whenever he needs me for any reason I’ll be there.”
Fraser emphasized the strength of the foundation at Croesus and their ability to do what they say they will for their clients. While he will begin much of his work by listening and learning, he hinted at some of what Canadian advisors can look to from Croesus under his leadership.
“What they can expect from us is the expanding of potential partnerships as we look at other ways in which we can expand,” Fraser says. “We can accelerate this vision of a platform. Instead of just being a set of applications to be used by our advisors or by portfolio managers, we are looking at how we can extend this broader platform which will leverage our innovation lab. I’m looking at how we can accelerate the impact of our lab on our products and obviously our clients.”
With reporting by James Burton
