Michael Mueller’s story: From apprentice to CEO

As a child, my dream was to become an architect. However, I ended up in banking. I had the privilege of starting my professional career journey in the West of Germany, where I was given the opportunity to do an apprenticeship with Deutsche Bank. This early work experience proved to be invaluable, as it provided me with solid foundation and a deep understanding of the financial industry.

Through my apprenticeship, I gained practical knowledge of various areas of the banking industry, including the mechanics of financial transactions, customer interactions, and the inner workings of Deutsche Bank. The apprenticeship offered me a unique blend of theoretical and hands-on learning, allowing me to apply the knowledge gained in a real-world context. We’ve recently set up an apprenticeship programme at Form3 which has enabled us to bring on board some amazing young talent who can experience all of the apprenticeship benefits that I did.

After having worked nearly two decades at Deutsche Bank, I made the decision to pursue further education. I obtained an MBA and a Diploma of Clinical and Organisational Psychology from Insead, which opened new doors for me. I then had the opportunity to work for other renowned banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. During my time at Barclays, I served as the Global Head of Cash Management and was a member of the Corporate Banking Executive.

I have always been deeply passionate about driving digital change and innovation in the finance industry, which has led me to actively sponsor key initiatives in areas such as white-labelling, biometric security, cloud-computing, and mobile payment/banking technology. I firmly believe in leveraging technology to make banking more accessible and user-friendly for customers.

In 2016, I co-founded Form3, a company dedicated to providing a comprehensive end-to-end Payments as a Service solution for financial institutions and regulated FinTech’s. The driving force behind Form3 is our goal to reimagine and re-engineer payment back-office systems in response to evolving industry developments, customer demands, cyber threats and much more.

My ambition is to revolutionise the way payment technology is delivered to banks and I am committed to shaping the future of the payment ecosystem. In the past 6 years, Form3 has made significant strides in the finance industry. We have successfully developed and implemented an end-to-end Payments as a Service solution, gained industry recognition and fostered partnerships with leading institutions.

Being a part of the Form3 journey fills me with great pride and I am very excited to see what the future holds!