Signicat appoints new CEO, new board chair
Signicat announced a leadership overhaul, naming Keith Fenner as chief executive and Pete Daffern as chair of its board.
CEO transition
Outgoing chief executive Asger Hattel will leave the role after almost seven years at the Norway-based fintech. The company has not disclosed his next position.
During Hattel’s tenure, the firm expanded its revenue base roughly tenfold and entered new markets and industry segments across Europe.
He also directed an active acquisition programme, adding Dutch firm Inverid in 2025, UK anti-fraud startup Sphonic in 2022 and Lithuanian e-signature provider Dokobit in 2021.
New CEO profile
Fenner joins from legal-tech company Morae, where he has served as chief revenue officer since April 2025. His career spans more than 25 years in senior roles, and his background in revenue generation and partnership building is expected to drive further expansion of the platform’s client base across the continent.
Previous positions include heading enterprise sales for Sage in South Africa, overseeing Microsoft’s business software suite for the Middle East and Africa, and serving as CEO of Coats Digital in the United Arab Emirates. These roles gave him insight into both mature markets and emerging digital economies, which aligns with the firm’s growth strategy.
Signicat said, “With this European platform firmly in place, and the next growth phase about to begin, Asger Hattel and the board have agreed that this is the right time to hand over to new leadership.”
Chair appointment
Daffern, who spent three years as president of NetSuite, now assumes the chairmanship, succeeding Johan Tjärnberg, who held the role since 2020.
Signicat’s product suite, overseen by chief product officer Emma Bauer, covers onboarding, identity proofing, signing, orchestration and authentication, serving more than 25,000 customers in over 45 markets. The complete suite supports compliance requirements for financial institutions, telecom operators and government agencies.
The firm employs more than 550 staff across 16 European offices, positioning itself as a pan-European digital-identity platform.
