Former Tinkoff execs raise $16 million for fintech start-up

LONDON (Reuters) - Three former executives at Russian online bank Tinkoff have raised $16 million to launch a fintech start-up focused on Southeast Asia and initially targeting the Philippines, they said in a statement on Monday.

The trio leading the venture all left Tinkoff in the second quarter, soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered Western sanctions against Russia and after an announcement that Tinkoff's London-listed owner TCS Group Holding was planning to expand in Asia.

Among the men leading the fintech start-up is George Chesakov, who was a co-founder of Tinkoff and had announced a week before the Ukraine invasion that TCS would team up with Swiss payment specialist BPC in the Philippines as part of a $200 million expansion into Asia.

The other two men leading the rival venture are Pavel Fedorov, joint Tinkoff CEO in 2021-22, and Raffy Montemayor, a Filipino who will head the new business in the Philippines.

(Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by David Goodman)