Signicat has appointed Keith Fenner as chief executive and Pete Daffern as chair, effective November 10, in a coordinated leadership change at the European digital identity company. Fenner succeeds Asger Hattel, who is stepping down after almost seven years as CEO, while Daffern takes over as chair from Johan Tjärnberg.
Fenner has more than 25 years of experience leading international software businesses, including roles at Microsoft, Sage, Galvanize and Diligent. Daffern brings board experience at private equity-backed software businesses in Europe and the United States and more than 30 years in enterprise software.
Signicat sells onboarding, identity proofing, electronic signing, orchestration and authentication tools to banks, payment companies and public sector organizations. The company says it has grown tenfold since Nordic Capital invested in 2019, through double-digit organic growth and eight acquisitions, including the 2025 purchase of NFC identity verification company Inverid. It now serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 45 countries with over 550 employees in 16 European offices.
Hattel and the board agreed that the start of a new growth phase was the right time to hand over, the company said. The changes at the top follow the appointment in May of Emma Bauer as global chief product officer.
“It has been a privilege to lead Signicat over the past seven years and to work with the team to build the company into the truly European platform it is today,” Hattel said. “With that mission complete, a strong organisation in place, and a new chapter to begin, I believe this is the natural time to hand over.”
Fenner said his focus would be on growth. “The foundation is exceptional, and my focus now is on scaling that success,” he said, adding that he aims to “accelerate our international growth further, drive commercial execution and ensure we capture the immense opportunities in the digital identity space.”
Fredrik Näslund, a partner at Nordic Capital Advisors, said the new leaders’ “complementary experience across software, international growth and board leadership makes them well suited to build on Signicat’s strong market position.”
Signicat said the transition comes as generative AI accelerates fraud threats, citing its own research finding that 59 percent of European businesses have seen an increase in identity fraud. The company says its AI tools are designed to detect deepfakes, synthetic identity fraud and identity theft.
Sources: Signicat
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
