Guilherme Ximenes of Banco Inter: The passion for technology, with a human side

“The owner mentality is fundamental, together with ambition and the belief that you can change your scope, your area, your work front. That’s when you really embrace your work with passion. Then the sky is the limit.”

Guilherme Ximenes

In 2016, Guilherme Ximenes was named head of IT at Banco Inter — and given the goal of creating a digital bank. “It was certainly the greatest and most enjoyable challenge of my career,” he reflects.

The bank, called Intermedium at the time, had just over 5,000 clients. During Ximenes’ first four years, that 5,000 exploded to 7,000,000 — and counting. The bank also shortened its name and greatly expanded its portfolio. “We used to open about 10 to 20 accounts a day. Today we open 20,000.”

The breakthrough: give customers a new way to access banking services. “The biggest challenge was to change the account opening process, which used to be paper-based, to one that could be done remotely,” says Ximenes. “We went through all the growing pains. Today, we are more efficient and think on a larger scale. We want to reach around 15 to 20 million clients.”

His previous experience at Gol Linhas Aéreas gave Ximenes deep preparation for successfully leading a bank (or any other company) into the digital world. Gol was the first airline to move from paper tickets to online ticketing. In 2012, when Gol’s reward program (Smiles) became an independent company, Ximenes was invited to build its IT department, together with two colleagues. “That was another great moment of my career: learning to set up an IT department from scratch,” he recalls.

A misstep in the right direction

At 27, he decided to make a career move to work for an asset management fund. Considering his professional background and analytical skills, the move seemed destined to succeed — but the year was 2008. At that time, he was working for a large consulting firm in IT project management and asked to be transferred to finance. Then came the global financial crisis… and he had no project.

“I am actually grateful for this ‘mistake’ in my career because it helped me discover that technology is my real passion.” Realizing that technology was his true path and passion helped open his eyes to the increasing importance of technology in the business sector.

He also discovered that his father held a similar job, as CEO of a technology company. “Only five or ten years ago, I began to understand that he did almost the same thing I was doing: providing data hosting services for other companies.” His father became both a source of inspiration for ethics and simplicity and a mentor.

Emotional intelligence and constant learning

Ximenes gives his recipe for success: working in the right field — so you feel passionate about it — is one part. The other is dedication and willingness to learn constantly. His experience as a consultant was key, he says. “I’m a very hands-on person, so I enjoyed visiting the companies assigned to me and interacting with everyone and learning about their business. I learned how to throw myself into a job and get down to business,” he says.

He adds that developing interpersonal skills was just as important; his number one piece of advice to young professionals: “Some people have a lot of untapped potential and you need persistence to develop their skills and help them reach the top. You have to be patient, learn to control anxiety and develop your emotional intelligence along with your technical skills.”

Working with technology requires constant learning. “In this area, what you learned last year is already outdated,” he reflects. To evolve and grow professionally, you must keep up to date, explore new technologies and attend conferences and forums, he advises.

Ximenes says it is very important to learn to think like an owner. “Think like an owner, be ambitious and believe you can change your field, your work front and your scope. Be passionate about what you do. When this happens, the sky’s the limit.”

For Ximenes, success at work is no longer just a matter of effort. He believes that, today, as more and more jobs become automated, what will make a difference will be those soft skills: creativity, simplicity and the ability to focus on process and solutions.

Superpowers

Ximenes does exactly that in his life outside the bank — lives and breathes his profession. His social media presence and use are all work-connected. He follows “Wired,” a monthly magazine with a focus on technology, for example. Personalities such as Rubens Menin, chairman of Banco Inter, and Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and philanthropist, are some of the big names Ximenes follows on Twitter. Reading about technology is one of his hobbies; he also enjoys reading biographies, including those of Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple), Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), Elon Musk (founder of Tesla) and Phil Knight (co-founder of Nike).

Ximenes says that watching TV series about superheroes — diving into a fantasy world — really helps him relax and that it is a source of inspiration as well. He believes his analytical skills are his “superpower”, which might have made him a good surgeon “because the human body is a system, and I love systems.” He also recharges by mountain biking, enjoying the beautiful mountains of Belo Horizonte, where he was born, and where he returned after joining Banco Inter. He rises at 5:30 a.m. just to go biking. “It is awesome getting to work at 9:00 a.m. after biking for an hour and half or two hours.” Playing the guitar, meeting his friends and being with his kids also help him recharge. “I am really enjoying being a father again. My wife is going crazy because the schools are closed due to the pandemic, but she is loving having another baby,” he says.

In 2020, the bank greatly expanded remote work because of the pandemic. The silver lining: more professionals from outside Belo Horizonte were hired. “We decided to ramp up instead of slowing down,” he says.

“We hired almost 200 people in 2020, most from Belo Horizonte, but many from São Paulo, Recife and some from the Southern Region,” greatly contributing to diversity at the bank, he says.

“We have seven million clients — too many different experiences to count. So, we only work with teams that have a diverse background.”

Ximenes believes that going digital has made the financial system more humane and inclusive. In the male-dominated field of information technology, the bank’s IT area boasts a 15-20% representation of women. “We host an event called ‘She’s Tech’ to encourage women to join the area,” he says.

According to Ximenes, diversity and more fluid boundaries are an integral part of today’s workplace. “Companies that were once organized into separate departments now have a more mixed approach,” he says. As we move forward, “employees will need to be even more flexible, more open and will have to learn continuously,” he concludes.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg invited the GETTERS of the financial market in Latin America to share their insightful stories about their careers, their success stories and the challenges they had to face while not only witnessing the development of this fast-paced environment, but actively contributing to its evolution by creating new tools, sharing best practices and inspiring change.