Ballerine, an AI risk intelligence platform specializing in automating and optimizing merchant onboarding, verification, and lifecycle monitoring, has announced the appointment of Christian A. Chmiel as its new General Manager for the EMEA region. Christian brings over two decades of extensive experience in risk management, compliance, and merchant oversight, and is set to play a pivotal role in expanding Ballerine's footprint across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Ballerine appoints Christian A. Chmiel as General Manager for the EMEA region.
Christian Chmiel has over two decades of experience in risk management, compliance, and merchant oversight.
He previously founded and served as CEO of Web Shield Group and was Deputy Head of Compliance at an acquiring bank.
Chmiel's expertise includes online fraud detection and high-risk underwriting.
Ballerine's platform uses AI to automate and optimize merchant onboarding and risk monitoring.
The appointment aims to support financial institutions across EMEA with AI-powered tools for smarter merchant risk decisions.
Christian Chmiel's appointment as General Manager for EMEA marks a significant step for Ballerine as it aims to deepen its engagement with financial institutions across the region. His extensive background in the fraud prevention and payments sectors, including his roles as Founder & CEO of the Web Shield Group and Deputy Head of Compliance at an acquiring bank, positions him to lead Ballerine's strategic initiatives effectively. His leadership has been instrumental in shaping industry standards in online fraud detection and high-risk underwriting.
Christian is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified High-Risk Underwriter. He has also been a prominent thought leader, contributing insights to key industry journals, organizing conferences, and lecturing at the Web Shield Academy. His accomplishments have garnered recognition from leading organizations such as the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) and PayTech Awards.
In his new capacity at Ballerine, Christian will guide the company's efforts to provide financial institutions across EMEA with advanced AI-powered tools. These tools are designed to facilitate smarter, more transparent merchant risk decisions, enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of onboarding and monitoring processes.
"I'm thrilled to join Ballerine at such a pivotal time for risk and compliance in the financial services industry," said Christian Chmiel, General Manager EMEA at Ballerine. "Ballerine is the first AI agent that thinks like an expert underwriter, combining regulatory knowledge and fraud intelligence to automate deep risk analysis. It unifies KYB, web, and transaction data into one intelligent profile, detecting inconsistencies, risks, and compliance gaps in real-time. For acquirers and payment providers, this means faster onboarding, smarter decisions, and the ability to confidently scale into new verticals and markets - without adding manual overhead."
"Christian brings a strong track record in risk and compliance, combined with a clear understanding of the challenges financial institutions face today," said Noam Izhaki, co-founder and CEO of Ballerine. "As we expand across EMEA, his experience building and scaling risk operations will be invaluable. We're proud to have him on board as we continue helping institutions make smarter, faster decisions with AI."
Ballerine is an AI-native risk and compliance platform that empowers financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs to make smarter, faster risk decisions. Instead of static checks and fragmented tools, we unify business data, fraud signals, and compliance workflows into one modular infrastructure. It's fully customizable, lets teams automate what they need, integrates with what they already use, and adapts quickly as risk evolves. The result: faster onboarding, reduced fraud, stronger compliance, and a risk engine that actually keeps pace.
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