Q&A: PensionBee’s CFO on when growth demands slowing down

For a business built on simplifying pensions, Christoph Martin’s finance strategy is anything but simplistic.

Since joining PensionBee in 2019, the CFO has helped scale the company through a public listing, profitability in its core UK market, and an expansion into the U.S., all while keeping a clear line of sight on long-term sustainable growth and profitability.

It’s a trajectory that runs counter to the usual fintech script of breakneck growth followed by retrenchment. But that’s deliberate.

“We’ve grown 12 times in size since I joined, and four times since the IPO,” Martin says. “But we’ve been patient. Growth only works if the underlying controls and infrastructure keep pace.”

Martin, who came to the role via investment banking and private equity, speaks less about disruption than discipline. That lens shapes how he thinks about everything from marketing spend to international expansion to managing investors post-IPO.

A CFO Without the Usual Playbook

Martin is the first to acknowledge he doesn’t come from the traditional accounting route.

“I didn’t have the detailed accounting training most CFOs start with,” he says. “That meant we had to be thoughtful early on – outsourcing to a Big Four firm at first, then bringing things in-house as we prepared to go public.”

Where his background has proved invaluable, however, is in understanding the mindset of investors.

“It helps to speak their language,” he says. “You’re not just reporting numbers. You’re making an investment case for how the business creates value over time.”

Building for the Underserved

PensionBee’s model is straightforward in theory: help people consolidate their pensions, give them visibility over their retirement savings, and guide them through long-term planning. But the gap it addresses is wide.

The shift from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes has left many with fragmented pots across different employers. Most don’t realise it until it’s too late.

“We’re not targeting high-net-worth individuals,” Martin explains.

“We’re serving the mass market – people with smaller pots, multiple jobs, and low visibility. This segment hasn’t been served profitably by legacy providers, so it’s often been ignored.”

The business model rests on technology, not headcount. Cloud-based infrastructure enables low-cost service delivery, which in turn makes the unit economics work.

But the financial model is only part of the story. Changing consumer behaviour requires more than operational efficiency.

“Most people don’t think about pensions until much later,” Martin says. “We’ve had to invest in awareness as much as product. You can’t build a sustainable business if your audience doesn’t realise they have a problem.”

Expansion, But Not at Any Cost

With UK operations now profitable, PensionBee has begun entering the U.S. market – a move Martin describes as both opportunistic and cautious.

The market has similar fragmentation issues with 401(k) and IRA accounts, but a more complex regulatory landscape.

Rather than replicate the UK playbook wholesale, Martin and his team invested in early groundwork: analysis, timing, and partnerships.

A longstanding relationship with State Street provided a useful bridge into the U.S. market.

“We also made a deliberate choice to structure under a single SEC licence rather than navigate 50 different state regulators,” Martin says.

“It’s a reminder that every market may share the same problem, but the way you solve it needs to be market-specific.”

The U.S. strategy includes both direct-to-consumer and employer-led channels—something that evolved only after PensionBee got closer to the market.

“We realised there’s an opportunity to support employers who want to exit smaller, harder-to-serve pension books. Our infrastructure is built for scale, so we can take that on.”

On Investor Expectations

PensionBee listed in 2021, entering the public markets at a time when fintech valuations were still riding high. Managing investor expectations, Martin says, is less about persuasion and more about fit.

“We’re clear about what we’re building and who it’s for,” he says. “We’re not trying to convince investors who want something else. We’re looking for alignment.”

That alignment also extends to governance. Martin points to the company’s transparency around ESG metrics, gender pay gaps and board diversity as a natural consequence of our values, mission and being public.

“The higher bar is a feature, not a bug,” he says.

Finance as a Partner

As the business scales on both sides of the Atlantic, Martin’s focus is on embedding financial thinking across departments, not just at the leadership level.

“We build financial models into the business plan that each team understands,” he says. “The goal is to make sure every decision (product, marketing, operations) has a financial lens.

“What happens to our margins if you tweak this conversion rate? What happens to LTV if onboarding slows down?”

That approach, he says, is about giving teams visibility, not veto power. “We’re not gatekeepers. We’re collaborators.”

What Comes Next

In the UK, PensionBee currently holds just 0.5% of market share. The target is 2%, with the U.S. eventually matching the UK business in scale.

The numbers are ambitious but, Martin insists, achievable – so long as the fundamentals remain intact.

“It comes down to being deliberate,” he says. “We’re not chasing growth at all costs. We’re building a long-term business in a space that really needs one.”

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