Interim manager for banks
Interim leadership.
Impact from day one.
I take on operational responsibility – fully, accountably and on equal terms with the board and shareholders.
With the experience of a senior manager and the independence of an entrepreneur.
Typical triggers
When you call me in
An interim mandate rarely starts with an idea. It starts with a situation. These three are the most common – if you recognise yours in one of them, you are in the right place.
Trigger 01
The position is vacant, the business carries on
A division head leaves and the successor takes months to find. In the meantime, either nobody steers or everybody steers a little. Both cost more than the vacancy itself.
Trigger 02
An initiative needs someone who owns it
It has been approved, but it is too big for line management. What is missing is not a project manager but someone accountable for the result – someone who will also make the uncomfortable decision.
Trigger 03
The appointment should be right, not rushed
You do not want the first available candidate, you want the right one. Interim leadership keeps the division able to act and gives you the time to choose properly.
To be candid
And how you can tell I am the wrong person
An interim mandate is not an off-the-shelf product. It fits very well – or not at all. This is so that you know before the first conversation, not after it.
A good fit if
- You need accountability for results, not a recommendation.
- You need someone on site – with a mandate, not a proposal for one.
- You are a bank or financial services provider in Austria, Germany or Switzerland.
- You prefer being challenged to being agreed with.
Probably not a fit if
- The role is unclear or the mandate is not backed.
- You are looking for a permanent hire.
- The numbers are meant to look better, not to get better.
- The lowest day rate is the deciding factor.
Roles
Six interim roles I take on
As an interim manager for banks, I take on one of six roles in most mandates. Which one fits depends on your situation; the title comes second.
Board level
Interim CEO
or managing director, with formal appointment
When the top position is vacant, or when the board needs an additional leader during a restructuring. With formal appointment and liability, reporting to the supervisory board.
Sales
Head of Sales
for a bank or a branch network
Taking over sales management, leadership and processes – from the branch network to partner sales. At GE Money Bank Austria, the branches’ lending volume was 60% higher after nine months.
Programmes
Programme Director
for programmes that cut across divisions
When a programme touches several divisions and nobody in line management can own it. Neutral, with a clear mandate and a fixed reporting rhythm. As interim programme manager, I step in where several projects are stuck at the same point: dependencies, decision rights, the rhythm of the steering committee.
Restructuring
Restructuring & Turnaround
when the numbers no longer add up
Stabilising a loss-making unit, cutting costs without stalling sales, and putting a plan on the table that the board can stand behind.
Transformation
Transformation Lead
operating model, governance, banking groups
Reorganising structures, management processes and governance while day-to-day business keeps running. This includes transition management between the old and the new set-up.
Change
Change Management
so that the change takes hold
Leadership, communication, resistance and readiness for change – so that people carry the change instead of enduring it. A good place to start: the change readiness check.
Process
How an interim mandate works – in numbers
A mandate does not start with a contract but with a conversation. After that, things move quickly because they have to. Three numbers describe the path from the first call to the first situation assessment.
01
24 hours
Reply on working days · from me personally
You write or call. I get back to you myself – no call centre, no auto-responder. The first conversation takes 30 minutes and usually happens within five working days. At the end you know whether I am the right person – or who else might be.
02
2–4 weeks
until the first day on site
That is usually how long I need before I can start. During this time we agree the role, authority and reporting line. In writing. So that on day one nobody has to ask who decides.
03
30 days
until the first situation assessment
It is on the table after the first month: what is working, what is not, and what I will change. After that we steer at a fixed rhythm – one hour every two weeks with the client, brief and without slide marathons.
Mandates last between one and twelve months, board-level programmes longer. The end is defined at the start: handover to the successor or to line management. I stay as long as I add measurable value – and not a day longer.
Fees
What an interim mandate costs
Between €1,700 and €2,500 per day. The range depends on the scope of the role and on whether it carries a formal board or managing director appointment – not on your negotiating skills. Three formats cover most situations.
Interim Sprint
€1,700 to €1,900
per day · 1 to 3 months
A clearly defined task with an end date: bridging a vacancy, getting an initiative on track, stabilising a division. Division or department head, without a formal board appointment.
Interim Mandate
€1,800 to €2,100
per day · 3 to 12 months
Full operational responsibility for a division over several quarters. With budget, with line management responsibility, reporting to the management board or managing directors.
C-Level Programme
€2,100 to €2,500
per day · 12 months or more
Interim managing director or management board portfolio, with formal appointment and liability. For restructurings, succession gaps and programmes that need more than a year.
If you want to know the amount in advance, start with a fixed price: Diagnostic Sprint Compact, €19,500 for two weeks, or Diagnostic Sprint Full Picture, €38,000 for four weeks. Both end with a situation assessment that you can also implement without me.
Prices for businesses, net plus VAT. Travel expenses at cost. Guide values; the written proposal is authoritative. Prices as of October 2026. Errors and omissions excepted; subject to change.
The full calculation, the cost of the vacancy by comparison, and when I advise against it:
Region and evidence
Where I work – and what you can verify
I work from Vienna and Lower Austria for banks and financial services providers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. An interim mandate requires presence. In the initial phase I am on site, after that as often as the task requires – not as rarely as the calendar allows.
What I can do is not documented in this self-description but in three case studies and fourteen quotations from employment references. Three examples:
GE Money Bank Austria: 36 branches, in the red
The branch network was loss-making and the business model was in question. Nine months later, the branches’ lending volume was 60% higher. The case study shows the starting position, the approach and the figure at the end.
Santander Consumer Bank: 35 branches, around 190 employees
After Banco Santander acquired GE Money Bank’s consumer finance business, a long-established sales organisation had to be moved to a new operating logic. Post-merger integration while business continued as usual.
Volksbank association, Programm Adler: nine banks, one structure
Staff function for association-wide topics: designed, tracked, and set in motion again whenever they stalled. During the programme period, the association’s cost-income ratio fell from 77.6% to 75.1% and its NPL ratio from 4.6% to 1.7%.
All case studies, all reference quotations, my career history, integration leadership in bank mergers – and why I take accountability rather than accompany:
FAQ – Interim management
The evidence
He delivers excellent work even under deadline pressure and in difficult conditions. Mr Slotta shows a high degree of initiative and always works in a very focused, independent and extremely responsible manner.
Volksbank Wien · Employment reference, 2022 · (Translated from German) · nine pieces of evidence on the question “Does he see things through?” →
Your next step
Any questions? I answer personally.
No form. No call centre. A direct conversation – 30 minutes, and then you know whether and how I can help.
Confidential and free of charge.
WHERE TO GO NEXT
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Further reading
Three reports from live engagements
A mandate rarely begins where the project plan says it should. These three articles show where initiatives actually get stuck.
Field report
Why half a position can paralyse an organisation
Blocked for months over half a position: how an entrenched conflict can be facilitated – and what sitting it out costs internally.
Read the article →Speed of decision
The most expensive pile of paper in the company
In many organisations the largest cost item does not appear in the income statement. It sits as an unprocessed pile on a desk.
Read the article →From decision to action
Simply get going: how to move into action faster
The real delay lies between decision and implementation. How to close that gap without additional resources.
Read the article →
You will find all analyses on transformation, leadership and sales in the Insights.