Money Mart names new technology chief
Money Mart has appointed a new chief technology officer to guide its digital transformation, marking a strategic effort to update financial services while managing risks effectively.
Modernizing financial services
Karina Sidhu joined Momentum Financial Services Group (MFSG), Money Mart’s parent company, as CTO following 18 years in financial services. Her background includes leading digital initiatives at a major Canadian bank, where she contributed to early rollouts of mobile payment systems, and later served as chief technology and data officer for a pension fund.
Greg Root, MFSG’s chief operating officer, brings experience from Canada’s largest telecom before transitioning into fintech. The two now oversee modernization across Money Mart’s more than 360 locations in Canada and over 60 in the U.S.
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The company focuses on serving underbanked customers, providing short-term loans, cheque cashing, and money transfers to those who may not qualify for traditional credit. This customer base influences its technology strategy, requiring solutions that are adaptable, easy to use, and compliant across different regions.
Risk as a cultural priority
Sidhu describes MFSG’s risk management as a multi-layer framework integrating credit, fraud, regulatory, and operational risks. Executive oversight sits at the top of this structure, but the day-to-day responsibility for monitoring and managing those risks is distributed across operational teams throughout the business.
“Data risk management is not just one leader’s job,” she said. “It is all of our jobs.”
Root highlights education as a key part of this system. Employees must understand not only the rules but also their purpose. “We believe people will buy into things when they understand the why,” he said. This need has become more urgent as threats evolve, particularly with the rise of deepfake technology in financial fraud.
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“There are more and more avenues, and people are getting better and better at deepfake technology and coming at you—so the risks are growing,” Sidhu said.
For Money Mart, compliance shapes product design. A loan or payment system that works in one jurisdiction may require adjustments elsewhere. Legal and compliance teams identify requirements early, then collaborate with operations and technology teams to integrate them into processes, training, and systems.
Root compares this to business planning. Regulatory shifts can affect product offerings, timelines, and profitability. “Technology updates take time,” he said. “We need advance notice to assess compliance impacts.”
MFSG views new regulations as opportunities to improve. Instead of treating them as obstacles, the company examines how they might enhance transparency or simplify operations for customers and staff. “We’ve taken a proactive stance on regulatory changes,” Sidhu said. “We often use them to strengthen our business processes.”
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Updating legacy systems adds complexity. Core financial platforms often contain years of custom, jurisdiction-specific logic. Replacing them is slow, so MFSG upgrades incrementally to reduce risk.
“Modernizing technology in financial services is difficult,” Sidhu said. “These systems include regulatory and compliance logic. Transformation is necessary but not simple.”
For a company like Money Mart, operating in a regulated industry while serving customers with limited options, the stakes remain high. The goal isn’t just better technology but ensuring every change aligns with a culture that values both innovation and trust.
