VARO MONEY INC.
But of course, this is something that Riva doesn’ t do alone.“ Procurement at Varo is fundamentally a team sport,” says Riva.“ My team works in lockstep with our Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Technology and the various business requestors, and we collaborate very closely with our Third-Party Risk Management( TPRM) team to ensure that procurement fully supports and champions Varo’ s risk program requirements.”
Procurement as a first line of defence When Riva joined Varo Bank in 2019, the organisation was operating under a radically different paradigm.
“ We were essentially a fast-moving fintech startup operating without an independent banking charter. Procurement at that stage matched the organisational infancy; it was fully manual, highly decentralised and dependent on static spreadsheets, paper-pushing and ad-hoc email tracking,” explains Riva.
The true watershed moment happened in August 2020, when Varo officially received its national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency( OCC).
“ We transitioned overnight from a fintech startup to a nationally regulated financial institution. This evolution fundamentally redefined my role and the entire procurement footprint,” says Riva.
As the bank scaled, its procurement had to transform into a high-functioning first line of defence.“ Working hand-in-hand with our specialised internal partners, we digitised our core operations, established rigorous baselines and automated contract workflows through our partnership with Leah.”
THE COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP BEHIND LEAH
A vital technology partner of Varo Bank is ContactPodAI for its AI platform Leah.
“ We utilise Leah as part of our broader toolkit to execute the heavy lifting of contract management. Specifically automated redlining, extracting key contract provisions, running comprehensive portfolio reporting and validating agreement end dates,” says Riva.
She continues:“ A critical way we partner with Leah is at the absolute infancy of our third-party relationships, long before any definitive commercial agreements are signed. Our digital perimeter relies heavily on getting NDAs successfully negotiated, approved and queried through Leah’ s repository chatbots before we launch into formal proofs of concept. This ensures that baseline parameters are locked down immediately.”
In a digital-first banking environment, partnerships are essential. As a chartered digital institution, delivering an entire financial ecosystem requires an interconnected network of thirdparty capabilities.“ Selecting the right partners, negotiating balanced agreements based on risk and incentivising the right behaviour is how we deliver value without sacrificing our regulatory integrity,” says Riva.
6 July 2026