(14 August 2017 – Asia) Standard Chartered (StanChart) has appointed Pedro Sousa Cardoso as global head of group digital, based in Singapore.
Sousa joins the bank from Emirates NBD, where he worked for more than five years, most recently as head of multichannel, CRM and digital transformation.
The bank has been heavily investing in digital banking and technology, including hiring about 300 technologists in 2016 in Singapore as part of a US$300 million global tech upgrade.
Cardoso was a member of the retail leadership team at Emirates NBD and led digital strategy for online and mobile banking, ATM banking, phone banking, branch automation, and tablet banking.
Prior to Emirates NBD – from 2009 to 2011 – he was a principal member of the senior management team at Saxo Bank in London and Copenhagen, primarily tasked with developing and deploying a new wealth management platform.
He has an extensive history in digital banking. According to his public profile, Cardoso began his career at Banco Espírito Santo (now Novo Banco) in Portugal in 1994 and worked in a newly-created direct banking and e-business department, playing a “key role” in launching telephone and online banking services.
He moved to digital bank Banco Best in 2001 as a Lisbon-based founder member of the startup team. During 10 years at the firm, his responsibilities included digital strategy, online and mobile banking, banking products, and digital marketing.
The appointment follows that of rival HSBC revealing it was bolstering its digital division recently, with the hire of Tamara van den Ban in Hong Kong as head of digital products for Asia Pacific.