Singapore-headquartered GXS Bank’s group chief executive officer (CEO), Muthukrishnan Ramaswami, known as Ramu, is set to retire from the bank on May 31.
As Ramaswami's successor, the digital bank’s board has appointed Pei-Si Lai, CEO of GXBank, the Malaysian subsidiary of GXS Bank. Lai (pictured), currently based in Kuala Lumpur, will step down as CEO of GXBank, and take up the role of GXS Bank Group CEO, relocating to Singapore, while GXBank deputy CEO, Kaushik Chowdhury, will become CEO of GXBank. All appointments will take effect from June 1, and Ramaswami will continue to serve as a senior advisor.
Ramaswami joined GXS Bank, which is backed by a consortium including Grab and Singtel, in February 2023 and has helped grow the bank's presence in Southeast Asia (SEA). As group CEO Ramaswami oversaw the completion of its regional technology, data and product builds.
In addition to GXS Bank in Singapore and GXBank in Malaysia, the group also works with Superbank, a digital bank in Indonesia, which is also backed by Grab and Singtel.
Lai has been the CEO of GXBank since it received one of the five digital bank licenses in Malaysia in 2022. During her tenure, GXBank became the first digital bank to launch in Malaysia and within a year, the bank grew to over a million customers who completed over 124 million transactions, including card transactions, interbank and intrabank transfers, according to a media release.
Together with Ramaswami, Lai most recently oversaw the acquisition of fintech Validus Capital by GXS Bank, the first merger and acquisition deal by a digital bank in Singapore. The deal, announced in April, will help the bank in the small-and-medium sized (SME) space in SEA in the supply chain finance and working capital space. It has supplied over $2 billion of loans so far, according to its LinkedIn page.
Hsieh Fu Hua, chairman of GXS Bank’s board, said, “We are much indebted to Ramu for helping us build regional capabilities and infrastructure on which our group of digital banks can rapidly scale to serve customers in the region. We are also much appreciative that he leaves us with a strong leadership bench that will take our group forward confidently.”
Hua added: “We are delighted to appoint Pei-Si to succeed Ramu as group CEO. As a veteran banker with the unique experience of having launched Malaysia’s first digital bank, Pei-Si understands the tremendous impact that digital banks can bring to our communities. She has our unreserved support to fulfil our ambition of becoming the digital bank of SEA.”
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