CIMB Group picks Crespin as chief fintech officer

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd group chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz: "We continue to face difficult markets".

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group is pushing ahead with its financial technology (fintech) business strategy with the appointment of a French national, Olivier Crespin as its chief fintech officer.

The banking group said on Monday that Crespin would head the newly set-up CIMB FinTech which  will actively explore new, innovative banking solutions. 

Subject to regulatory approvals, Olivier Crespin is scheduled to begin his new role with CIMB FinTech in June 2017.

Crespin, a French national, is a graduate in International Business, Trade and Tax Law from the Universite de Metz in France. 

“He brings with him more than 28 years of banking experience gained at highly reputable global and Asean-based organisations,” it said. 

CIMB said Crespin has wide international exposure and has held different business and operational positions across Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America. 

“One of his biggest successes was the introduction of India’s first completely paperless, signatureless, branchless mobile banking, based on biometrics and artificial intelligence,” it said.

The group chief executive of CIMB Group, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the newly set-up CIMB FinTech, would be “our very own FinTech hub for us to experiment and realise our digital ambitions”. 

“Its operating model will be agile, dynamic and nimble, in order to provoke, incubate and execute ideas that will either redefine or enhance CIMB's products and services. 

“We are prepared to invest significantly in FinTech propositions that will add value and enhance customer experience for our 12 million customers across the region and I'm confident that Olivier, with his vast experience in this space, will help us do just that,” said  Zafrul.