Digital banking software provider Backbase has appointed Chris Vanden Berghe as Regional Vice President of Technology for Asia Pacific.

The new role is based in Singapore and will drive the company’s product localisation and development, implementation success, and international expansion.

Vanden Berghe has more than 15 years of experience as an intrapreneur and entrepreneur in the fintech ecosystem and will lead Backbase’s overall technology strategy across the Asia Pacific region with a strong focus on further accelerating the development of next-generation engagement banking solutions.

Prior to joining Backbase, Chris held roles at Refinitiv and IHS Markit, where he established new regional business units and led customer engagements regarding the digitalisation of foreign exchange post-trade flows at financial institutions across the region.

At Dataspark and 4xLabs, he was responsible for creating innovative technical solutions and assembling multi-disciplinary teams to bring them to market.

Chris holds a PhD in Computer Science and an MBA from Columbia University in New York.

In recent months, Backbase has scaled up international hiring, adding another 600 employees in the second half of 2021.

Backbase has a team of almost 1,500 people spread across 22 countries and 15 offices in Atlanta, Amsterdam, Boise, Cardiff, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hyderabad, Kraków, Mexico, New York, Poland, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto.

It has also expanded product compatibility to all major cloud providers and will make major client announcements soon.

Chris Vanden Berghe said,

“With over 120 strong team members in the region, we will continue to ramp up investments in the next several months, hiring for key roles in ASEAN, Australia, Japan, Korea, and India. I look forward to growing and leading the team to more impactful developments across the region.

 

As part of the regional Backbase team, I will focus on working with our R&D teams to develop both innovative and localised solutions that exceed the expectations of consumers, while ensuring that the security and scalability of our solutions remain uncompromised.”

Thomas Fuss, Chief Technology Officer of Backbase said,

“With his passion, leadership, and expertise in digital transformation, Chris is an excellent choice to spearhead our tech advancements in the region, and I am confident he will be a valued partner to our banking clients.”

Featured image edited based on photo by Swapnil Bapat via Unsplash