In the burgeoning world of fintech, talent acquisition and strategic hires play a critical role in setting the stage for future growth and stability.
Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, two of the most vibrant fintech hubs in the region, are buzzing with activity as companies continue to strengthen their teams with top-tier professionals to gain expertise, agility, and a competitive edge.
In this roundup, we look at the key appointments and shifts that have been announced so far this year within these markets.
Thunes hires former Worldpay exec as new CFO
Singapore cross-border payments company Thunes has hired Sigrid Hulsebosch as its new CFO. Hulsebosch is taking charge of the company’s financial strategies and global finance function, with financial planning, treasury, tax, reporting and investor relations included in her new remit.
Hulsebosch brings over two decades of financial leadership experience in controlling, management, and financial accounting. Most recently, she served as CFO at Malvern Panalytical, a company in material and life sciences analytics.
Hulsebosch also held the CFO position at Worldpay, where she supported the company’s growth and highly successful initial public offering (IPO). Prior to these roles, she was Head of Assets under Management and Deputy CFO at ING.
Wise ramps up Singapore presence
Global fintech firm Wise has expanded its Singapore office and announced key leadership hires, the company said in March.
Wise’s office space in Paya Lebar Quarter has been expanded to 23,000 square feet, making it its Asia Pacific (APAC) hub, where 450 employees work—more than double the number in 2022. In addition, a senior leadership has been appointed, including Shrawan Saraogi, APAC Head of Expansion and Singapore Country Manager; Mike Truong, Asia-Pacific (APAC) Product Director; Erin Smith, Product Director, Global Spend; Ser-Jin Lee, APAC Compliance Director; Samarth Bansal, APAC General Manager, Wise Platform.
Arvind Guruprasad has also joined Wise in Singapore as its APAC Head of Risk. Guruprasad previously spent two years at Stripe, first as the Global Lead for Financial Risk Management and then as the APAC Head of Treasury and Financial Risk.
Wise says its customer base in Singapore has grown 26% year-on-year (YoY). The company is now expanding its offerings in the country and broader APAC region. It has connected to Singapore’s PayNow network, and its infrastructure offer, Wise Platform, has gone live with Hong Kong’s Mox to launch international payments.
Indonesia’s Flip Group appoints seasoned fintech leader as Group CEO
Indonesia payment platform Flip has appointed Pratyush Prasanna as its new Group CEO. Prasanna, who joined Flip Group last year as Managing Director, is now leading the group into its next phase of growth and innovation
Prasanna brings a proven track record of success, having previously served as the Head of Merchant Payments at GoTo Financial, where he oversaw significant growth in their merchant payment solutions. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Poynt and Paytm, driving product development and expansion in the Asian market.
Founded in 2015, Flip Group is a leading fintech group in Indonesia. The company started with a fee-free interbank transfer product and has since expanded its offerings to include a comprehensive suite of services for both individuals and businesses, including the Flip consumer app; Flip for Business, a platform for business financial management; Flip Globe, providing international remittance services; and a wide range of consumer services, such as bill payments, financing and investment products.
Advance.AI hires new leaders to boost business in Indonesia
Singapore risk management solutions provider Advance.AI has appointed two new leaders to manage its business operations in Indonesia, DailySocial reported in March. The newly appointed leaders are Fuenny Liwang, who nows serve as the Director of Growth Accounts, and Anggraini Rahayu, who took on the role of Director of Strategic Accounts.
Liwang brings three decades of sales and leadership experience across a variety of industries, including financial services, telecommunications, IT systems, healthcare, and airports. His previous roles include senior management positions at PT T System Indonesia, VMWare, Microsoft, and the Telkom Indonesia Group.
Rahayu has three years of experience in industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), analytics, financial services, IT, and retail. Before joining Advance.AI, she held senior management positions at PT SAS Institute, Diebold Nixdorf, and IBM Indonesia.
Advance.AI has also appointed industry veteran, Dennis Martin, as CEO of its credit reporting business. Martin, who is based in Singapore, has 25 years’ leadership experience in the global credit reporting industry and was previously the Group CEO of CTOS Digital in Malaysia, overseeing a complete portfolio of credit and risk management solutions and services widely used by banking and financial institutions, insurance, telcos, large corporations and SMEs. Previously, he was also managing director of Experian Southeast Asia and Dun & Bradstreet New Zealand, and also sat on the boards of several credit bureaus, including as chairman of Philippines’ CIBI.
Advance.AI is a subsidiary of Advance Intelligence Group. The company serves over 500 enterprise clients across banking, financial services, fintech, payments, retail, and e-commerce sectors, and operates in several countries, including China, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Backbase hires new Head of AI
Engagement banking platform operator Backbase has appointed Chris Shayan as the new Head of AI. The move aims to advance Backbase’s AI vision and enhance its tech offerings.
Shayan brings extensive experience in digital banking transformation. He joined the fintech company from Vietnamese commercial bank HD Bank where he served as Chief Digital Officer and significantly expanded the customer base and digital engagement. Prior to this, Shayan served as CTO for Techcombank (TCB), one of the largest commercial banks in Vietnam, where he led a Backbase implementation across both its retail and business banking divisions.
This appointment brings AI at the forefront of Backbase’s strategy. It also marks the inception of a new Center of Excellence in Vietnam, supported by a team of dedicated subject matter experts.
Backbase plans to increase the number of employees based in Vietnam to over 40, further strengthening its footprint in the APAC region and establishing Vietnam as a key hub for its R&D and customer success teams.
Funding Societies appoints new CFO
Funding Societies has appointed Junxiong Ho, a seasoned financial executive with experience at fintech companies, as its new CFO, eFinancialCareers reported in May.
Prior to joining Funding Societies, Ho worked at open finance startup Brankas remotely for 15 months, and was previously CFO of Singapore fintech BigPay. He’s also spent three years at Stripe, working in the global finance and strategy team. With his extensive background, Ho is expected to bring valuable expertise to Funding Societies as it continues to expand.
Ho replaces Frank Stevenaar, who recently left to join venture capital (VC) firm Antler as its CFO. Antler specializes in early-stage investing, and has circa 2,000 employees and US$500 million in assets under management (AUM).
Funding Societies has also recently hired Yogash Parthasarathy as Senior Product Manager. Parthasarathy was previously at both Grab and GXS Bank.
Crypto.com expands its workforce
Singapore digital asset startup Crypto.com has been in a hiring drive, adding 700 new employees since November of the previous year. The company is planning to hire an additional 700 people across customer service and corporate functions, Crypto.com’s CEO Kris Marszalek said in April.
This expansion aligns with Crypto.com’s strategic plans to triple its user base, which currently stands at over 80 million registered users. The company is also looking to launch services in South Korea, marking another strategic expansion into new markets. Crypto.com had previously cut 20% of its staff.
The move mirrors a broader trend in the crypto industry, where firms like Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, and Gemini are also increasing their staff as the sector recovers, aided by rallying crypto prices.
Citi hires former Adyen exec for its expanding digital payments service
Citi has appointed Priyanka Gargav as the new Managing Director for its digital payments service, Spring, focusing on the APAC and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, eFinancialCareers reported in March. Spring by Citi is an end-to-end digital payments service enabling e-commerce and business-to-business (B2B) funds flows, globally.
Gargav joined Citi from Adyen, where she spent the last five years, most recently serving as Commercial Manager for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. In her role at Adyen, Gargav was instrumental in managing one of the company’s largest offices, based in Singapore, which is its fourth-largest globally. She also held a country manager position early last year.
Gargav’s hiring comes as Citi’s Spring team grows its presence in Singapore, a key hub for the bank’s payment solutions in the APAC region.
Fintech VC Flourish Ventures hires new head of Asia investments
Flourish Ventures, a US-based emerging markets fintech investor with a strong Asia focus, has named Ravi Kaushik as its Singapore-based regional head. Kaushik is in charge of leading the firm’s fintech investments and portfolio management in India and Southeast Asia.
Kaushik’s previous roles include serving as the CFO of Agro.Club and as a founding member and general partner at WaterBridge Ventures.
The appointment of Kaushik represents a refocus on Asia for Flourish after a two-year slowdown in activity related to difficult market conditions and the loss of two senior investment professionals in the region. Smita Aggarwal, a Southeast Asia investor, departed the firm in 2023 to take up a role at the United Nations, while India-based Anuradha Ramachandran left in 2022 to join TVS Capital.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Flourish Ventures is an early-stage VC firm focuses on the fintech sector. It has US$850 million in AUM.
Featured image credit: edited from freepik
