Standard Chartered has just hired a global head of digital commerce

Standard Chartered has hired Pedro Sousa Cardoso as global head, digital commerce, based in Singapore.

He joined Stan Chart earlier this month from Emirates NBD, where he worked for more than five years, latterly as head of multichannel, CRM and digital transformation, according to his public profile.

Stan Chart confirmed the appointment, which will be officially announced by the bank on Friday.

While Stan Chart has been thinning out its management ranks since 2015, it has been investing heavily in digital banking and technology, including hiring about 300 technologists last year in Singapore as part of a $300m global tech upgrade.

It is not the only Asia-focused bank beefing up its digital ranks, however. Earlier this year Tamara van den Ban joined HSBC in Hong Kong as head of digital products for Asia Pacific. HSBC digital banking is now hiring across several functions in Hong Kong – including product managers, developers and content producers – van den Ban told us earlier this week.

Sousa 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.

Sousa Cardoso is a digital banking veteran. He began his career at Banco Espírito Santo (now Novo Banco) in his native 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, according to his profile.

He moved to digital bank Banco Best, which is part owned by Novo Banco, in 2001 as a Lisbon-based founder member of the start-up team. During 10 years at the firm, his responsibilities included digital strategy, online and mobile banking, banking products, and digital marketing.