Digital SME banking startup CivilisedBank has appointed Simon Bateman, formerly of Harrods Bank and Aldemore, as chief information officer, joining newly-installed CEO and erstwhile colleague Mark Stephens on the executive committee.
Bateman was CIO at Harrods Bank, which was recently sold to challenger Tandem, where he oversaw the overhaul of legacy systems with a modern IT architecture. He also gained in-depth experience of the challenger bank space at Aldermore as transformation and change director, then head of IT and transformation for the SME and retail savings business.
In his new role, Bateman will be charged with leading CivilisedBank's systems refresh which was announced as part of the release of its banking licence earlier this year.
Set for launch sometime in 2019, the Bank intends to apply real-time personalisation to target relevant content and product offers to customers in an effort to foster higher levels of customer retention and loyalty.
He joins Mark Stephens, also a former Harrods Bank and Aldemore alumni, who took over from Philip Acton, the Bank’s interim CEO, in April.
Says Stephens: “Simon has a proven track record of delivering best-in-class systems to banks across the board, and I’m delighted that he is joining the CivilisedBank team. His appointment, combined with the IT solutions we’re currently implementing, are already setting us on the way to developing a unique service for the SME market. It is a crucial next step in our path towards launch.”