Arsalaan (Oz) Ahmed, CEO of Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia (ARBM), who spearheaded the Islamic bank’s digital bank proposition, has left his role to pursue his “personal ambition in the fintech and social finance space”.
Oz succeeded Steve Chen in February 2021, joining from HSBC Amanah. During his tenure, Oz most notably led the group’s agenda for banking innovation in Malaysia, which culminated in the launch of Rize, a cloud-native Islamic digital bank last December.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say farewell to the bank. It has been a great honor serving as CEO and I would like to take this opportunity to thank ARBM, and the Al Rajhi Bank Group, for the trust accorded to me these past few years. Working with such an exceptional team to accomplish our goals has been one of the most remarkable experiences of my career, particularly after delivering leading innovation that sets a standard for both conventional and Islamic finance in digital banking,” said Oz.
A seasoned banker, Oz started his banking career at HSBC which saw him taking on various roles in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. He eventually rose to the position of CEO of HSBC Amanah, after a stint in Qatar with Barwa Bank as its head of capital financing and financial institutions.
In 2020, he co-founded mmob, an embedded services technology provider in London and Kuala Lumpur.