UK challenger bank Tandem has hired former HSBC executive Kunal Malani as chief growth officer, charging him with leading the push into new markets, beginning with Hong Kong.
A 20-year banking veteran with stints at Barclays and Capital One, Malani most recently spent more than five years at HSBC as regional head of retail banking products for the Middle East and North Africa.
Having firmly established itself in the UK, Tandem has chosen Hong Kong as its first overseas market. This month it began an early adopter programme on the island ahead of a full launch. Malani will oversee this, as well as Tandem's growth agenda in the UK and other potential new markets in the bank's sights for 2020.
Says Malani: "I am extremely excited to be leading Tandem’s international expansion plans as well as the growth agenda we have here at home. We have hit the ground running with Hong Kong and done so at a great time as local consumers are currently massively underserved when it comes to digital banking."