Crown Agents Bank has appointed Susanne Chishti to its board as a non-executive director. Chishti brings more than 20 years of financial expertise, board-level experience focused on organisational governance, and a strong understanding of the small and medium size enterprise market. Her experience draws on 14 years in banking, with senior positions held at Morgan Stanley, Lloyds Banking Group and Deutsche Bank. In 2014, Chishti founded FINTECH Circle – a global fintech community which enables emerging financial technology firms to expand their businesses and provides educational courses via the FINTECH Circle Institute and the bestselling FINTECH Book Series. Chishti is the Co-Editor of The FINTECH Book, The WealthTECH Book and The InsurTECH Book, the first crowd-sourced books on the fintech industry globally and how fintech innovation can be leveraged across the global investment management and insurance sectors. Chishti is also a non-executive director at alternative commercial lender JLG Group PLC.

Chishti’s knowledge and influence in the global fintech space will support Crown Agents Bank on its mission to becoming an agile, digital transaction bank for emerging markets.

“My role is to provide solutions – by connecting Crown Agents Bank with the best fintech providers in the market, we can utilise the latest technologies and business models to meet our clients’ needs,” explains Chishti. “For fintechs and banks alike, the solution is collaboration. Fintechs can provide the technology banks are lacking, while banks can provide access to a global customer base. As such, a large part of my role will be supporting this integral shift in the bank’s operations and culture towards an open platform and ecosystem.”

As a recognised specialist in delivering emerging market FX currencies, Crown Agents Bank has launched an online FX trading platform, EMpower^FX, and onboarded trade finance fintech platform CCRManager and cross-asset portal 360T.

Crown Agents Bank CEO, Albert Maasland says: “We have been able to put in place state-of-the-art technology that allows us to offer currencies and FX payments in and out of a range of frontier and emerging markets quickly and efficiently. And now that we have Susanne’s unparalleled expertise, we hope to develop additional fintech solutions to promote global financial inclusion.”

Chishti comments: “I’m excited to be working for a bank that not only has over two centuries of history combined with a modern vision, but one that promotes diversity. Not only does a diverse workforce achieve better returns for shareholders but, more importantly, it means we are more relatable to our global customers.”

Chishti has been shortlisted for Investment Week’s Women in Investment Awards 2018 in two categories; ‘Change Excellence Award’ and ‘Social Media Influencer of the Year’. The winners will be announced in November.