DBS chief innovation officer Neal Cross leaves for fintech start-up
Neal Cross
It’s the end of a five-year era as Neal Cross has left his role as DBS’s chief innovation officer (CIO) and joined Australian start-up PictureWealth as its chairman.
Cross is a well-known figure in fintech and one of the few people who speaks his mind – and entertains in the process – on the conference circuit.
In a literary touch, he cites the playwright Thomas Meehan to sum up his mood: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Cross adds: “During my time I have worked with some of the brightest minds in finance and will miss them dearly, but I won’t miss anyone as much as my team or as we refer to ourselves #teamawesome, the most passionate and creative people I have ever worked with.”
As a result of his departure, DBS has promoted the innovation head of ecosystems, Bidyut Dumra, to lead the innovation team and promoted the innovation management head Mark Evans to run the experience strategy team.
There’s too much to mention about DBS’s activities but this case study from last year will give you an idea.
Perth-based PictureWealth offers “financial happiness at your fingertips”. As a wealth management platform, it says it has gone from $0 million to $100 million funds under management in six months.
Cross won’t just be chairman for this new firm.
He has other projects on the go such as Orangutan conservation, a book, and working as an advisor on several projects across Asia and beyond. For the latter he notes “many of them outside of banking”.
The last word is a Cross word: “So maybe it’s not goodbye but more of a so long, or in the words of the immortal Douglas Adams – ‘So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish’.”
