In people updates, Indonesia’s Flip has appointed Pratyush Prasanna as its new group CEO while Swiss private bank Julius Baer has named Urs Brudermann as group head in Thailand. Separately, VinaCapital has appointed Alex Hambly as Chief Investment Officer.
Flip appoints former GoTo executive as new group CEO
Flip, an Indonesian fintech group, has appointed Pratyush Prasanna as its new group CEO. Prasanna, who joined Flip last year as Managing Director, will now lead the company’s next phase of development, the company said on Monday.
Flip co-founders – Rafi Putra Arriyan, Ginanjar Ibnu Solikhin, and Luqman Sungkar – will continue to remain in strategic roles. Arriyan will now focus on leading the consumer business as the president director of PT Fliptech Lentera Inspirasi Pertiwi, the entity behind the Flip consumer app.
Prasanna previously served as head of merchant payments at GoTo Financial, overseeing significant growth. He also held leadership roles at Poynt and Paytm, focusing on product development and expansion in Asia.
Founded in 2015, Flip has facilitated financial transactions for over 15 million individuals and more than 1,000 businesses. It began with a fee-free interbank transfer product and has expanded to offer services like Flip for Business and Flip Globe for international remittances.
In 2022, the company raised over $100 million in a Series B funding round from investors such as Tencent, Block, Inc., and Insight Partners. Flip has expanded from its core peer-to-peer transfer platform to offer a wide range of financial services, including bill payments, financing, and international remittances.
Julius Baer appoints Urs Brudermann as group head of Thailand
Swiss private bank Julius Baer has appointed Urs Brudermann as group head of Thailand, according to media reports.
Based in Singapore, he will oversee the Swiss bank’s offshore Thailand coverage and its joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank, SCB Julius Baer.
Before joining Julius Baer, Brudermann was Market Head of Southeast Asia at Deutsche Bank. Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2021, he spent 11 years at Credit Suisse in leadership roles, managing teams in Singapore and Hong Kong with a focus on Thailand and Malaysia.
Earlier, the Swiss private bank appointed Shui Wei HO as market head for Thailand, Japan and Asia Switzerland.
VinaCapital appoints Alex Hambly as CIO
Vietnam-based asset manager VinaCapital has appointed Alex Hambly as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) following the passing of Andy Ho in early June, according to an announcement.
Hambly, who has been a member of the Investment Committee of the VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund since 2020, has over 30 years of global investment experience with stints at Barclays Bank, HSBC, British International Investment, Prudential, and a leading Asian family office.
He will continue to serve on the Investment Committee of VOF. Commenting on Hambly’s appointment, VinaCapital founding partner Don Lam said “his vast investment experience, particularly in private equity and with institutional investors, and in a wide range of frontier and emerging markets, including Vietnam, will be invaluable to me and the company.”
