Quick Facts
Biography
Gopi Krishnan "Krish" is an Indian-origin digital leader, banking technology professional and CIO, who has earned significant credibility in the Middle East for his role in bringing digital transformations to banking institutions in the region. As of 2017, he is the Chief Information Officer/ Chief Digital Officer of the Al Hilal Bank in Qatar, UAE.
Krish has been a vocal advocate for the banking sector to be early adopters or fast-followers of digital technology as “a mindset of continual learning and innovation” rather than as a project.
In 2016, Krish was awarded the CIO of the year award at the MEFTECH Innovation Awards 2016. The award was a recognition of his earlier career with Qatar Islamic Bank, where he played a leadership role in taking a bank-wide transformation project live on its second attempt and bringing about core banking changes and legacy systems. He was also shortlisted for the Tech Leadership Award at the Banking Technology Awards.
In his present position as CIO of Al Hilal Bank, Krish hopes “to connect with FinTech CEOs and explore ways to collaborate.”
Life and career
Krish was born and raised in Ambasamudram in Tamil Nadu. An interest in basic programming took him from his degree in General Science to an advanced diploma in Technology and Information Systems and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Business from the Indian Institute of Modern Management (IIMM). Over a 19-year career, Krish went on to bring changes in organizations like Thinksoft, Citigroup EMEA (2002), Baltimore’s CitiFinancial (2004) and Fidelity Investments at the City of London Telecom (COLT) in 2005.
Middle-East career
In 2006, Krish took up management roles in the First Gulf Bank and implementing changes in processes, program governance, change management and enforcing stricter controls. This was followed by a two-year project in a senior position at BankMuscat International where major transformations in data centers, IT systems, CRM, trading platform, core banking and other areas were made.
iCAN Project
In 2012 Krish joined Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), where he spearheaded the bank-wide iCAN program with the aim of replacing the bank’s 15 year old infrastructure with new core banking platforms, greater automation of operational processes etc. Deloitte and Temenos were contributing partners in the project. QIB acknowledged Krish’s contribution towards growth and improvement, which led to the revision and updation of existing IT policies, creation of new IT processes under the ITIL Best Practices Framework, comprehensive CSA risk management exercises along with proper tracking and logging of internal and external audits, RCA and IT incident reports, among other changes.
Awards and recognition
In the February 2016 issue of the Computer News Middle East magazine, Krish was named as one of the best CIOs of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region for 2015, being the only CIO from Qatar’s banking industry to receive the honor. Also in 2016, Krish received the CIO of the Year Award at the MEFTECH Innovation Awards held in Abu Dhabi, for his leadership roles, improvement and growth contributions as a senior executive in the innovations achieved by QIB as a MENA-based institution.