Ex-DBBL CEO Shirin joins Filps as adviser
Former Dutch-Bangla Bank PLC managing director and CEO Abul Kashem Md. Shirin has joined Dubai-based fintech and digital banking infrastructure company filps Limited as its adviser for Bangladesh, as the company moves to deepen its footprint in the country’s banking and digital finance sector.
Shirin, who currently serves as an independent director on the board of Shimanto Bank, will advise filps on Bangladesh’s banking-sector priorities, regulatory and digital finance agenda, and governance and resilience standards, according to a press release.
The appointment brings a veteran banking technology executive into filps’ Bangladesh operations at a time when local banks are accelerating digital transformation and adopting technology for digital banking, lending, payments and risk management.
Shirin served as managing director and CEO of Dutch-Bangla Bank for more than nine years, after nearly eight years as its deputy managing director and six years as head of its information technology division. He joined the bank in 2003.
During his tenure, he played a key role in expanding Dutch-Bangla Bank’s digital financial infrastructure, including its ATM and POS network and Rocket, its mobile financial services platform.
He was also involved in the bank’s adoption of biometric agent banking, EMV cards, QR payments and app-based banking.
Before joining Dutch-Bangla Bank, he served as deputy general manager and head of IT at BASIC Bank.
“Bangladesh is not a market we are entering. It is a market we are committed to, with live production deployments already serving leading banks and a growing pipeline of institutional partnerships,” said Biswas Dhakal, CEO of filps.
He said Mr. Shirin’s experience in building Bangladesh’s digital banking infrastructure would help filps better understand and respond to the needs of the country’s financial sector.
Mr. Shirin said technology, when applied with discipline and respect for regulation, could help make banking services more accessible to people across Bangladesh.
“I look forward to helping filps serve the banks, the regulator and the people of Bangladesh with the seriousness this sector deserves,” he said.
The company said its platforms are already operating at leading commercial banks in Bangladesh and that it is working with several institutions on digital banking, digital lending, merchant ecosystems, and fraud and risk intelligence.
The company is headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and operates across the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Its product portfolio includes digital banking, digital lending, payments and switching, fraud and risk intelligence, digital onboarding and eKYC, merchant ecosystems and decision intelligence.
Shirin holds a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), a postgraduate degree from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and an honours degree from Bangladesh Agricultural University.
He has also authored three books on technology and served in leadership roles at the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh.
