Allica Bank appoints new CTO

In her new role Ravneet will lead Allica’s overall technology vision and software development to provide SMEs with the best possible experience through its digital products.

Allica recently acquired AIB’s £0.6billion SME lending portfolio and plans to launch its Business Rewards Account later this year.

Ravneet joined Allica in January 2020 as lead integration engineer, shortly after Allica’s successful application for a banking licence. She arrived with 15 years’ experience gained in software engineering positions at firms including Santander, Infosys, Teradata and Aricent.

In May 2021 she was promoted to senior leadership as VP of engineering, leading the engineering team and technical architecture across web, mobile, backend, and testing, and later in 2021 also took on responsibility for the platforms teams.

Ravneet’s key priorities as CTO over the coming months will include migrating AIB’s SME customers over to Allica. She will also continue to lead on Allica’s building of software dedicated to the SME segment that Allica serves, and supporting capabilities such as continuous integration and delivery and platform scalability.

Ravneet Shah said: “Ever since I joined Allica, I’ve enjoyed the challenge of helping drive forward the bank’s mission to combine easy-to-use and robust technology with a tailored personal service. With a relentless focus on innovation and providing the best possible digital products for customers, Allica is truly taking digital business banking to the next level – it is a fantastic place to develop a technology career.

“I started my career developing code to record temperature readings, I’ve enjoyed the journey I’ve been on to get here, and am proud to be starting my new challenge of leading the technology function for Allica as it goes on its mission to reimagine relationship banking for SMEs.”

Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, added: “Allica prides itself on offering our customers digital banking to make life easier for hard-working established SMEs, alongside setting a new standard for service in the SME banking market. Ravneet has been fundamental to developing Allica’s proprietary software and her efforts have rightly earned her respect and admiration across the bank and the wider industry.

“Ravneet’s promotion is thoroughly deserved. We are delighted to able to benefit from her skills and experience as we continue on our quest to become the leading SME challenger bank for the decade ahead.”