TD Bank announced a flurry of executive changes, including the retirement of its chief executive and the CEO of TD Securities. 

Riaz Ahmed, group head of wholesale banking and president and chief executive of TD Securities, will retire in January after three decades at the bank, a Sept. 19 release stated.

“Riaz has helped define TD strategy and deliver business growth,” retiring TD Bank CEO Bharat Masrani said during the bank’s investors call on Sept. 19. “He led corporate strategy, expanded our insurance business in North America, grew credit cards businesses and helped solidify one of the strongest balance sheets in banking.” 

Masrani announced, this month, his plans to retire in April 2025 and Raymond Chun, current group head of Canadian personal banking, is slated to succeed him. 

Sona Mehta, executive vice president of real estate secured lending and everyday banking, saving and investing, will replace Chun when he becomes chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over as group president and CEO in April. 

“Sona is a terrific leader who inspires the teams to deliver,” Masrani said. 

Provident Bank hires Varghese as new CISO

Provident Bank named Vivin Varghese senior vice president and chief information security officer on Sept. 23.

“I plan to strengthen and manage Provident Bank’s information security policies and procedures to ensure they are comprehensive and effective,” Varghese told Bank Automation News. “My long-term goal is to provide strategic leadership and oversight to the organization’s overall cybersecurity framework…to ensure the entire organization is aligned on risk management strategies and security practices to support the bank’s broader goals.” 

Varghese brings 16 years of experience in information security, most recently as CISO for Customers Bank, according to the release. 

Arteria AI selects Etu as new head of product

AI-driven documentation service provider Arteria AI tapped Eric Etu on Sept. 17 as its new head of product to improve its AI-driven financial documentation analysis and documentation product.

With more than two decades “leading product organizations at companies developing SaaS solutions for financial institutions,” Etu is familiar with “operational considerations and client nuances in financial services,” he told BAN. 

“At my last role at Ocrolus (and previously at Informed.IQ), I was focused specifically on using AI to extract data from financial documents, which has helped me hit the ground running with the problem space,” Etu said. 

Etu aims to build AI-driven solutions that are flexible and can do multiple tasks related to documentation, he said. 

Toronto-based Arteria AI lists bank clients, including BMO and Goldman Sachs. 

Furman moves to Citi as the global head of public cloud

Citi hired Dmitri Furman as its global head of public cloud.

“In this role, I will be leading our global efforts to accelerate cloud transformation, scale cloud infrastructure and partner across the organization to drive Citi’s strategic initiatives to deliver cutting-edge solutions for clients and stakeholders,” Furman wrote in a Sept. 20 LinkedIn post. 

Prior to joining Citi, Furman worked at Wells Fargo as managing director and technology executive of interim head of cloud, according to his LinkedIn profile. Furman also worked at JPMorgan and Chase as executive director digital identity platform. 

One Inc names Michael Ellis as CFO

One Inc named Michael Ellis chief financial officer effective Aug. 5 as the Folsom, Calif.-based fintech scales its digital payments platform. 

“The insurance industry has often had the reputation of being hesitant to embrace new technologies,” Ellis told BAN. “By expanding payment modalities, we can significantly increase the digitization of paper transactions, not only within the U.S.-based insurance sector but also in broader international markets.”  

Ellis said he will first review the company’s “business intelligence data flows and systems to enhance KPI performance metrics and [establish] a more robust financial reporting package, which can be leveraged to make strategic business decisions.”  

Ellis has more than 30 years of experience, holding the same title at payment platforms BillGO, FloorCloud, Flywire and CashStar, according to a One Inc release. 

Grasshopper appoints Peterson as vice president of embedded finance

Digital SMB banking service provider Grasshopper has appointed Vince Peterson vice president of embedded finance, according to the company’s Sept. 11 release.

Peterson will be tasked with growing Grasshopper’s Banking-as-a-Service, corporate API banking and payment facilitation platforms and programs, the release stated. 

Before joining Grasshopper, Peterson was an account executive at fintech Treasury Prime, the release stated.