Explore every episode of the podcast Meet the CIO

At more than R23-billion/year, Standard Bank Group has the biggest IT budget of any company in South Africa – and quite possibly in the whole of Africa.
The man charged with ensuring the continent’s largest financial services provider is spending that money optimally is group CIO Jörg Fischer, who is TechCentral’s guest in this episode of Meet the CIO, the publication’s monthly interview series presented by Wipro, where, instead of focusing on the vendors of technology, we interview the end users of IT – banks, retailers, manufacturers and more – about how they’re using modern technology to grow their businesses and drive their strategic agendas.
In this episode of Meet the CIO, Fischer chats about the technology function at Standard Bank Group, the role of a CIO in the financial services industry, the big strategic IT projects which the bank is involved with – and much, much more.
Among other topics, Fischer discusses:
• The career trajectory that resulted in him becoming a top IT leader;
• Why Standard Bank Group spends as much as it does on IT, and where that spending is directed;
• How IT aligns with the group’s strategic focus areas;
• The decision to migrate to SAP’s core banking solution, what was involved, the lessons learned and how the platform is working for the bank in 2024;
• What Standard Bank’s technology stack looks like, and its investment in the cloud;
• What makes a good CIO in 2024, including the skills that are important in the role;
• How Standard Bank is approaching AI – and what it can actually achieve for the bank and its clients;
• How technology is changing the banking industry;
• Standard Bank’s approach to cybersecurity; and
• How Standard Bank attracts and retains IT talent.
Don’t miss a fascinating conversation that provides great insight into how IT has become mission critical in modern banking. TechCentral

Meet the CIO is presented by Wipro.
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There is much more to being a chief information officer than being an advocate of the latest technology. In fact, articulating a vision, and architecting it, is critical.
That’s according to Shabhana Thaver, CIO at Investec Specialist Bank, who is the guest in the hot seat in episode 2 of TechCentral’s new interview series, Meet the CIO, which is presented by Wipro.
According to Thaver, technology is changing banking and many other industries in fundamental ways, and CIOs need to play a big role in providing an holistic view to the rest of the C-suite of what those changes mean for their company and for their industry.
“You have to be a risk officer, you have to be a compliance officer, you have to be a CIO, you have to understand the commercials and the revenue side of things… I'm a technologist, I love the fancy new stuff and dabbling and playing with it, but being in in a bank, which is systemic, you have to consider the impact of what you are doing, not just the change and the benefit.”
In the interview, Thaver discusses:
• Her career background in software development, and what led her to Johannesburg from Durban, her hometown, and then to Investec;
• Her career at Investec, leading to her appointment as CIO;
• The role of the CIO in a modern bank like Investec, and how the role of an IT leader differs in a bank compared to other industries;
• What makes a good CIO – and the role the CIO should play in helping establish organisational strategy;
• The big IT projects she is leading at Investec and the impact these will have on the bank;
• Investec’s technology stack and how it compares to other banks in South Africa;
• The likely impact of artificial intelligence – including generative AI – on Investec and its clients, including a look at how the bank is approaching AI;
• How AI will impact the banking industry – as well as what it means for productivity and jobs; and
• How else technology is changing the banking industry
Don’t miss a fascinating interview. TechCentral

Meet the CIO is presented by Wipro.
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Bruce Paveley says that when he moved from a senior IT role at Standard Bank in 2017 to the then-nascent start-up digital bank TymeBank, it was “a really big shock”.
“You go from five buildings in the middle of Joburg, multiple floors, to an office in Rosebank that’s two floors, and that’s the bank, and you think, ‘Wow, is this really a bank? Can it work like this?”
That was before TymeBank had launched its first commercial services, and long before it would go on to become South Africa’s most successful digital banking start-up with nearly 10 million customers and R6-billion in deposits and R3-billion in loans.
Paveley’s love for computers started when his dad bought him a Sinclair ZX81 in the early 1980s when he was a youngster growing up in the small north coast town of Empangeni.
Today, as chief technology officer at Tymebank, Paveley is leading a team that’s building the technology underpinnings (cloud-based, of course) of a modern digital bank. And it’s a fascinating story about using technology to challenge established industry incumbents.
In this first episode of TechCentral’s new podcast series, Meet the CIO, Paveley chats to Duncan McLeod about what was involved in launching TymeBank from a technology perspective, the strategic choices it made and why, and what comes next in the bank’s journey.
Paveley tells Meet the CIO about:
• His upbringing in Empangeni and how he ended up pursuing a career in IT
• The mainframe era, and his experience as a Cobol programmer
• His IT career at Standard Bank, including his involvement in the bank’s big SAP project
• Why he joined TymeBank
• What was involved in building the new bank, and the role that technology played
• TymeBank’s technology stack, and why the bank migrated from an on-premises solution to the cloud – and why it made the technology choices it did
• Tyme Group’s internationalisation plans, and how technology is underpinning that expansion
• How he works with the rest of the bank’s management team, and where technology fits into strategic decision-making
• TymeBank’s approach to cybersecurity
• What keeps him awake at night
• And much, much more
Meet the CIO is a new podcast series produced and published by TechCentral and published monthly. We talk to IT leaders across South Africa about the role of technology in their organisations. Don’t miss an episode by subscribing to TechCentral at youtube.com/techcentral. TymeBank · TechCentral