Strengthening AI-First Global Growth Led by eMACH.ai and Purple Fabric. Manish continues as CEO of Intellect Wholesale Banking.
Chennai, India, December 3, 2025: Intellect Design Arena Ltd., an enterprise-grade global financial technology leader known for its AI-First approach and its application of First Principles Thinking, Open Finance Architecture and Design Thinking to reimagine banking and insurance institutions, today announced the elevation of Manish Maakan to Executive President & Group Chief Revenue Officer (GCRO). Manish will continue to serve as CEO – Intellect Wholesale Banking, while assuming an expanded mandate to drive Intellect’s global growth momentum across major financial hubs.
This announcement comes at a defining time in the evolution of the financial technology landscape. Around the world, banks and financial institutions are shifting decisively toward modular, API-led and intelligence-driven architectures that enable resilience, agility and real-time decisioning. Intellect’s leadership in this transformation is anchored on two strategic innovations:
In the words of the participants:
“Delighted to join Andrew England and iGTB in Oxford to open their Transaction Banking course. It’s important to design this business well because the best transaction businesses adopt leading edge technology and work with the top partners in the market to power the earnings of their banks.” Ann Cairns, Executive Vice Chairman, Mastercard.
“It was amazing, it far exceeded my expectations… this was an amazing introduction. I got to see some of the world’s leaders in transaction banking speak. Someone like Andrew – to teach transaction banking in three days – almost impossible!” Vipul Lalka, VP Enterprise Payments Platform & Capabilities, TD Bank.
“Inspirational and insightful speakers… excellent content that is extremely engaging and real world applicable.” Holly Caetano Alves de Castro, Head of Commercial Operations, Investec.
“I learned that there is elegance in simplicity in TB and I found that the group activities were an excellent way of drawing in different experiences… we could tackle a particular problem in perhaps a unique way that not any of us individually would have discovered on our own.” JD Penner, Senior Director, Cash Management and Payment Solutions, Commercial Solutions, CIBC.
“It was a wonderful experience; I learnt a lot and met many interesting people. Thank you!” Henrik Lang, Managing Director, Head of Liquidity, Global Transaction Services, EMEA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Class of ’19: the fifth iGTB Oxford School of Transaction Banking, April 2019, Rhodes House
“The School is one of the most unbelievable experiences of any banker’s life! It takes us to new heights, it stretches our creativity and it definitely makes us think differently.” Mirka Skrzypczak, Head of Working Capital & Trade Products, NatWest.
“Power of networking, before everything else, probably the best training I’ve ever been on.” Katarzyna Bajerowska, President of the Management Board, mFactoring.
“Great experience!… You’ve done a great job putting this programme in place, so I strongly recommend it.” Patrik Havander, Head of TxB Strategy & Commercial Excellence, Nordea.
The need for skilled execution has never been higher with transaction banking growth in 2019 still strong at 9% and double digits in major banks. The course brought forth intensely practical considerations for banks to help them capitalise on the opportunity. As well as the taught curriculum and participant exercises, the School, again helmed by Ted Roosevelt Malloch, CEO, The Roosevelt Group, was made more powerful through the insightful opening address by Ann Cairns, Executive Vice Chairman, Mastercard, from practitioner case studies and insights shared by Barclays, ING, Nordea, CIBCand Emirates NBD, from sessions led by Dr Tobias Miarka, MD, Greenwich Associates, Graham Hutchings, CEO, Oxford Analytica, Rupert Gather, Executive Chairman, Invest UK and closing graduation dinner speaker Michael Harte, COO, Santander UK.
- eMACH.ai – the world’s first enterprise-grade, composable and contextual open finance platform
- Purple Fabric – Intellect’s Open Business Impact AI platform that delivers measurable outcomes across mission-critical banking workflows
As the next wave of digital transformation accelerates, Intellect is seeing rapidly growing demand across the US, Canada, Europe, MEA, India, APAC and ANZ. The elevation of Manish to a group-level revenue leadership role strengthens the company’s ability to capture this demand with discipline, scalability and a sharply aligned global market strategy.
Driving the Next Phase of Enterprise Impact
Manish has been a key member of Intellect’s growth journey in deepening client relationships, strengthening enterprise deal leadership, and elevating the company’s relevance across Tier-1 and Tier-2 financial institutions. His strategic insight, customer-centric approach, and expertise in complex transformation programs have helped position Intellect as a trusted partner for mission-critical modernisation.
In his expanded role, Manish will anchor Intellect’s global revenue charter across markets, bringing together:
- Market development
- Enterprise deal orchestration
- Partner ecosystem expansion
- Regional and solution-level revenue alignment
This unified structure will enhance Intellect’s ability to deliver consistent, predictable, and scalable growth.
Arun Jain, Chairman & Managing Director, Intellect Design Arena Ltd., commented, “The financial world is entering a phase where institutions must reimagine their operating models with long-term clarity, not short-term digital upgrades. This requires leadership that can bring together domain understanding, strategic foresight and an ability to build trust with senior decision-makers across markets. Manish’s embodiment of these qualities, coupled with his global perspective, client-centric approach and sharp understanding of industry shifts will play a transformative role in shaping Intellect’s next horizon of growth. His elevation is both timely and well deserved.”
About Intellect Design Arena Ltd
Intellect Design Arena Ltd is a global leader in enterprise-grade financial technology, delivering composable and intelligent solutions to forward-looking financial institutions across 61 countries. With three decades of domain expertise, our product suite spans Wholesale Banking, Consumer Banking, Central Banking, Wealth, Capital Markets, Treasury, Insurance and Digital Technology for Commerce. Applying First Principles Thinking and Design Thinking, we have elementalised the financial services landscape into a finite set of Events, Microservices, and APIs, enabling faster, modular transformation with measurable outcomes.
At the heart of this are eMACH.ai, the world’s most comprehensive, composable and intelligent open finance platform; Purple Fabric, the world’s first Open Business Impact AI platform; and iTurmeric, our composable platform for seamless integration and configuration. We are a pioneer in applying Design Thinking and our 8012 FinTech Design Center, the world’s first Design Center dedicated to Design Thinking Principles, underscores our commitment to continuous and impactful innovation, addressing the ever-growing need for digital transformation. We proudly serve over 500+ customers worldwide, supported by a diverse workforce of solution architects, and domain and technology experts in major global financial hubs. For more information, visit www.intellectdesign.com
For Media related info, please contact:
Nachu Nagappan
Intellect Design Arena Ltd
Mob: +91 89396 19676
Email: nachu.nagappan@intellectdesign.com
For Investor related info, please contact:
Praveen Malik
Intellect Design Arena Limited
Mob: +91 89397 82837
Email: Praveen.malik@intellectdesign.com
