Grab digibank head Reuben Lai to exit post (Update)

Reuben Lai, executive director and head of regional strategy of Grab and Singtel’s digibank GXS, is set to step down from his post later this month.

Reuben Lai, head of Grab Financial Group / Photo credit: Grab

In an internal email seen by Tech in Asia, Lai said his last work day will be on November 22.

“Grab has taught me to think big and use technology to solve real-life problems for humanity,” Lai added. “And there are indeed many problems, including the biggest risk (and opportunity) facing humanity now – climate change.”

In a statement to Tech in Asia, GXS said that Lai will remain as a board director of the digital bank in Malaysia.

Before GXS was established, Lai was the head of financial services at Grab Financial. He started out at Grab in 2015, serving as chief of staff to the group CEO’s Office.

The development follows several departures from Grab this year, with some executives exiting the company’s fintech business.

See also: Org Chart: How Grab Financial Group fits into the picture

These include Ankur Mehrotra, who quit as managing director of Grab Financial to serve as president of Julo, an Indonesia-based online lending platform.

Chris Yeo and Jeffrey Goh also recently left GrabFin, the company’s digital payments, insurance, lending, and wealth management arm.

Correction (November 9, 11:25 am): This article was updated to include a statement from GXS and make corrections to Lai’s job title.