Strategic Transformation Leader in Financial Services
I'm a strategic transformation leader in Financial Services with a passion for implementing cutting-edge technology solutions that drive real business value.
I'm a Strategic Transformation Leader and Group Chief Digital Officer with a track record delivering technology, digital and cultural change in large organisations in the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East.
With Holly Joint I run Beacon58, an AI training and advisory company. Our AI Fluency programme gives senior leaders their own AI agent and six weeks of guided discovery, and we run the Claude in Action masterclasses.
I'm President of the City CIO Club, an invitation-only forum for CIOs and CTOs of major organisations in and around the City of London. It's practitioner-led, with no vendor pitches, and runs under the Chatham House Rule.
From March to September 2026 I led technology strategy and daily operations at Nomo, the Sharia-compliant digital bank of Bank of London and The Middle East.
I led the bank's transformation agenda, including all information technology/core, cyber security, digital, programme management, marketing, FinTech & Open Banking, AI/Data, innovation, customer experience & process re-engineering.
At the largest systemically important bank in Northern Europe, I was responsible for creating and driving the bank's 3-year digital transformation plan. I championed the introduction of AI, ML, data analytics and the move to the cloud (front and back office). I also established Nordea Ventures to invest directly into FinTechs to underpin and support the bank's franchises. My most exciting outcome was portfolio company Tink's exit for $1.8B.
I've led digital change agendas for companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide Building Society and the global events giant, Reed Exhibitions.
I was born in Scotland, moved to England aged 9 and grew up near London. I finished my studies at University College London in 1999, then founded a dotcom startup, raised $1m and proceeded to spend my twenties and early thirties building several successful digital service start-ups.
Although I can speak plain English, I'm also a total geek. I was practising DevOps and SaaS before they were terms we all knew. I'm a coder - I'm more or less fluent in PHP and I wrote the code for all of my start-ups myself using the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack - some of which supported millions of users and transactions.
You can find me online writing for:
Ewan MacLeod is a strategic transformation leader in financial services, based in London. He is co-founder of Beacon58, an AI training and advisory company, and President of the City CIO Club. He has held Group Chief Digital Officer, CIO, CTO and Chief Transformation Officer roles in large banks across the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East, most recently as Chief Technology Officer at Nomo (BLME) and before that as Chief Transformation Officer at Sohar International in Oman and Group Chief Digital Officer at Nordea. He founded the Mobile Industry Review, FinTech Profile and Conversational AI News publications.
He works with banks to design and deliver group-wide AI and digital transformation programmes, and advises companies on their AI strategy. Through Beacon58 he runs AI Fluency, a six-week programme that gives senior executives their own AI agent. He is external faculty for the London Institute of Banking and Finance and the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, teaching executive education on AI, FinTech and Open Banking, and he speaks at industry conferences and executive forums.
Nomo, the Sharia-compliant digital bank of Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), where he was Chief Technology Officer from March to September 2026. Sohar International in Oman, where he was Chief Transformation Officer and led IT and core banking, cyber security, digital, programme management, marketing, FinTech and Open Banking, AI and data, innovation and customer experience. Nordea, where as Group Chief Digital Officer he built the bank's three year digital transformation plan and established Nordea Ventures. Earlier he led digital change at Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide Building Society.
AI in financial services, open banking and APIs, digital transformation strategy, next generation customer experience, FinTech collaboration, and digital banking security. He has spoken at more than 100 conferences, corporate events and executive forums.
Mobile Industry Review, started in 2006 before the iPhone was announced and still tracking the mobile industry. FinTech Profile, which profiles leaders in the FinTech ecosystem. Conversational AI News, covering the conversational AI ecosystem. Skigersta Systems, which generates podcast websites from RSS feeds. He also co-founded Eventscope, an online networking system for conferences.
By email at [email protected], or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ewanmacleod. He is available for C-suite appointments, strategic advisory roles, speaking engagements and executive education.
Interested in discussing how I can help transform your organisation? Available for C-suite appointments and strategic advisory roles.