RHB Bank goes live with BUSINESSNEXT, to advance customer experience for new-age banking

Rollout unifies customer engagement across branches, contact centers, retail, wealth, and SME banking, supporting more than 2,800 users across the Group while establishing a foundation for autonomous banking

KUALA LUMPUR. Malaysia, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- RHB Bank today announced the successful rollout of its new enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform powered by BUSINESSNEXT, marking a significant milestone in the Group's efforts to strengthen customer engagement, improve service delivery and support relationship-led growth.

The rollout is one of RHB's largest customer-focused technology initiatives to date, supporting more than 2,800 users across its branch network and contact centers, with over 75 integration points spanning key customer channels including web, mobile banking, internet banking and email. The platform streamlines how customer interactions, service requests and business opportunities are managed across the Group, providing employees with a more integrated view of customer engagement activities.

"Banking has always been built on trust. As customer expectations continue to evolve, we must continue evolving the way we serve them. This enables us to spend less time navigating multiple systems and more time focusing on advisory, problem-solving and relationship-building activities. It is an important step in our commitment to delivering service excellence and advancing our goal of becoming the No. 1 bank in customer experience by 2027,"
- Dato' Mohd Rashid Mohamad | Group Managing Director / Group Chief Executive Officer, RHB Banking Group

"RHB Bank's move to a unified platform reflects the direction banking is heading — from connected digital experiences towards autonomous operations. By bringing customer data, teams and processes together, BUSINESSNEXT will help RHB unlock more intelligent, contextual and proactive engagement while creating a foundation for the next phase of autonomous banking."
- Nishant Singh | Founder and CEO, BUSINESSNEXT

The initiative enables RHB to identify opportunities earlier, improve service recovery, strengthen relationship management and support more coordinated engagement across the customer lifecycle.

Aligned with RHB's PROGRESS27 corporate strategy, the platform strengthens the Group's Best in Service objective by equipping employees with better insights and capabilities to serve customers more effectively, while providing the scalability to harness data, analytics and intelligent automation in support of responsible and purposeful growth.

About the RHB Banking Group

RHB Banking Group is one of Malaysia's longest-standing and leading financial institutions, with a proud heritage spanning over a century. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Group has a strong presence across seven ASEAN markets and is powered by a workforce of about 13,000 employees. United by a common purpose – Together We Progress – RHB is committed to empowering individuals, businesses and communities to grow and progress together.

As a fully integrated financial group, our core businesses are structured into six key pillars: Group Community Banking, Group Corporate & Business Banking, Group Wholesale Banking, Group Shariah Business, Group International Business and Group Insurance. We offer comprehensive and innovative financial solutions through RHB Bank Berhad and our key subsidiaries: RHB Investment Bank Berhad, RHB Islamic Bank Berhad, and RHB Insurance Berhad. Our asset management and unit trust businesses are undertaken by RHB Asset Management Sdn. Bhd. and RHB Islamic International Asset Management Berhad.

RHB Bank Berhad is listed on Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalisation of RM31.6 billion as at 7 October 2026.

For more information, please visit www.rhbgroup.com.

About BUSINESSNEXT

BUSINESSNEXT provides an autonomous operating platform purpose-built for banking and financial services. Its portfolio spans CRM, lending, customer journeys, and specialized AI agents for banking and financial services.

Built on a headless, API-first and AI-native architecture, BUSINESSNEXT enables institutions to connect data, decisioning, workflows and customer engagement across channels. Trusted by over 1 Mn users globally in financial services, manages over 1 bn end customers on its platform.

https://www.businessnext.com/ 

 

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RHB Bank goes live with BUSINESSNEXT, to advance customer experience for new-age banking

TORONTO, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife has appointed Sinéad O'Connor as Chief Actuary, effective October 12, 2026, reporting to Phil Witherington, President and Chief Executive Officer, and joining Manulife's Executive Leadership Team.

"Sinéad's strategic expertise, deep knowledge of our enterprise, and ability to lead highly engaged teams will make her an incredible Chief Actuary for Manulife," said Phil Witherington, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife. "Her appointment reflects her robust experience and proven leadership, and I am confident she will define an impactful and results-driven next chapter for our Actuarial, Inforce, and Reinsurance teams."

O'Connor joined Manulife in 2007 and, in addition to her most recent role as Global Head of Inforce Management, she has served as Deputy Chief Actuary, Head of Group Actuarial, US IFRS Chief Actuary, and held leadership roles in Annuities, Long Term Care, and Finance.

Her leadership experience spans actuarial reporting, capital management, reinsurance strategy, risk management, inforce optimization, operational transformation, and enterprise performance. She has been previously accountable for optimizing the financial and risk profile of Manulife's global inforce and legacy closed blocks, integrating value management with best-in-class operations, delivering multi-year financial outcomes through organic and inorganic strategies, and overseeing Canadian IFRS reporting requirements.

"It is a privilege to take on this role and have the opportunity to lead a team of colleagues who approach their work with such care and expertise each day," said Sinéad O'Connor, Chief Actuary, Manulife. "Manulife has an incredible Actuarial function, and I look forward to building on our strong foundation to not only ensure rigorous inforce management, innovative reinsurance strategies, and actuarial excellence, but also embrace innovative approaches to help define the future of our industry."

O'Connor is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries UK (FIA) and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries USA (FSA), and she is working toward obtaining her Canadian FCIA accreditation. Until O'Connor completes the Canadian accreditation, Manulife's Derek Houle will serve as Appointed Actuary. Manulife will appoint a new Global Head of Inforce Management in due course.

O'Connor succeeds Stephanie Fadous, who passed away suddenly last month.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

Media contact:
Brittany Straughn
Global Chief Communications Officer
Brittany_Straughn@jhancock.com
978-621-9116

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Manulife appoints Sinéad O'Connor as Chief Actuary, joining Executive Leadership Team