Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), a financial institution with $177 billion in assets, has appointed Pedro Sousa Cardoso as its new Chief Digital Officer (CDO), effective immediately, as the bank continues to expand its digital leadership team.
Cardoso joins ADCB from Emirates NBD, where he served as CDO since October 2021. In that role, he oversaw digital transformation across the group’s retail banking and wealth management divisions. A notable part of his tenure included heading Liv, Emirates NBD’s digital banking subsidiary that launched in 2017 with a focus on millennial and Gen Z banking customers in the Middle East. Prior to this, Cardoso held various positions at Emirates NBD from 2011 to 2017.
His international experience includes roles at Portuguese digital bank Banco Best, Denmark’s Saxo Bank, and various digital leadership capacities at Standard Chartered across multiple markets. This appointment marks Cardoso as the second Standard Chartered veteran to be hired by ADCB in recent weeks.
The new CDO appointment follows ADCB’s announcement in late September of Shameek Kundu as Chief AI Officer. Kundu is tasked with leading the bank’s Meedaf initiative, an AI-powered digital platform for GCC financial institutions. Meedaf, which launched in April 2025, automates collections processes, handles risk assessments, manages regulatory compliance, and integrates with existing banking systems through APIs.
