Apex Group appoints Group Chief Information Security Officer

Apex Group has announced the appointment of Azeem Bashir as the Group Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Azeem Bashir

The company notes that the new CISO brings over 25 years of cybersecurity leadership experience spanning Investment and retail banking, crypto, tokenisation, Blockchain, AI, Oil and Gas, critical national infrastructure, Governmental and energy sectors.

Bashir joins Apex Group at a pivotal time for the organisation, bringing exceptional expertise in cyber-resilience, threat intelligence and secure digital transformation.

The company highlights that as a globally recognised and award-winning CISO, Bashir has advised regulatory and governmental bodies across the globe, managed responses to major cyber-incidents and led transformation programmes across EMEA and APAC regions.

In his new role, Bashir will oversee and enhance Apex Group’s enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy, focusing on four key areas:

• Cybersecurity
• Security strategy
• Technology governance and risk
• Technology assurance

Bashir is globally recognised for aligning security strategies with business outcomes, building resilient teams and delivering measurable results across multiple sectors.

Apex Group states that Bashir’s appointment reinforces its ongoing commitment to securing its data, platforms and services, while enabling sustainable and innovative growth for its clients worldwide.

“Integrity, trust and innovation”

Azeem Bashir, Group Chief Information Security Officer, Apex Group said: “It gives me great pleasure to join the Apex Group and embark on this new chapter.

“I chose to join the Apex Group as I felt that my values and the businesses align well – integrity, trust and innovation.

“To stay ahead of today’s evolving threat landscape, we must move beyond traditional models and embrace a risk based, threat intelligence-led, secure-by-design approach.

Bashir concluded: “This means embedding resilience at every level and aligning security to support speed, scale and customer trust; security must be a design pillar, not an afterthought.”

“Exactly what we need”

Marie Measures, Chief Digital Information Officer, Apex Group said: “We are delighted to welcome Azeem to Apex.

“His breadth of experience and forward-thinking approach to cybersecurity are exactly what we need as we continue to evolve and grow globally.”

Measures continues: “As we navigate an era of increasing digital dependency and sophisticated cyber-threats, Azeem’s role is crucial in continually strengthening our enterprise cybersecurity and resilience capabilities.

“His leadership will play a critical role in reinforcing client trust, protecting our infrastructure and supporting our innovation agenda,” she concluded.