DIGITAL payments service provider Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets) has appointed Susan Hwee, UOB's head of group technology and operations, as its new chairman, with effect from Sept 1.

She succeeds Ching Wei Hong, who is OCBC's deputy president as well as the chairman of the Bank of Singapore and OCBC Securities.

Mr Ching has been Nets' chairman since Sept 1, 2018. The chairmanship is rotated among the local banks DBS, OCBC or UOB every three years.

Nets group chief executive Lawrence Chan said Mr Ching pivoted Nets towards cross-border retail payments and online e-commerce payment offerings and drove efforts to build Singapore's PayNow and Thailand's PromptPay linkage of real-time payment systems.

Mr Ching will be retiring from OCBC at the end of September 2021 after 22 years with bank. He was appointed deputy president in early 2020.

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Meanwhile, Ms Hwee has been a director on Nets' board since 2002. She has more than 30 years of experience in banking and operations, including two decades at UOB. She is also a member of UOB's management executive committee and spearhead's the lender's innovation initiatives.

Mr Chan said: "As the payments industry undergoes significant change, her vast experience and technology expertise will be invaluable in advancing Nets' capabilities."