FirstBank UK has expanded Vladimir Bendikow’s role to Chief Data & AI Officer. He has held leadership roles in data, business intelligence, enterprise architecture and technology across financial services and other organizations.

Bendikow most recently served as Chief Data Officer at FirstBank UK, a role he held since 2022. He previously served as Lead Architect, MIS at Europe Arab Bank, following roles as Chief Architect/CDO and CDO (advisory) at OpenBrix. Earlier in his career, he was Head of Business Insight Centre at UK Export Finance and held roles at Control Risks, Turning Point, ExCeL London and GTA by Travelport.

In a LinkedIn post, Bendikow explained his view that data and AI are closely connected, while noting that AI brings additional considerations around use cases, workflows, value measurement, model and agent operations, and organizational change. He also said governance and transformation need to advance together, particularly in regulated industries.

“The titles may continue to evolve—CDO, CDAIO, CAIO—but the need for clear accountability won’t disappear. For me, this new role is an opportunity to bring two closely connected worlds together: trust and value, governance and transformation, data and AI,” Bendikow wrote.