David Hijirida

David Hijirida quit the banking industry a decade ago.

He left Seattle-based Washington Mutual in 2007 - a year before its collapse - and went to Amazon, where he helped build the online retailer's global payments business.

Now, after stints in Amazon's cloud computing and advertising business, Hijirida returned to banking Sunday as the new chief executive of Portland-based Simple. He said he was drawn back to the industry by Simple's longstanding ambition to create a customer-friendly bank.

"This has been what I've been dreaming about for quite a while," said Hijirida, 46. "The values, the mission, those are the things that would bring me back."

Simple sold to Spanish banking giant BBVA in 2014 for $117 million but has continued to operate as a separate organization with a distinct strategy and employs 250 at its headquarters in Southeast Portland.

Still among Portland's most prominent tech companies, Simple has weathered two difficult years as it sought to reconcile its entrepreneurial roots with the hard realities of running a bank.

The Portland company laid off 10 percent of its workforce last year and replaced nearly its entire executive staff. Then, founding CEO Josh Reich resigned in May.

Simple is attempting to reboot, expanding beyond its core checking and savings accounts while reconnecting with its customers. Hijirida said he spent his first hours at the company last week listening in on its customer service calls to learn what works for them, and what doesn't.

"As we establish new products we're going to attract a whole new group of" customer, Hijirida said. "We want to evolve with our customers."

Simple introduced the first of its new products in September, paying a 2.02 percent interest rate on some accounts with more than $2,000 in savings. That's much higher than standard bank checking and savings accounts.

"It's a fairly intentional provocation," said Dickson Chu, Simple's chairman, who served as interim CEO before hiring Hijirida last week. The higher interest rate is meant to stand out, he said, and differentiate the Portland banker from bigger, established banks.

The new interest rate is high enough that it eats into Simple's profit margins, Chu said, but it's part of a broader investment meant to expand the company's customer base.

Originally from Hawaii, Hijirida has physics degrees from MIT and Cornell and an MBA from Wharton, the University of Pennsylvania's renowned business school.

Chu said BBVA chose Hijirida because, along with his experiencing in banking and technology, he shares Simple's commitment to connecting with its clients and building a welcoming culture for employees.

"There are lots of people who have the technical skills and are competent," Chu said. "We also needed to find the right human."

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699