Seasoned financial services and payments executive brings more than two decades of leadership experience as Pelican focuses on expanding global banking relationships, entering new markets and accelerating product commercialization

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 2, 2026) - Pelican AI (CSE: PEL) ("Pelican" or the "Company"), a provider of artificial intelligence-powered payments, financial crime compliance and trade finance solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Nino Di Teodoro as Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Di Teodoro brings more than two decades of senior leadership experience across financial services, payments, digital banking and financial crime compliance. His appointment comes as Pelican enters its next stage of commercial development, with a focus on expanding relationships with financial institutions in North America and internationally, increasing penetration within existing markets, entering new geographic markets and introducing additional products across its payments and compliance platform.

Mr. Di Teodoro is a product-led executive with extensive experience in P&L management, new product innovation, market strategy and value proposition development. His career has been built at the intersection of technology and financial services, with a particular focus on developing and commercializing solutions for financial institutions.

Most recently, Mr. Di Teodoro served as Vice President at Symcor, where he led business process optimization, fraud and financial crimes product lines. Prior to Symcor, he held senior roles at Central 1 Credit Union, where he was responsible for digital banking platforms, strategic relationships and payments innovation.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Di Teodoro held executive and senior leadership positions at Meridian Credit Union, Thales, TD Bank Group, Citi Cards Canada and CIBC, with responsibilities spanning everyday banking, emerging payments technology, enterprise fraud management and card solutions. Mr. Di Teodoro holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and sits on many non-profit boards.

Pelican has spent more than 30 years developing and deploying proprietary artificial intelligence technology for the global financial services industry. Today, the Company's technology is trusted by major financial institutions in more than 55 countries and has processed more than 2 billion transactions representing approximately $10 trillion in transaction value. Pelican has developed its AI technology through decades of deployment within highly regulated financial environments. Its platform combines artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to automate and optimize payments, financial crime compliance and trade finance processes.

Pelican's solutions support multiple global payment formats, including SWIFT, Fedwire and ISO 20022, and are designed to improve straight-through processing, automate payment enrichment and routing, reduce false positives and manual intervention and strengthen financial crime compliance. The Company's integrated product portfolio includes Pelican Payments, Pelican Secure and AI-powered trade finance solutions.

"Pelican represents a unique opportunity in financial technology: we are not starting with an idea or an unproven platform. With more than 30 years of technology development, our platform has already operated within sophisticated banking environments, significant financial institution relationships and billions of transactions processed," said Nino Di Teodoro, Chief Executive Officer of Pelican AI.

"My priority as CEO will be to translate that foundation into the next stage of commercial growth. We intend to deepen and expand our relationships with key banking partners across North America and globally, increase our market share in the geographies where Pelican is already established, enter new markets and continue introducing products that address the evolving payments, compliance and financial crime requirements of financial institutions."

"The banking industry is undergoing a significant technology transition as financial institutions modernize legacy payment infrastructure, adopt real-time payment systems and look for practical applications of artificial intelligence that can deliver measurable operational benefits. Pelican has spent decades building technology specifically for this environment, and I believe that creates a compelling opportunity to expand the Company's commercial footprint."

"I would also like to thank Pelican's shareholders for their continued support. I am excited to lead the Company through this next phase and look forward to keeping our shareholders informed as we execute against our commercialization strategy."

Pelican's platform is designed for financial institutions seeking to modernize increasingly complex payments and compliance infrastructure without replacing their entire technology stack. Its modular architecture supports cloud, on-premise and hybrid deployments and provides solutions spanning global payments processing, sanctions screening, anti-money laundering, transaction monitoring, payments fraud, Verification of Payee and trade finance automation.

The appointment of Mr. Di Teodoro strengthens Pelican's commercial and financial services leadership as the Company seeks to build on its established technology platform, existing institutional relationships and international footprint.

The Company thanks Mr. Aleksandar (Sasha) Grujicic outgoing CEO for his service and contributions during his tenure. Mr. Grujicic has transitioned to an advisory role with Pelican.

About Pelican AI

Pelican AI is a financial technology company providing artificial intelligence-powered solutions for payments, financial crime compliance and trade finance. With more than 30 years of proprietary AI expertise, Pelican's technology is trusted by major financial institutions across more than 55 countries and has processed more than 2 billion transactions representing approximately $10 trillion in value.

Pelican's technology uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to help financial institutions automate payment processing, improve straight-through processing, strengthen financial crime compliance and modernize transaction banking infrastructure. Its solutions include Pelican Payments, Pelican Secure and AI-powered trade finance applications.

For more information, visit Pelican AI's website: https://pelican.ai/

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the commencement of trading of the Common Shares on the CSE under the symbol "PEL", the provision of market making services by ITG, the release of securities from escrow, the terms and termination of the contractual resale restrictions, the Company's business plans and objectives, and the status and potential outcomes of the disclosed litigation. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the risk that trading does not commence when anticipated, the risks associated with the disclosed litigation, general economic and market factors, competition, and the other risks described in the Company's public disclosure documents available on SEDAR+. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by law.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States. The securities referred to in this news release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption.

Pelican is involved in ongoing litigation. Readers are directed to the Company's August 27, 2026 news release and the disclosure in "Item 23 - Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Actions" and "Item 21 - Risk Factors" in the Company's CSE Form 2A Listing Statement available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca for further details.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

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