Roundtable Recap: The Future of Finance: Leveraging Digital Transformation for a Virtual World – Asia Pacific

The Future of Finance: Leveraging Digital Transformation for a Virtual World
December 2, 2020 

Event Highlights

For many large financial institutions, rising regulatory pressures, inadequate data infrastructure and surging competition from non-traditional players and fintech companies have become significant barriers to success. Updating legacy systems and moving backend systems to the cloud at a rapid pace to compete with startups is a huge challenge without the disruption of a global pandemic.

This roundtable discussion will focus on how organizations are utilizing technology to achieve their goals, protecting privacy against potential data breaches and where they see the biggest challenges or pitfalls, in a world that will forever look drastically different.

How do you move to a virtual word and meet your digital customers needs at an accelerated pace when costs are being cut? How do you stay competitive and innovative beyond the pandemic? How do you show regulators that you are truly resilient?

Covid -19 accelerated online adoption and transformed the way leaders are thinking and servicing the industry. What does the future of finance look like in a digital world? What is the workforce of the future, and how do you lead in a remote world? As more employees work from home and customers are looking for online solutions, what are the cyber ramifications and how do you maintain whilst improving the level of security to ensure a company’s survival?

At Bloomberg’s The Future of Finance roundtable, Bloomberg’s editorial team had a series of conversations with key voices and leaders in the region.

 

Participants:

Akhil Handa, Head of Fintech, Partnerships, Mobile Banking and Digital Lending, Bank of Baroda
Charamporn Jotikasthira, Executive Director, Bangkok Bank
Richard Leung, Group Chief Technology Officer, Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing
Sonjoy Phukan, Global Chief Operating Officer, Bank of Singapore
Noel Santiago, Chief Digital Officer, BPI
William Streitberg, Chief Information & Technology Officer, Hong Leong Bank
Lito Villanueva, Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation
Likhit Wagle, General Manager, Global Banking & Financial Markets, IBM

Moderator: 

Sophie Kamaruddin, Reporter, Bloomberg Television

Click here to view the video of the full discussion.

 

Below are some highlights from the event:

  • On Covid accelerating digitalization in banking: “I think banks have learned that fintech is not a threat to the industry, Likhit Wagle, General Manager, Global Banking & Financial Markets at IBM said. “Fintech is becoming an engine for innovation for banking just in the same way as biotechnology companies were engines for innovation for the pharmaceutical industry.
  • On the next frontier of digital banking: “It’s gotta be anywhere, anytime, fast and basically convenient,” William Streitberg, Chief Information & Technology Officer at Hong Leong Bank said on the future of digital banking. Streitberg predicts the challenges a lot of people will be facing in the coming years is digital authentication. 
  • On creating value-added experience: “Our priority would be to include machine learning and artificial intelligence to create those value-added customer experiences,” Noel Santiago, Chief Digital Officer at BPI said. Noel says BPI is leveraging its strong corporate relationship presence and API infrastructure to connect with partners and customers, both retail and corporate.
  • On the importance of API: “We have 130 million customers, but the fact remains that we can’t do everything and we can’t be everywhere,” Akhil Handa, Head of Fintech, Partnerships, Mobile Banking and Digital Lending at Bank of Baroda said. “This is why it is very important to tap into these emerging ecosystems and the islands that are there and connect into them effectively.” 
  • On adapting to the digital age: “It used to be physical, physical, and physical, and now everything starts with digital and ends with digital,” Charamporn Jotikasthira, Executive Director of Bangkok Bank said. 
  • On what 2021 will bring: “2021 would be an era of massive competition,” Lito Villanueva, Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation said. Villanueva says the regulatory landscape in the Philippines has been very dynamic when it comes to enabling players in the industry to further accelerate digitalization.
  • On revitalizing financial market through technology: Richard Leung, Group Chief Technology Officer at HKEX said the stock exchange recently announced two projects which significantly shorten the IPO settlement cycle and streamline post-trade workflows of Northbound Stock Connect. “With these enhanced processes, we think we can bring more vibrance to the financial market in Hong Kong,” Leung said. 
  • On the importance of human connection: ““In the high net worth and ultra high net worth space that we operate in, the trusted advisor element is very, very important to the customer journey,” Sonjoy Phukan, Global Chief Operating Officer at Bank of Singapore said. Phukan stressed that relationship managers remain pivotal in the increasingly digitized banking sector.

This Bloomberg Roundtable was Proudly Sponsored By

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