Inclusive innovation in central banking can enhance monetary and financial stability, according to Daniel Eidan speaking at the Excellence in Retail Financial Services Convention 2023. Eidan is the advisor and solution architect of Bank for International Settlements – BIS.

Dusan Stojanovic, founder of True Global Ventures, talked about how the recent banking crises in the US and Europe, points to a shift towards decentralised assets and platforms.

Senior executives and heads discussed how banks and financial institutions redefine business models to be more inclusive, innovative, and resilient to volatile market conditions for SMEs. They also highlighted the opportunities and challenges of utilizing a composable design to succeed in the market.

Aswin phlaphongphanich of DeeMoney, Edu Trinidad of UBX, Frankie Wai of Temenos, Prashant Chauhan of Tata Capital, Sokha ROS of SBI LY HOUR Bank, and Srinivasan Shanmuganathan ( Shan ) of Standard Chartered shared their perspective on how can the composable design enable financial institutions to better address the needs of SMEs. Composable designs through interconnected components of microservices which can be assembled and reassembled quickly to go live fast are going to be the future. They also discussed how traditional banks have to evolve to compete with new market entries amid technological disruption and regulatory changes. To serve smaller-sized MSMEs a change of the game is needed in distribution and infrastructure.

Wai discussed that new players keep raising the bar for customer experience. Whenever there is a new positive experience regardless of industry, customers expect the same standards. Sokha pointed out that most incumbents only look at the top SMEs which leaves MSMEs behind. Aswin revealed that the pandemic brought to the fore pain points on the payments side where MSMEs were unable to reach their banks for remitting fund transfers within and across borders, and were facing huge forex volatility impacting the cash flow and liquidity of MSMEs. Trinidad commented that embedded finance allows the ability to provide quick and specific solutions right to the customers.

Shanmuganathan noted that infrastructure is more about accessibility not about technology enablement and how to gain access and speed to market that is critical. API connectivity and fintech collaboration are critical in building a self-service model for MSMEs to empower them to pick and choose what they need. He also highlighted that the biggest challenge with open banking is that there are many regulatory market restrictions, including how to utilize data that have not yet been addressed. To create service and product flexibility at the front end, Prashant shared that for agile capabilities one needs to build a layer on top of legacy systems, an open network of APIs for various functions. But to succeed in this, the most important part is to change the process, the policies and the digital mindset of the company accordingly. In the future, there is no brand loyalty only service loyalty and those FIs that serve the best and provide the best rates in the shortest time will win the race

Key discussion points:

How can the composable banking approach address the needs of SMEs and promote financial inclusion?

How can traditional banks evolve to compete with challenger banks amid technological disruption and regulatory changes in digital payments and lending?

How do organisations build and redefine business models to be more inclusive and resilient to volatile market conditions?

How organisations are balancing corporate responsibility and profitability to achieve greater stakeholder satisfaction and engagement?

Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council (USCBC) discussed with The Asian Banker’s Emmanuel Daniel the impact of the US-China trade tensions on foreign companies doing business in China, and anywhere in the world.

In this RadioFinance session, we will discuss the 2023 outlook for the banking industry of the Asia Pacific region, the dominant trends and challenges to watch, and the direct effect of inflationary pressures on the different markets in the region.

In this RadioFinance session, we will discuss how deploying distributed cloud technologies at the edge of the network is redefining data agility for real-time insights. It will also highlight challenges and opportunities of utilising edge solutions to digitally transform the financial services industry at scale.

Senior executives and heads of digital banks across Asia Pacific discussed how open banking frameworks and secured APIs can scale up financial services offerings. The dialogue also highlighted challenges and opportunities of utilising cloud-based solutions for connectivity, agility, and sustainability.

Phan Thanh Sơn, deputy CEO, head of global transaction services of Techcombank Việt Nam highlighted that the first priority for corporate banking is cash visibility by managing companies’ payables and receivables, reducing cash management operations, and managing supply chain transactions and data.

Kaiwan Turel, head of payment advisory, global payments solutions of HSBC Asia Pacific, mentioned that the key focus area for transforming corporate banking is utilising digital solutions to scale up operations to provide customer-centric products and innovate end-to-end customer experience.

Mark Willis, managing director and global head - API and open banking ecosystems of Standard Chartered stated that real-time treasury is shifting towards broader solutions that require optimised liquidity management. Moreover, leveraging APIs' real-time capabilities enhance user experience. Michael Christopher Cruz, vice president, usage and strategic businesses head of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) said banks in the Philippines face challenges in digitising corporate and SME banking when dealing with businesses in rural areas that rely on cash. Hence, banks must adopt the right digital solutions for customer needs and offer greater personalised experience.

Frankie Wai, business solution director APAC of Temenos emphasised that ever-changing customer demands, evolving regulations, cyber security concerns, sanctions, fraud, and the impact of the pandemic have created an urgency for banks to digitise corporate banking and core systems.

Key discussion points:

● How a composable banking approach can advance FIs capabilities at scale through open and secure cloud-native platforms?

● Utilising open banking APIs to build resilient real-time transactional services, enhance risk controls and meet regulatory compliance.

● The rise of embedded finance and banking-as-a-service to personalise the end-to-end customer journey,

● Identifying challenges and best practices for integrating new and emerging solutions to achieve greater hyper-personalised experience,

Senior executives and heads of digital banks across Asia Pacific discussed how innovation across service offerings and embracing a culture of transformation is key to growth and profitability, amid heightened competition.

With more challengers entering markets, digital banks can differentiate themselves with the technologies brought in and how efficient data is used to enhance stickiness of products.

Kevin Lam, head of TMRW and Group Digital Banking of UOB; Bryan Carroll, CEO of TNEX; Gunneet Singh Bally, senior vice president and group head of retail channels of Security Bank Corporation; Voranuch Dejakaisaya, executive chairman of Kasikorn Business Technology Group (KBTG); and Nick Wilde, managing director in Asia Pacific at Thought Machine discussed the profitability of a digital-only business and how cloud-native technology stack help banks and financial institutions (FIs) build the operating models of unique experiences.

Carroll said the main competitive advantage of digital banking is the ability to sum up all customer interactions, and the opportunities for value propositions. Bally discussed the increase in products and services offered due to “commoditised personalisation.” Lam talked about the need for close partnership and collaboration in the industry. Voranuch explained the process of innovating into the new digital core banking to support the digital requirements of today’s marketplace. Wilde said all banks are digitising but the differentiator is innovation data-centricity, and how banks utilise data using technology.

Key discussion points:

 Personalisation is important to sustain profitability of digital banks, as it creates better insights to customer preference.

 Digital banks are at a disadvantage when it comes to balance sheet and funding.

 Forging close partnerships and collaboration within the ecosystem through understanding each other’s culture.

 Banks can leverage partnerships in the ecosystems

 Focusing more on mortgages and home loan systems

 Bank needs commitment to innovation to sustain profitability.

Addressing data gravity to build an insight-driven business by RadioFinance

Senior executives and heads of digital banks across Asia Pacific discussed how innovation across service offerings and embracing a culture of transformation is key to growth and profitability, amid heightened competition.

With more challengers entering markets, digital banks can differentiate themselves with the technologies brought in and how efficient data is used to enhance stickiness of products.

Kevin Lam, head of TMRW and Group Digital Banking of UOB; Bryan Carroll, CEO of TNEX; Gunneet Singh Bally, senior vice president and group head of retail channels of Security Bank Corporation; Voranuch Dejakaisaya, executive chairman of Kasikorn Business Technology Group (KBTG); and Nick Wilde, managing director in Asia Pacific at Thought Machine discussed the profitability of a digital-only business and how cloud-native technology stack help banks and financial institutions (FIs) build the operating models of unique experiences.

Carroll said the main competitive advantage of digital banking is the ability to sum up all customer interactions, and the opportunities for value propositions. Bally discussed the increase in products and services offered due to “commoditised personalisation.” Lam talked about the need for close partnership and collaboration in the industry. Voranuch explained the process of innovating into the new digital core banking to support the digital requirements of today’s marketplace. Wilde said all banks are digitising but the differentiator is innovation data-centricity, and how banks utilise data using technology.

Key discussion points:

 Personalisation is important to sustain profitability of digital banks, as it creates better insights to customer preference.

 Digital banks are at a disadvantage when it comes to balance sheet and funding.

 Forging close partnerships and collaboration within the ecosystem through understanding each other’s culture.

 Banks can leverage partnerships in the ecosystems

 Focusing more on mortgages and home loan systems

 Bank needs commitment to innovation to sustain profitability.