Arvind Vohra, country head of retail branch banking at HDFC Bank explained how the bank’s service-first culture and analytics-led value proposition is driving growth.
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Conversations and Interviews
Cloud-based infrastructure plays a crucial role in enabling digital cross-border instant payment systems between Singapore and India
Signature Bank’s collapse highlights the need for reforms to address liquidity, regulate cryptocurrencies, and protect depositor interests
Author Emmanuel Daniel, founder of The Asian Banker, ignited a lively discussion with former US congressman Barney Frank and SC Ventures head Alex Manson during the Singapore launch of his book, The Great Transition: The Personalization…
Simon Beitz, CEO of Alex Bank, discusses how the bank is disrupting the traditional banking industry with a lending-led and low operating cost business model, leveraging technology to deliver innovative and customer-centric financial…
Iswaraan Suppiah, AmBank’s group chief operating officer and Aaron Loo, managing director of retail banking, share how the bank’s centre of excellence supports uninterrupted operation and optimisation of RPA
Iswaraan Suppiah, AmBank’s group chief operating officer and Aaron Loo, managing director of retail banking, discuss the bank’s AmAccess Biz digital account that enables the seamless onboarding of MSME customers who face challenges…
Kelvin Tan of Standard Chartered Bank and Peter Murray of Amazon Web Services discussed the launch of BukaTabungan, the digital bank partnership with Indonesia’s leading e-commerce platform, Bukalapak
Edwin Bautista, president and CEO of UnionBank, described how technology, culture and people play important roles in the bank’s digital transformation, and showcased the data centre network and Smart Innovation Campus deployed with…
Red Hat's Arvind Swami, and Richard Harmon discussed how payment transactions have grown significantly during the pandemic and how cloud technology gain traction among financial institutions.
Radha Pillay, regional head for Asia Pacific at Smartsream, cautions against being too reliant on a single provider or technology, particularly for cloud solutions where very few platforms dominate the entire market.
Enno Burghard Weitzel, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Surecomp highlighted the importance of collaboration, and exploring multiple ideas and solutions before deciding.
Mick Fennell, business line director for payments at Temenos discussed how they grow and address issues in the payments business and how the pandemic accelerate the movement towards contactless processing.
With the digitisation…
Faisal Ameen, Managing Director, Head, Asia Pacific and Japan, Global Transaction Services, Bank of America Merill Lynch, shares the challenges and opportunities in trade, and the role adaptive technology will play in the future.
Georg Schneider, head of financial engineering at Digital Asset, spoke about the difficulties in creating and digitising assets into tokens, and how Digital Asset is able to make this process easier for their clients.
Hari Janakiraman, head of industry and innovation, transaction banking at ANZ talked about three distinct but interlinked areas that are needed to futureproof the bank. He discussed how emerging payment technologies can create platforms…
Kai Fehr, global head of trade and working capital, Standard Chartered Bank talked about trade platforms and how marketplaces are transforming supply chain finance for clients and partners.
He shared that channelling financing…
Barry Rodrigues, Finastra discusses how consumers’ and corporates’ access to financial services through multiple channels in addition to banks’ own channels is driving evolution in Banking as a Service.
“Capitalising on the digital…
Philip Panaino, global head of cash management of Standard Chartered talked about the opportunities in the banking industry in this digital world. In a post-COVID era, he felt excited about the use of technology and working within…
Travers Clarke-Walker, chief marketing officer of Thought Machine, talks about the company's involvement in the growth of digital banks in the region and how these institutions can take advantages of new technology to diversify product…
Parv Aggarwal, head of partnerships at WadzPay, talks about the company's mission to integrate payments between the physical currency world and the metaverse via cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and CBDCs on its distributed ledger…
Vinay Mendonca, Global Head of Product at HSBC, talks about the progress made by the bank in the digitisation of its trade finance and the improvements in speed of financing and quality of service.
Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, senior vice president in banking & payments at FIS talks about the importance of industry collaboration and adoption of new technologies in reducing payments friction.
Winnie Chen, head of treasury services in Asia Pacific at US-based BNY Mellon, discusses how the company is strengthening its teams in the region to tailor fit services in a rapidly-changing environment.
Samir Pandiri, president at Broadridge International, discusses the opportunities around innovation and platform integration as clients seek to digitise their ecosystems.
Nicolas Cailly, Head of Payments and Cash management of Societe Generale discussed the challenges such as high interest rate, and inflation worldwide and their impact on cash management and payments business. The bank supports the…
Ti Eng Hui, CEO of Brunei-based Baiduri Bank Group described how its new core banking system will position it for the future by simplifying IT operations, removing complexity and reducing costs. It will consolidate many obsolescent…
Alex Manson, head of the fintech investment and venture arm of Standard Chartered Bank, talked about how SC Ventures is out to transform the role of banks in the innovation space and how the future of finance is more collaborative…
Radek Jezbera, co-CEO of alternative investment platform Kilde discussed the performance of private debt instruments against publicly traded assets and in times of stress, the prospects for non-bank consumer and SME lending in Asia…
Patrick Cao, president of GoTo Group, the largest technology player in Indonesia, talked about the company’s strategy to improve its bottomline following its successful market debut and how it copes with challenges brought about by…
Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3 and Pixelmatic, caught the attention of El Salvador president Bukele with his idea of a country issuing bitcoin bonds and started positioning himself as an advisor to nation states on making Bitcoin part of…
Alejandro McCormack, COO and executive director of N1CO discussed with Emmanuel Daniel how N1CO, a digital bank in El Salvador is leading the financial revolution in Central America by digitising payments service.
Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), spoke with Emmanuel Daniel about how YGG and the gaming industry adopted blockchain technology and how it helps people make a living. With over 2.8 billion gamers around the world,…
Andi Taufan and Aria Widyanto of Amartha shared how their fintech social enterprise is supporting women entrepreneurs in Indonesia to expand their microenterprises. Founded as a microfinance cooperative in 2010, Amartha transformed…
Jakob Rost, CEO and co-founder of Ayoconnect, one the largest open finance platforms in Southeast Asia discussed the use of common APIs, the potential to forge industry collaboration and accelerate the digitalisation of Indonesia’s…
Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali discussed with Emmanuel Daniel, Rwanda's current economic boom and its development path over the last 20 years. With the changes happening in this east African country, it shows that Rwandans manage…
Lian Ping is chief economist of Zhixin Investment, president of Zhixin Investment Research Institute and president of the China Chief Economist Forum, in Shanghai. Before joining Zhixin Investment Research Institute, he was chief economist…
Nicolas Louvet, CEO, Coinhouse explores the idea of a crypto bank, discusses the steps the company is taking to apply for a banking licence in France and Luxembourg, and argues that while a cryptocurrency bank is feasible, they can…
Ukraine’s ambassador Zelenko: “Financial services community can contribute to stopping Russia's war”
Ukrainian ambassador Kateryna Zelenko, in an exclusive conversation with The Asian Banker's Emmanuel Daniel and Mathew Welch discussed the implications of the Russia-Ukraine war on the financial services industry.
Lars Holst, founder and CEO of GCEX, and Dusan Stojanovic, founding partner of TGV, discussed with Emmanuel Daniel the business model of the UK based FCA regulated digital brokerage, how it works with institutional and professional…
Simon Loong, founder and group CEO of WeLab discussed the company’s plans to build a pan Asian digital banking business, the path to profitability of its first digital bank in Hong Kong and how it is working with lead investor, German…
In this Leadership Perspective Series, Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso, president of Philippine National Bank (PNB) discussed digital transformation, IT security, and the bank’s participation in BSP’s initiatives to provide key payment…
Eric Barbier, founder and CEO, TripleA, speaks with Emmanuel Daniel, founder, about receiving the first crypto payments licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the new Payment Services Act.
He Cong, founder of Probe Group and a leader in China's blockchain industry, met with Emmanuel Daniel, founder, in Beijing to discuss the challenges and opportunities confronting the industry and Probe’s own technology.
In this Leadership Perspectives Series, Marek Hovorka, head of Ubank discussed the establishment of the bank, how it was positioned among the subsidiaries of parent company, VPBank and collaboration with sister company FE Credit. He…
In this Leadership Perspective Series, Samir Gupta, CEO, consumer banking at CIMB Group, discussed the strategy and opportunities that drive digital transformation. He tackled the bank’s strong performance and resiliency as shown by…
Radha Pillay, regional sales director for Asia Pacific at SmartStream, shared his views on the evolving technology requirement of financial institutions. He discussed the growing shift towards cloud, the ability to monetise data and…
Dennis Khoo, author and former UOB TMRW head, in this wide-ranging interview discussed the lessons from setting up one of the first digital banks in Southeast Asia, the imperative for incumbents to start a digital-only bank experiment…
David Whiteing, chief operating officer at Standard Chartered, discusses the bank’s digital transformation, its various digital platforms and partnerships to expand the financial ecosystem, and the technologies that are enabling sustainable…
Tan Su Shan, group head of institutional banking at DBS, discusses DBS’ digital transformation story, the evolution of its financial ecosystem to address issues confronting the industry today and its role as a technology enabler for…
In this conversation, David Moser, author of “A Billion Voices: China’s search for a common language”, talked about the political and cultural backdrop behind the adoption of Putonghua as the lingua franca of China.
Top policy advisor, Huang Yiping explains the history and direction of China’s economic policies.
Abdy D. Salimin, chief information officer and director of technology and operations, PermataBank, highlighted the opportunities in digital transformation, the challenges of being a BUKU IV bank, and the role of digital banking during…
Romain Nouzareth, CEO and chairman of CCU.ai, a Quebec-based cryptocurrency miner, discussed its recent listing on the Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange and the future of renewable energy use in cryptocurrency mining.
AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) founder and CEO Thomas McMahon stressed the need for transparent pricing and a marketplace for all related industries to grow carbon trading.
In this Leadership Perspective Series, Jens Lottner – chief executive officer (CEO) of Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) – shares his vision in leading the bank to greater heights by investing in technology,…
Anthony Koh, group CEO and co-founder of MC Payment, one of the first few digital payments companies to be listed on Singapore Exchange (SGX) Catalist, shared his business strategy, how they compete in a crowded market, plans for cross-border…
Newly appointed UN envoy on climate change, Mark Carney, discussed his role and what he hopes to achieve at the upcoming COP26 as well as his views on cryptocurrencies and experiences with past financial crises.
Paula Hunter, executive director of Mojaloop Foundation explained how it will work with its new sponsor member, MAS, to explore technology advancement in digital currency settlement infrastructure and applications to increase financial…
Stephan Dreyer, managing director of the Association of National Numbering Agencies, talked about the role of the global body in developing a common identifier standard for the emerging class of crypto and digital assets to be issued…
In his discussion with Emmanuel Daniel, True Global Ventures founder and director Dusan Stojanovic shared the development path of non-fungible tokens and how these are now generating new revenue streams for the entertainment and gaming…
Scott A. Shay is the co-founder of the Signature Bank and has served as Chairman of the Board since its inception in 2001.
Amrit Kumar, president and chief scientific officer of Zilliqa, and Michael Conn, CEO of Zilliqa Capital, share their perspectives on current challenges and opportunities in decentralised finance (DeFi), how they are building the technology…
China has released its 14th 5-year plan with the over-arching theme of improving its own domestic conditions, boosting quality of growth and people’s livelihoods, enhancing technological self-efficiency, bolstering national security…
Songtsen “Sonny” Gyalzur, founder of the Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery, spoke with Emmanuel Daniel about his journey from a privileged young man to a social entrepreneur.
In this up close and personal conversation with TAB chairman Emmanuel Daniel, Samuel Tsien, Group CEO of OCBC Bank, reflected on his journey as a banker, and personality traits that served him well as a leader.
Daniel Hanna, global head of sustainable finance at Standard Chartered, shared his view on the future of sustainable finance and its prospects and broader impact in society. He discussed the main challenges confronting the whole industry…
SGX's Rehan Ahmed and Temasek's Pradyumna Agrawal discuss the joint venture between the two organisations to build a full fledged infrastructure for digital assets in Asia, its growth potential and drivers as well as issues and challenges…
In this RadioFinance session, we will discuss the forecasts and the impact of the pandemic on the banking industry, rise in credit costs and declines in net interest margins as well as the overall profitability across APAC in the coming…
In this conversation with Emmanuel Daniel, former US Congressman Barney Frank discussed the incoming Biden administration’s key priorities, new appointments in top departments, financial impact of Covid-19 and recovery plan and an…
In this RadioFinance session, Emmanuel Daniel spoke with Bikram Chaudhury, a veteran in investment banking, about his current initiative to run a startup which aims to expand credit facilities to inclusive borrowers and the base of…
In this RadioFinance virtual roundtable on payments transformation, practitioners discussed how pressures from low rates and thinning margins are forcing banks to streamline operations, lower cost, plug into customer ecosystems and…
Andrew Takyi-Appiah, managing director and co-founder of Zeepay, discussed efforts around promoting financial inclusion through his venture Zeepay, the only currently existing non-telco fintech player to receive an Electronic Money…
In this RadioFinance session, self-styled investment guru, Adam Khoo, explained the investment philosophy which has allowed him to be continuously successful in different market conditions.
Richard Byworth, CEO at Diginex, discusses his entrepreneurial journey in leading the first digital asset financial services with a crypto exchange to be listed on NASDAQ in the US.
Well Fargo’s regional president and head of corporate and investment banking for Asia Pacific, Jafar Amin, discusses the rebound in inter regional trade and payments that may buoy outlook for 2021, and the need for institutions to…
BNY Mellon’s global trade finance product head Joon Kim, and head of treasury services in Asia Pacific, Arnon Goldstein, discuss the prospects of a recovery in trade and commercial payment volumes, the importance of engendering robust…
Wissam Khoury, head of international at Finastra, shares views on how the technology priorities of banks have changed due to the pandemic and how financial institutions are rethinking their technology strategy in favour of cloud and…
Paula Da Silva, head of transaction services at SEB, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on trade and cash management business from the bank and pan-European transaction banking industry perspective and how the bank has gone full throttle…
Raja Gopalakrishnan, executive vice president at Global Real Time Payments, FIS, shares key trends in payments and financial technology as well as how banks could improve their competitive strength with cloud technology
Standard Chartered's Sugirin: “With the pandemic, corporates are moving much more into near shoring”
Michael Sugirin, global head for Open Account Trade, Ecosystem & Trade Implementation at Standard Chartered Bank, discusses trends of nimbler and more diversified supply chains post pandemic and the importance of providing liquidity…
Kam Chana, product innovation director at Temenos, shares her perspective on evolving financial technology trends, how banks need to rethink personalisation and customer engagement, as well as bring efficiency in their business models
Anubhuti Gupta, head of APAC, Rosenberg Equities at AXA IM discusses with Foo Boon Ping the company’s ESG strategy and framework as well as how it is leveraging third party data vendors, artificial intelligence and data science to…
Faisal Ameen, head of global transaction services for Asia Pacific and Japan at Bank of America, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on trade and payment flows as well as industry outlook for APAC, and how the bank is helping FI and corporate…
Mary Huen, CEO of Standard Chartered Hong Kong, shares her insights into the role of Hong Kong as an international financial centre, China’s opening agenda and the capabilities that StanChart needs to develop to capture the opportunities…
Ned Phillips, CEO and founder of Bambu, a B2B robo-advisory technology provider, discusses the growth trend in automated wealth management, how the company differentiates its technology as well as its recent business growth
Kelvin Teo, group CEO and co-founder of Funding Societies, explains the differences between the company and other peer-to-peer financing platforms, its business performance and the challenges it faces during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Bermingham, co-founder and chief business officer of Nium, shares how the company has evolved its business model across retail and enterprise cross-border payments as well as its recent partnerships to drive future growth.
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Oliver Plein, global head of investment specialists ESG at DWS discusses how sustainability related regulations and investor demand have driven ESG integration and strategies amongst asset ma
Will Ruddick and Caroline Dama, board directors at Grassroots Economics Foundation, discuss how community currencies are helping the poor to exchange goods and services and incubate new businesses, without relying on scarce national…
The head of digital and user experience at TMB Bank, Robert Anghel, discusses how the bank is focusing on consumers’ growing appetite for digital services to lead in the market, the impact of COVID and its target technology model after…
Newly appointed ESG head for Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank explains to Foo Boon Ping and Chris Georgiou the importance of the region to the global sustainability movement and how the bank intends to embed ESG across all its businesses
In this Digital Reinvention Dialogue, the senior vice president of the transformation office at Bank Mandiri, Adinata Widia, shares how the bank starts to digitise manual processes and leverage fintechs to help maintain market share…
In this Digital Reinvention Dialogue, the chief technology and transformation officer of Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), Henry Aguda, shares the bank’s ambition of reaching 50 million consumers and one million SMEs as well…
Evaluating companies in a measurement system that emphasises the UN SDG targets leads to incoherent results, according to INNORBIS founder and CEO Angelica Lips da Cruz and CSO William P. Fis
Thomas William Tobin, Head of Retail Banking Group, Vietcombank, shared the outstanding 2019 results of the bank which earned it the Best Retail Bank Award in Vietnam. He also opened up about the digital transformation journey of Vietcombank…
Donald Lacey, managing director and chief operating officer of Ping An Global Voyager Fund discusses the investment philosophy of the company, the themes that shape its view on the future of finance and the impact that COVID-19 has…
Nandini Sukumar, CEO, The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), shares the results of its sixth annual sustainability survey that showed increased engagement among members on ESG disclosure and products
Nick Wilde, managing director for Asia Pacific (APAC) at Thought Machine, a cloud native technology provider, discusses the readiness of financial institutions to move their core banking systems to the cloud and the challenges that…
In this first part of the Wealth and Society Dialogue Series, Andrew D. Ive, founder and general partner of Big Idea Ventures, discusses the growing appetite for meat alternatives amid the COVID-19 pandemic and how the company’s two…
NASDAQ-traded VEON believes that while the transition to 5G is not expected to happen soon in the markets it is serving, there are growth opportunities that can be explored using 4G connectivity in the areas of financial services
G9 Ark aims to break the NGO-Donor model by providing a funding mechanism that fosters collaboration rather than competition among non-government organisations to strategically redress climate change.
Benjamin Diokno, governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), reveals the central bank’s mission to make the unbanked Filipinos part of the country’s formal economy.
China is slowly turning the corner from the pandemic and questions over its economic recovery are becoming more pressing. Top thought leaders discuss how and when this recovery could happen as well as other opportunities and challenges…
Axel Winter, chief technology officer at Central Group, speaks about building an omnichannel platform and some of the problems encountered while working with banks.
Dimantha Seneviratne, the chief executive of Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank, discusses the challenges that the country has been facing as well as the opportunities he sees for the Sri Lankan economy.
David Hardoon, special advisor on artificial intelligence for the Monetary Authority of Singapore, offers his insights on AI, from operationalising it to making it relevant to people and businesses.
DN Capital’s Lemmens: “Investors are becoming more judicious about which opportunities to invest in”
Renier Lemmens, a venture partner at DN Capital, shares his views on fintechs and how these companies operate and make decisions differently from banks.
Former footballer Michael Owen talks about his desire to give back to the community, the values he shares with his family and his career in sports and business.
Rasitha Gunawardana, CEO and general manager of People’s Bank, summarises the decade-long process of technologically upgrading the largest state-owned bank in Sri Lanka. He talks about the risks and challenges encountered along the…
Romesh Jayawickrama, the founder of Aurigin, formerly known as BankerBay, shares how the platform manages to connect deals and capital investors globally. He also talks about his role as a deal maker as well as the company’s business…
Abdul Rahman AlAshraf, founder of FreeCom, shares how his idea of communicating without the use of internet or mobile network came about. He also explains how the prototype works, its potentials and how it will keep people connected…
In the midst of the US-China trade war, Fudan University Dean of Economics Professor Zhang Jun, provides a clearer picture of what goes on inside the world’s second-largest economy and the factors affecting its growth.
Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium, admits that the European Union is still a weak organisation. And in a future that heralds a “world of empires”, it is necessary for the EU to abandon the unanimity rule and move forward…
Veteran banker Jonathan Larsen, who ran Citibank’s global retail bank and mortgages, came out of retirement to head Ping An Group’s chief innovation office. He is now on the lookout for innovative fintech business models that are complementary…
Tan Kong Khoon, the president and CEO of Hong Leong Financial Group, shares his views with The Asian Banker regarding the company’s plans for the long term, the challenges facing the financial industry, and providing solutions for…
Samuel John Mathew, global head of documentary trade and products at Standard Chartered Bank, explains how technologies, such as optical character recognition, natural language processing and artificial intelligence aid in digitising…
Navin Gupta, Ripple’s managing director for South Asia and MENA, discusses why emerging markets are ripe for opportunities in the payments sector, technology and the importance of working with regulators.
Shekhar Bhandari, head of global transaction banking at Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB), shares how KMB leverages its digital-first strategy by launching initiatives such as open API and solutions that allow customers to open bank accounts…
Jacqueline Keogh, Western Union’s global head of payments sales, discusses some key points regarding regulation and innovation in the industry as well as the need for better collaboration amongst financial institutions.