• Evolving landscape of personalised financial services
• Crucial role of regulation in fostering trust
• Transformation of bankers into technology enablers
• Challenges surrounding CBDC interoperability
• Growing influence of peer-to-peer lending in underserved credit markets

Emmanuel Daniel, founder of The Asian Banker, held a discussion in Singapore with finance industry veterans around ideas presented in his recently-launched book, The Great Transition: The Personalization of Finance is Here.

Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures, the fintech investment and venture arm of Standard Chartered Bank, and Barney Frank, former congressman and co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act, shared their thoughts about the changing role of bankers and the need to balance financial technology with regulation in order to maintain the trust and confidence in financial institutions. 

The banking crisis in the US that saw the collapse of three mid-sized banks with significant exposure to cryptocurrency and tech startups turned the conversation back to retightening of regulations in the financial sector. In March 2023, regulators shuttered Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank to arrest the crisis. 

Frank, who had served as a director of Signature Bank, offered insights into the bank’s closure, describing how depositor concerns over crypto-related risks “turbocharged” the deposit run in March, and led to its closure. 

Bankers in the audience also touched on the viability of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) amid interoperability issues arising as central banks worldwide develop CBDC based on different technologies and use cases, as well as the future of peer-to-peer lending as platforms improve their credit scoring to serve more of the underbanked segments of the population.