Commentary

There is a revolution going on today in the banking industry. Those bastions of privacy and money management are doing the unthinkable - with consent, they are sharing their customer data with approved third parties. In the past, banks jealously safeguarded their clients’ information. That is what clients expected of them, as well as it being a regulatory obligation. Today, they are making this information available to other players in the financial services arena, creating an unprecedented financial ecosystem built around making their Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available to approved third parties.  

The past decade has witnessed incredible innovation in global capital markets, and the rapid pace continues. Regulatory changes designed to seek risk mitigation and boost transparency as well as enhance asset stability have drastically changed the economics of capital market technology demands and business models.

According to Singapore’s largest bank DBS, the volume of cash deposits and withdrawals fell by an unprecedented 11% in the first 3 months of 2020, a 6% fall from where the figure had been since 2017. Coupled with extraordinary growth in the adoption of e-payments, it’s safe to say that COVID-19 has altered consumer behaviour—and fast. 

HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and Citi are all eyeing a piece of the region's trillion-dollar financial market.

For years, banks treated online banking as an afterthought. A website and a mobile app were necessities, but creating a digital channel that fully serviced customers wasn’t a priority. When COVID-19 struck, customers of all demographics completely switched to online banking -- and most won’t go back. Digital banking is no longer an additional channel. From now on, digital is the default.

 Latest Trends in LIBOR Transitions in Japan

Agent Banking is getting more popular in the rural areas of Bangladesh. More number of agents and outlets are seen these days as their numbers have grown by 15.69% and 12.59% respectively in September 2020 compared to September 2019 even amid COVID-19, according to data from the country’s central bank, Bank Bangladesh (BB)

BY AASHISH SHARMA, risk lifecycle and decision management lead for FICO in Asia Pacific.

Much has been written about the likely death of incumbent banks in the face of coming competition from neobanks (or digital banks) soon to be launched in Singapore, that will be more nimble and agile, have more streamlined processes and lower cost overheads, be free of any legacy (in the form of infrastructure, and mindsets) and give customers exactly what they want.

Banking-as-a-Service, or more commonly known as BaaS, is an end-to-end process that enables third parties to directly connect with banks  systems so they can build products on top of the banks’ regulated infrastructure. The reason BaaS is a big deal today is that it makes it far easier for anyone — from start-ups to multinational enterprises — to create seamless, scalable payment experiences across and within borders.

It is fair to say that financial institutions have, with technology, largely succeeded with stopgap measures in the initial drive to adapt to the new normal of the “After COVID-19” (AC) world. Celent released the results  of its global survey at a digital event on April . Of course, financial services depend to a large extent on country-specific regulations, business practices, and consumer behavior. Likewise, the impact of the COVID pandemic and its effect on financial technology will vary by region and depending on how the pandemic plays out in different places.

There is a popular analogy comparing artificial intelligence (AI) to electricity. Just like the role of electricity during the second industrial revolution, AI has the same potential to greatly transform how industries function and benefit humankind. However, this analogy in my opinion is over-simplified. The power of AI is much harder to standardize and harness, and it requires a far more collaborative effort to bridge existing gaps between academic research and solving real-world problems.

The World Bank estimated that over 1.7 billion individuals remain unbanked today. The trend is reflected in Southeast Asia, where more than 70% of its adult population is either underbanked or unbanked, despite being one of the world’s largest and fastest growing regions, according to a study by Google, Temasek, Bain & Company on Asia's digital financial services.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Singapore banks to change tack in order to meet social distancing and work from home requirements. However, it didn’t stop financial crime. Since the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in COVID-related fraud, with criminals engaging in telephone fraud, phishing scams, and even developing fake websites for personal protective equipment (PPE) – only recently a Singapore man was arrested for suspected involvement in money-laundering offences linked to a Covid-19-related scam.

In the transitional period from the unprecedented emergency to the new normal, the Japanese and APAC financial institutions have stepped up their countermeasures.

In the last decade, Asia’s banking sector has not only led the world in global banking profit pools, assets and market capitalism but also in building new business models centred on digital innovations. Whilst the future of Asia banking is bright, most traditional banks, especially the mid and small-tier banks, are poorly equipped to seize the opportunities to keep pace and transform for the digital age. On the other hand, the ongoing health crisis is making customers go online for their banking needs while they #stayhomestaysafe, stretching the capabilities of digital services beyond its limits. While digital banking would have been a convenient option in the past, it has now become a vital lifeline. As customers’ demand for digital access and control to their finances intensifies, it has brought into question the industry readiness towards digital banking.