Asian Banking & Finance Summit 2022

Tushar Agarwal is a Partner at Boston Consulting Group, and a core member of the firm’s Financial Institutions practice. He has advised a diverse set of clients within banking, consumer finance, asset management, insurance, private equity and government. Tushar works extensively on retail banking, wholesale banking, and large-scale transformation topics.

Full Name: Benjamin Tan Wee Chuan
Nationality: Singaporean

Benjamin started his banking career in the real estate development and project financing in OCBC, and subsequently moved to MayBank, covering cross-border trade financing and project financing. He later joined Citibusiness to gain new exposures into the SME segment, where he headed up a team covering liabilities and double hatted as an investment consultant. His next banking stint in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) took him to Dubai, where he started up and headed the SME Banking Asian desk after which he was seconded back to Singapore, to head a Medium Enterprise & Cash Management team, which was a core pillar in driving SCB Singapore's SME strategy. Known for his skills to pioneer developments within the bank, he was seconded to Taiwan in 2009, as part of the pioneer team to integrate the merger between SCB and HsinChu Bank. Theybecame the largest foreign bank in Taiwan in a short span of time, and was the first foreign bank to partner with the Taiwan Credit Bureau and Government Loan Insurance Scheme, to offer the market's first 5 days service pledge for small business loans.

After 11 years in banking, he ventured into property development in Malaysia, where he successfully completed a commercial project in Selangor and was awarded the Best Boutique Developer and Innovative Developer in the 2018 ASEAN Property Awards. With his personal ventures successful and running on its own, he decided to join CIMB Bank Berhad, Singapore branch in 2019, covering as the ASEAN Head of Sales & Strategy, and subsequently took over as Head of CIMB Commercial Banking Singapore in 2020. Under the leadership of Benjamin, CIMB Commercial Banking Singapore started the F23+ vision to be the leading ASEAN focused bank, by concisely segregating the portfolio based on a company's profile and business needs, so as to ensure that solutions and services are developed and provided from a
customer centric perspective.

There are 3 segments in Commercial Banking Singapore, starting with the newly launched SME Segment in March 2020, with the mandate to offer fast and simple solutions for homogeneous companies through a program approach. Despite being a relatively new entrant in this segment, it won the Global Business Outlook's Best SME Financing Bank and Most Customer Centric COVID Relief Schemes award; whilst EVA, the Bank’s first Chatbot, was nominated as the Top 40 MAS Fintech Solutions for 2020.The Medium Enterprise Segment offers one-stop solutions to service companies with needs for a more comprehensive range of financial services with the objective of relationship deepening. The Middle Corporations Segment is focused on anchoring main bank relationships via offering customized solutions to cover complex and customized sophisticated needs of larger local companies. To ensure a frictionless customer centric facilitation and understanding on the financial needs of their customers, a Client Value Enhancement team has been set up to engage all 3 segments' customers 

Based in Singapore, Wolfram is a consulting partner at Ernst & Young Advisory Pte. Ltd. and leads the EY Asean financial services business consulting practice. For over 25 years, Wolfram has worked across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific supporting multi-national financial services clients in banking strategy, risk and finance advisory. He was previously a partner in financial services, finance & risk practice in an American consulting firm; and executive director in a research center focused on long-term trends affecting businesses, including sustainability and climate change.

As co-leader of EY Asia-Pacific financial services sustainability field of play, Wolfram also works closely with the leaders to build internal understanding and market demand for EY distinctive sustainability solutions and offerings. He is passionate about embedding a sustainability angle into everything we do at EY. Wolfram holds graduate degrees in Business Administration and Finance from Beisheim Graduate School of Management (WHU Koblenz) and ESC Lyon. He is also a frequent public speaker and author on a wide range of risk management issues.

Daniel is the Vice President for Data, Insight and Technology within Collinson’s Asia Pacific team, a global leader in loyalty and benefits, and traveller experiences.

Holding over 15 years of experience in consulting, product development, system integration, automation and gamification, Daniel is passionate about delivering customer-centric solutions and services that help Collinson clients build meaningful, enduring and increasingly valuable relationships with their customers.  

Daniel has worked extensively with marketing, automation, integration, business intelligence and advanced analytics for global enterprise organisations across sectors including technology, aviation, hospitality, luxury and retail.

Elisha Harrington is an Evangelist on the Innovation team at ServiceNow. In her role, Elisha is laser-focused on the future of work, digital transformation, and the power of intelligent systems. 

As a thought leader in operational improvement and innovation, she is responsible for all efforts to evangelize the transformative world of work for enterprise customers in the Asian-Pacific region. Elisha is helping customers reimagine the possible and solve important problems to create stunning change.  

As a thought leader in operational improvement and innovation, she is responsible for all efforts to evangelize the transformative world of work for enterprise customers in the Asian-Pacific region. Elisha is helping customers reimagine the possible and solve important problems to create stunning change.  

Prior to ServiceNow, Elisha worked for a number of top-tier professional services firms, consulting with the largest global and Australian local enterprises across banking, telecommunications and more. From running large Digital transformations (both technical and business). Elisha worked for PwC across technology solutions which included fraud detection, risk sentiment, automation, and advanced analytics as well as blockchain and other leading technology cloud SaaS solutions.

Working within C-suite agendas and large impactful programs impacting employee and customer experience, Elisha aims to supercharge productivity scaling across the organisation whilst cultivating a culture of innovation at its core. 

Frederic Tardy brings significant experience in consumer lending, digital transformation, marketing, and branding; he has a long and successful track record in marketing, e-commerce, partnership and digital transformation across many geographies and leading financial institutions. He started his career in BNP Paribas/Cetelem, where he held multiple roles. As the Global Head of E-Business, he set up the e-commerce platform of Cetelem, and also served as the CEO of the company's Innovation Lab in San Francisco.

From BNP Paribas, Frederic moved on to AXA as Group Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer and later as Member of the Asia Executive Committee where he spearheaded the digital transformation of AXA, focusing on digital sales, developing partnerships and repositioning the AXA brand. Frederic has received global recognition for his marketing activities and was awarded Chief Digital Officer of the Year in France twice, in 2015 and 2016.

In his role in Home Credit, his portfolio includes country strategy, marketing, product, sales, branding, and digitisation.

Ashmita is the Retail Banking Head for Citibank Singapore, where she is responsible for the wealth management, and mortgage business growth in Singapore, and is leading the charge for Singapore “Win in Wealth” aspirations. She manages a team of ~800 people across sales (bankers, specialists, and acquisition teams), service (branch staff, service personnel), and product and wealth advisory management.

Ashmita has been with Citi for almost 20 years. She has lived and worked in 3 continents and loves the globality and interconnectedness of Citi as an organization. Her roles in Citi have covered Wealth Management Sales, Citi at Work, Client Experience, Marketing, Consumer Strategy, and Client Segments. Prior to joining Citi, Ashmita worked with ICICI Bank, a top tier Indian Bank, where she began her career as a Management Associate. She has a B.Sc. degree from Presidency College and an MBA from the International Management Institute. Ashmita is an avid traveler. She is also an enthusiastic weekend cook and painter. She lives in Singapore, with her husband, daughter and dog.

Currently based in Singapore, Andrew Gilder is the EY Asia-Pacific Banking and Capital Markets Leader. As an Assurance Partner with over 20 years of experience in the field of auditing, he has had extensive experience dealing with complex accounting issues, conduct related matters, control investigations and transactions, including IPOs, for banks and other financial services organisations.

He has worked with major financial services clients globally, in markets such as Sydney, New York, London and Tokyo, as well as the wider Asia-Pacific region.  Over the years, Andrew has been seconded to clients on a number of occasions, including leading the internal audit function of an investment bank and providing accounting advice to a derivatives sales team. Previously, he has also performed regulatory audits and control investigations in corporate, commercial and investment banks.  

Andrew has earned a BCom in Accounting from Westerns Sydney University and an Masters in Applied Finance from Macquarie University. He holds a membership with the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Singapore.

Follow his updates on LinkedIn and latest thinking on ey.com.

Brian Hui is MD, Head of Customer Propositions and Marketing, Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB), The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

In his current role, Brian manages the entire HSBC customer portfolio, international business, digital banking, customer experience and marketing to deliver the world class financial solutions and services to our customers.

Brian has over 20 years of experience in users growth, marketing, digital, customer experience and commercial roles across financial services, e-commerce and startups. Previously, Brian has held global management roles in Faraday Future, LeEco and Amazon based in the US and China, where he took the helm of a wide range of functions including sales and marketing, customer growth, product development and customer experience.

Earlier in his career, Brian worked for Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank across Hong Kong, China and the UK in the areas of e-business, sales and marketing and channel management.

Dick Ho is an experienced leader in the Personal Banking and Wealth Management Department, overseeing five key Divisions including Customer Experience, Customer Intelligence, Marketing, Sales Management and Segment Management. He spearheaded the “Live Next Level” Wealth Management rebranding campaign that offers a brand new experience to young and affluent Millennials. He has also pushed forward a number of key strategic projects in Digital Banking and vigorously promoted the mobile-first strategy for digital transformation, project management and the Agile methodology in developing the bank's personal financial business. He is one of the key change agents and contributors to the bank’s digital transformation journey.

Anders Jensen-Waud is an Associate Partner in Bain’s global Financial Services and Enterprise Tech practice, based out of Singapore. Anders has deep expertise in digitizing and transforming Asian banks through technology. He has worked extensively in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Australia. Anders holds an MSc in Business Administration and Computer Science from Copenhagen Business School.”

Jessica is the Group Chief Strategy Officer at WeLab, a leading pan-Asian fintech platform and one of the most important digital native brands in financial services in Asia with more than 50 million individual users and over 700 enterprise customers in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia. The financial holding company operates one of the largest digital consumer finance businesses in Asia, a pan-Asia digital bank and a leading B2B fintech enterprise solutions business. Jessica drives the group’s overall strategy which includes spearheading the rollout of the WeLab Bank.

Prior to joining WeLab, Jessica spent over 12 years at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, Singapore and London specialising in Investment Banking as well as Private Wealth Management. Jessica is a Board Member of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK), an independent association of members who are representing Hong Kong’s fintech community globally.

Silvio Struebi heads Simon-Kucher’s banking practice in APAC. He has over 15 years of consulting experience in providing growth, pricing, and sales strategy advice to various national and international Wealth and Asset Managers, Retail and Corporate Banks, and leading FinTechs, Neobanks and Payments companies. Silvio advises clients on a broad range of commercial strategies and product management as well as assisting in market-specific implementation of growth and sales strategies. Recently, he has been focusing on the implementation of pricing software to increase revenues and to respond to regulatory developments in key markets in Asia.

Steven WONG Weng Leong is currently the Chief Digital & Global Banking Strategist at China Construction Bank (CCB) Malaysia. Just prior to this, he was the Chief Operating & Financial Strategist (COO, CIO/CTO, CFO & Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer roles combined) and before that, the Chief Business Development Strategist. At CCB Malaysia, Mr Wong spearheads bank-wide business growth and provides strategic leadership for Global Banking & Markets and Wholesale & Retail Digital Banking (Cash Management, Retail Banking), which includes catalyzing FinTech initiatives in delivering product, technology and digital innovations for the Malaysian and ASEAN markets.

He is well regarded in the financial services industry as an all-rounder and go-to-individual, having held several senior executive leadership positions across various leading financial institutions over the last 28 years. He has held strategic leadership roles in the Front Office (FO), Middle Office (MO) and Back Office (BO) at Western Union, Alliance Financial Group, Maybank, Mayban Life Assurance, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank and Citi.