Bangkok--29 Feb--IDC
10 banks were conferred the prestigious Financial Insights Innovation Awards (FIIA) today, on the sidelines of the annual Asian Financial Services (AFS) Congress that is organized by IDC Financial Insights. These winners set the new benchmarks for industry best practices in the banking sector by displaying innovation and creativity to fulfill their business objectives.
From the 172 entries submitted by leading banks across the region, Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad, DBS Bank, Malayan Banking Berhad, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), Standard Chartered Bank, TMB Bank Public Company Limited, UBank, UBL Omni and YES Bank Limited impressed the judges with their ability to tailor effective solutions that meet the challenges of today’s dynamic market conditions. IDC Financial Insights also awarded a Special Mention to Bank of Thailand.
Now in its seventh year, the FIIA is aimed at recognizing and honoring top Asia/Pacific financial institutions that have demonstrated innovation and creative thinking in the areas of customer engagement, product development, process reengineering or risk management to fulfill their business goals. The submissions were rigorously evaluated and scored against a set of criteria that considers their responsiveness to market needs, effectiveness of implementation, market take-up, sustainability, customer impact, and the overall nature of the innovations.
“The FIIA continues to serve as a testament to the ingenuity and progressiveness of the banking sector across Asia/Pacific in riding the wave of technological disruption. If what we have seen over the years is any indication of the future, the race for innovation will only get more heated as lenders recognize the urgency to change and the price to pay for remaining complacent in an increasingly competitive market," notes Ooi Hui Long, Program Director of the FIIA 2012.
Here is a summary of the ten winners of the 2012 FIIA, arranged in alphabetical order:
Name of Institution: Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad
Name of Award: Excellence in SME Banking
Awarded for its comprehensive approach towards SME Banking
The Alliance Bank developed a strategic and comprehensive approach to tap into the growth of SME banking by synergizing analytics-based relationship management strategies across diverse business ecosystems in order to augment value chains and create a competitive advantage. Together with a proactive risk management framework, Alliance Bank created a sustainable, relevant customer relationship model capable of leveraging on existing local market dynamics.
Name of Institution: Development Bank of Singapore (DBS)
Name of Award: Innovation in Customer Engagement
Awarded for DBS Remix, an innovative branch concept that goes beyond banking and into engaging customers and the community
DBS Remix is delivering a unique banking experience to the younger, more tech-savvy generation through the extensive use of technology for user participation. The branch introduces revolutionary touchscreen interfaces and augmented realities to allow for a more refreshing banking experience, which is both customizable and hassle-free. REMIX is marketed as a “bank by day and financial playground by night” as it doubles up as a physical meeting place for user communities in the evening.
Name of Institution: Malayan Banking Berhad
Name of Award: Innovation in Social Marketing
Awarded for its Exclusive Groupon partnership - offering exclusive deals and discounts on Maybank2u.com
Through an exclusive bank-merchant partnership, Maybank's clientele can now enjoy exclusive offers on an array of Groupon products and services as well as discounts on all other groupons. The popularity of group-buy and e-commerce has allowed Maybank to foster its offerings as well as mindshare in the virtual environment through this channel.
Name of Institution: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited
Name of Award: Innovation in Customer Experience
Awarded for FRANK by OCBC, an innovative banking program that connects with youths and young working adults
FRANK by OCBC is a holistic program that offers a simple, stylish and meaningful banking experience for students and young working adults. The program was developed over two years of research and is based fundamentally on customer insights. ”FRANK by OCBC” comprises mainly of three key pillars - a refreshingly branded program offering customized products and services through alternative channels (that is, its retail store concept and social media).
Name of Institution: Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)
Name of Award: Excellence in Enterprise Operational Transformation
Awarded for its Transformation Program of the Operations Group
The bank has completed a major five-year overhaul of the group's operating model, which goes beyond the spheres of technology. By including people and processes, this enterprise-wide transformation not only delivered efficiencies but also exceeded critical key performance indicators. The transformation also brought about lower operating costs and higher level of customer service.
Name of Institution: Standard Chartered Bank
Name of Award: Excellence in Risk Performance Management
Awarded for its Risk Adjusted Performance Management (RAPM) infrastructure
Standard Chartered’s Performance Management Infrastructure provides senior management and relationship managers in Wholesale Banking with risk adjusted performance metrics in terms of risk, reward and pricing at both client and origination centre level. At the heart of this capability is a Risk Adjusted Performance Management (RAPM) engine. The RAPM engine delivers product level KPIs, drives granular performance insights at transaction level as well as enhances the Bank’s capabilities to define, execute and monitor against key strategic objectives related to: relationship maximization; trade network utilization; quality of earnings and capital efficiency; product cross-sell and sales person effectiveness.
Name of Institution: TMB Bank Public Company Limited
Name of Award: Innovation in Business Rules Management
Awarded for Enterprise Core Business Rules Management System
TMB Bank has effectively implemented “Enterprise Core Business Rules Management System (BRMS)” to manage the new business rules resulting from product and service initiatives and regulatory changes. TMB’s BRMS has helped to shorten time-to-market, increase productivity, drive operational agility, and reduce risk exposure. This initiative has also enabled the use of advanced collaborative capabilities across the organization to gain deeper customer insights, anticipate their needs, automate and streamline lending process and manage risk intelligently.
Name of Institution: UBank
Name of Award: Product Innovation
Awarded for UHomeLoan, the bank’s online home loan application
UHomeLoan is a simple and intuitive home loan online solution that removes much of the complication, frustration and hassle associated with traditional home loan applications. Longstanding face-to-face processes are now substituted with a smooth online experience that is further backed by a competitive pricing structure.
Name of Institution: UBL Omni
Name of Award: Innovation in Cash Disbursements (G2P)
Awarded for the implementation of UBL Omni, a branchless banking system geared towards greater financial inclusion of Pakistan's marginalized segments
UBL Omni not only provides a quick and transparent mechanism for cash disbursements, but singles itself out in terms of scale in implementation. The essence of this initiative lies in the seamless transfer of funds from the government and non-profit organizations to impoverished communities and disaster victims. Past large-scale crisis use cases have affirmed the robustness of this system.
Name of Institution: YES Bank Limited
Name of Award: Innovation in Payments (Financial Supply Chain Integration)
Awarded for its Financial Supply Chain integration project to automate their clients’ payables and receivables
This integration project undertaken by YES BANK efficiently manages capital as it focuses on automating the payables and receivables of their clients, significantly bringing down working capital. Their clients’ entire supply chain of business flow has been mapped and integrated into a single work flow. This is to facilitate a reliable payment delivery across both electronic and physical modes.
In addition to these 10 winners, a Special Mention has been conferred to the Bank of Thailand.
Name of Institution: Bank of Thailand
Name of Award: Business Continuity with Unified Communications
Recognized for adopting a nationwide communications platform that connects all financial institutions across Thailand
By mandating the use of a single Unified Communications platform, business was able to continue for 38 of Thailand's commercial banks during the nation’s flood crisis in 2011. The unprecedented unification of cross-institutional video and voice functionalities in these banks demonstrated its value as it mitigated the disruptions that stemmed from the unfortunate natural disaster.
Ooi concludes, "The entries for the Financial Insights Innovation Awards this year appear to share common, distinguishable themes. The most notable of these is the desire to boost business agility in light of shifting regional and global financial landscapes. At the same time, banks are striving to keep pace with changing customer preferences in order to meet their demands. Ultimately, this is translating to a stronger emphasis on customer experience and engagement.”
To set up an interview with Ooi Hui Long, contact Lay Fang Tan at
[email protected].
About the Asian Financial Services (AFS) Congress 2012
Organized by IDC Financial Insights, the AFS Congress 2012 is Asia/Pacific's foremost gathering of financial services practitioners. Themed “The 2012 Agenda: Solutions for Disruptive Times", the 2012 Congress aims to introduce a new perspective on how regional banks should distinguish themselves amid the challenges of disruption and innovation. At this Congress, IDC Financial Insights will share crucial findings from its international team of analysts, highlighting the business and technology trends that will impact and change banking. For more information, please visit www.afscongress.com.
About the Financial Insights Innovation Awards (FIIA)
Each year, IDC Financial Insights invites banks across Asia/Pacific to nominate initiatives that they believe warrant special recognition in the area of innovation. The FIIA recognizes the successes of these institutions in displaying innovation to achieve business objectives. These initiatives are measured by the FIIA Assessment Panel (made up of Financial Insights worldwide analysts and an independent panel of industry practitioners) against a rigorous set of matrices that looks at responsiveness to market needs, effectiveness of rollout, and market take-up and sustainability. The FIIA 2012 has become one of the most anticipated banking awards in the region, and provides a clear indication of how the Asia/Pacific financial services industry as a whole is leveraging technology as a driver of innovation and competitive differentiation. For more information about FIIA, please visit http://www.ap.afscongress.com/2011/details/awards.asp.