Winners Stories21st February 2021
Small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia represent 98% of business establishments, contributing approximately 40% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to Affin Bank Berhad, which has won the Excellence in SME Banking category for its multi-year work helping start-ups access finance, advice, growth support and so on. This benefits financial inclusion efforts too as it means families,
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Bank Danamon is one of a selection of Highly Commended entrants at the online, virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020, who’ve been selected for this booklet for the noteworthy nature of their projects. In Bank Danamon’s case it’s for their D-Bank Registration process – the first fully online account opening application with electronic e -KYC (Know
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
Bank of Ayudhya PCL, commonly referred to as Krungsri, is the fifth largest bank in Thailand and the recipient of the Best Loyalty/Rewards Programme trophy at the online, virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020. The bank transformed its customer loyalty progamme to create an enhanced Krungsri Gift digital loyalty offering. This was much more seamless across
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
Union Bank of the Philippines won in the Remittance category and for Best ATM & Self-service Innovation, with two separate projects that both utilised nascent blockchain technology. In regard to the former ATM category, its internally-developed Project Bitbox Proof-of-Concept (PoC) ushered in a virtual currency (VC) ATM cyptocurrency machine at the first fully digital Ark branch in the Philippines.
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
Cathay United Bank (CUB) has created Cathy Shield, a data platform to fight external and internal fraud, money laundering, detect abnormal behaviours and improve product application reviews, winning it the Best Use of Machine Learning (ML) category at the Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020. The Cathy Shield applies ML to various financial crime scenarios, using a
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
DBS has been investing in new data-driven services, systems and campaigns to launch an up-to-date (i) Lifestyle App, while overhauling its (ii) POSB Everday credit card with extra rewards, and its multichannel offering that is now better integrated to improve customers lives and convenience. Loyalty is now better recognised too via the (iii) SimplyGo project and other such
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
The advances that Emirates NBD have made in its UAE Retail Bank unit and Internet Banking provision have won the bank trophies in both categories at the RBI: Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020. The Best Retail Bank: UAE victory was achieved thanks in part to its profitability, as evidenced by its 2019 figures showing revenue growth of 9% and profits
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Suvo Sarkar, EVP & Group Head of Retail Banking & Wealth Management at Emirates NBD (ENBD), has won a Lifetime Achievement trophy at the RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards in recognition of 31 years in the sector. He was captain during the mega-merger of the retail banking units during the creation of ENBD in 2007 and has navigated many other
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
In this Q&A interview with Edwin R. Bautista, President & CEO of UnionBank of the Philippines, he reflects on his pre-banking background in consumer goods and his mechanical engineering degree. This has been useful in dealing with the Internet revolution and the next stage of his bank’s development – its on-going digital transformation. Question: Q1. Please describe your background
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
UOB won in the Customer-Centricity category for the combined efforts of five different teams across its Singaporean and Thai offices implementing a number of different successful projects that collectively proved their Excellence in Customer-Centricity, increasing engagement, touchpoints, sales and data. The Thai project was also recognised as the Best Loan Offering. The noteworthy projects were: (i) A utility marketplace:
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
General Card Services (GCS) is a separate standalone subsidiary of the Bank of Ayudhya Plc, commonly known as Krungsri, and is a member of the over-arching MUFG global financial group. It won Highly Commended status in the Best Credit Card Initiative category at the Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020 for its work with Central Group, Thailand’s
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Kasikornbank PCL (KBank) has partnered with the Grab taxi hailing, delivery and services app in Thailand to launch the GrabPay eWallet on a white label basis. KBnak’s electronic e-money license and 11 million strong customer base, which have all been through full Know Your Customer (KYC) on-boarding procedures, have been brought to the GrabPay digital wallet, via the bank’s
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
In this Q&A interview with Master of Science (MSc) in Finance postgraduate of Imperial College London, Jacquelyn Tan, reflects on the importance of numbers in running loan books, using data to deliver better analysis, services, and digital experiences – but also why the human touch and customer experience (CX) matters. Question: Q1. Please describe your background, philosophy, leadership tips
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
In this Q&A interview with 44 year-old married man and father of two, Christopher Loh, CEO & MD, of uab, the graduate of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, discusses his years working abroad in London and Malaysia, where he took his first senior job in FS as a deputy CRO, and his plans to make uab the best bank
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) is one of the Philippines largest private universal banks, but its primarily perceived as a business bank with only 6% of its deposit clientele base in the 21-35 age group. Its RCBC Bankard subsidiary offered a way to partner and increase younger users via a new credit card and linked bank account, which is
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
RHB Bank Berhad in Malaysia has achieved Highly commended (HC) status in the Excellence in SME Banking category at the virtual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020 thanks to its SME Online Financing solution, which was the first digital small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) lending portal in 2018 and has continued to evolve ever since with many upgrades detailed here. The
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Winners Stories15th June 2021
For this exclusive Q&A feature, we interviewed the three pillars of Bank Danamon’s corporate and cultural philosophy that breathes life into its customer and employee centric approach for a collaborative and thriving business model. In conversation with Yasushi Itagaki, President Director, Honggo Widjojo Kangmasto, Vice President Director (Enterprise banking) and Michellina Triwardhany, Vice President Director (Consumer & SME banking).
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Standard Chartered has won three categories at the virtual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020 for their personalisation efforts in Singapore, which in the case of the local credit cards and loan team came in the Best Application of Data Analysis category for their work on three different, overlapping initiatives, which have delivered higher conversion rates, increased spend and reduced
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Standard Chartered has won five categories at the online, virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020, including Excellence in Mobile Banking for updates at its Korean and Malaysian units and Best Retail Bank: Hong Kong. The Singaporean bank won three other categories covered in the next story (see following page). Standard Chartered Korea has delivered the next
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Taishin International Bank triumped in the Excellence in Loan Origination category for two projects that are linked and support each other. Its development of a loyalty programme entitled Maji Index that also scores and segments customers into different loan origination processes depending on their profiles, is an innovative development that reduces application times, repeated data entry and so on.
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Winners Stories21st February 2021
uab was the standout bank in its country, winning the Best Retail Bank: Myanmar category at the online, virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2020, for its multi-year work improving governance and risk, including an annual report that adheres to international standards and contains impressive financial results, such as a 277% rise in profit after tax over
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Winners Stories22nd February 2021
Kalyani Nair, Maybank Asia Trailblazer of the Year (Individual) 2020 MAE is a first-of-its-kind e-wallet from Maybank in Malaysia that allows new or existing customers to open an account via their smartphones within 5 minutes and instantly transact, without needing to visit a branch. It is bundled with an instant Visa virtual debit card, activated with valid ID and
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad has been Highly commended (HC) in the Best Program Innovation category at the virtual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 for its BizSmart Solution portal, which is aimed at small to medium sized enterprise (SME) business owners. It provides them with digital business, finance and banking help, sales and vendor connections, staff skills aid, operational cost
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
The creation of Dukhan Bank, following a merger between Barwa and the International Bank of Qatar in 2019, has lead to a full service bank with retail and private banking capabilites, plus coprproate, capital market & wealth management abilites. Its integration efforts, focus on working with fintechs, and using data analytics to improve services won it three Highly Commended
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
RCBC Bankard Services Corporation has many credit card and payment customers across the Philippines. It used this base to launch two Covid-19 campaigns to encourage people to donate their rewards redemption points via a new web-based portal to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) during the pandemic. A Highly Commended (HC) trophy was given in the Best Loyalty Rewards Program in Asia-Pacific
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has been commended for the Best Remittances Initiative at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 for the way it has adopted and used RippleNet blockchain technology. It also received a Highly Commended (HC) trophy in the Best Retail Bank in Thailand category. Thailand is known for having high friction costs for
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
The Global Business Services (GBS) unit at Standard Chartered has been awarded Highly Commended (HC) awards in the Excellence in Client On-Boarding and Excellence in Employee Engagement categories at the RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021. GBS is a wholly-owned subsidiary with 1,800 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff across five hubs in India at Chennai and Bangalore; in China at Tianjin
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Standard Chartered Singapore has been Highly Commended (HC) in the Excellence in Omni-Channel Integration and Best Multi-Channel Offering categories at the virtual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 for the ‘My RM’ relationship manager service it has rolled out in the terrority. The MyRM app is embedded in Standard Chartered’s online and mobile banking platforms. Its intended to deliver seamless
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Standard Chartered (SC) Taiwan has been Highly Commended (HC) for their Corporate Social Responsibility work helping the disadvantaged, especially youngsters, and providing extra support during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the Best CSR Initiative category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021. The retail bank’s results, delivering 3% year-on-year (YoY) growth by focusing on digital services
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad has won the Excellence in Customer-Centricity category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 and the Excellence in Omni-channel Integration trophy for respectively, a mobile trade finance solution and a customer on-boarding tool that eases Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and integrates into the bank’s wider mobile application for new customers.
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Alliance Bank Malaysia has won the Excellence in Omni-channel Integration category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021, a customer on-boarding tool that eases Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and integrates into the bank’s wider mobile application for new customers. Omnichannel excellence The allianceonline Mobile eKYC Customer on-boarding tool from Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad uses
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Present in Vietnam since 2018, CIMB offer a digital first smartphone-enabled service for customers that want to open an account immediately, get a loan, check their balances easily and so on. Its electronic e-KYC (Know Your Customer) on-boarding capabilities for virtual or physical cards, selfie feature to aid security, transaction signing, in-app chat and other digital features helped the
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
The donation of student laptops during the Covid-19 lockdowns to enable home schooling and provision of food, sanitation packs and accommodation for key workers during the outbreak were noteworthy elements in EmiratesNBD’s entry that won the Best Retail Bank in UAE category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021. But the introduction of more digital
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Winners Stories20th January 2022
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation launched the RCBC Hexagon Club for the mass affluent, with the intention of giving them personalized interactions, such as exclusive economic webinars online and first opportunities on corporate or investment bonds; simplified banking with a digital first approach; and 24x7 digital access and enrollment via the Bank-From-Home (BFH) facility. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit after
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Embedding financial services (FS) into customers everyday lives, and ensuring no fintech-enabled newcomers can supplant them, is a key aim for modern banks looking to up volumes, revenue and digital engagement. Kasikornbank in Thailand is no exception, winning the Best Retail Bank in Thailand category at the virtual RBI Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 for partnerships with Facebook, the local
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Thailand's credit card market has lots of promotions so Krungsri Consumer Credit Cards (KSC) wanted to differentiate themselves by strengthening their already strong presence in the dining category. They built a digital rewards platform with an ad agency, food delivery apps, and restaurant partners contributing 1100 outlets. THB200 Baht (US$ 5.91) coupons or 25% discounts can be redeemed after
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
The Maybank Family & Friends Card was relaunched in May 2021 to be more customer-centric with three card designs; an app to better track and manage spend; and five customisable cashback categories that follow users anticipated desires throughout their lives, removing the hassle to get a new card if you want to switch the card’s cashback category selection. It
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Minna Bank was established as a new standalone subsidiary of the Fukuoka Financial Group (FFG) in January 2021, going live in May, as Japan's first-ever smartphone-only bank that is aimed at digital natives. As such it won the Best Retail Bank in Japan category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 for its innovative targeting
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Winners Stories20th January 2022
Ngern Tid Lor Public Company Limited ("TIDLOR"), the owner of the top-of-mind Ngern Tid Lor brand, is the leader in providing vehicle title loans to the under-banked customer segment and the largest branch-based non-life insurance broker in Thailand, has been commended in the Best Retail Bank Thailand category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021.
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
The digital ecosystem at PT Bank Permata in Indonesia has been overhauled with new online and mobile banking capabilities and extra transaction security, winning it the Best Retail Bank in Indonesia category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 held on 7 October. The PermataNet online channel gives all customers a digital banking experience across
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
RHB Bank Berhad has been on a digital journey to introduce small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) Online Financing and digital submission of applications. In the past year its added three extra new elements: (i) a self-initiated SME Mobile app, with MyKad mobile verification; (ii) Original Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities to automatically extract data from bank statements & further speed up
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Many of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation’s (RCBC) consumer banking oeprations in the Philippines had already been digitized when Covid-19 struck. But a Digital Committee ensured it could quickly add to its digital estate and fortify its IT infrastructure to meet surging demand, while distrubuting government relief and retraining Relationship Managers (RMs) virtually to refocus on service not sales requirements
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (“Standard Chartered Hong Kong”) won the Best Retail Bank in Hong Kong category at the virtual Retail Banker International (RBI): Asia Trailblazer Awards 2021 because they executed their three strategic priorities well. Namely, (i) scaling growth and online multichannel services for affluent clients; (ii) accelerating overall digital transformation; & (iii) delivering excellent client
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Winners Stories18th January 2022
Taishin International Bank in Taiwan is a big beliver in technology. It used open application programing interfaces (APIs) to power ecosystem partnerships and keep customers close, winning it the Best Payment Innovation trophy at the the RBI Asia Awards 2021. Artifical intelligence (AI) was used to predict and drive customer behavior, thereby increasing product uptake, ATM usage, personalization and
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Winners Stories16th January 2022
Placing a nest egg aside to cover later years and health costs is important but it’s not easy in the low-bond and interest rate environment prevalent at the moment. UOB is helping its customers by launching a long-term Capital Builder solution and a Lady’s Savings Account that comes with cancer, dental, and other health care benefits in partnership with
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Winners Stories4th October 2021
Our mission at the Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazers Awards is to recognise and showcase the best in class retail banking and consumer finance companies from across the Asian continent. And in 2021, while the world continues to recover from and look beyond the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entries summited are a testament to the remarkable efforts
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Winners Stories17th January 2022
Entries are open for the 13th Annual Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazer Awards. The 2022 awards programme celebrates the best-in-class retail banking and consumer finance institutions and individuals for their innovative service offering and commitment to customer excellence. The programme also delivers an exceptional benchmark bringing together the most senior retail banking executives, vendors, and other key industry stakeholders from
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