As part of the final edition of FST Media’s Asia newsletter for 2013, the team of journalists compiled the “Top 10” list of the most widely-read interviews from the popular Who’s Who weekly interviews.
 
Based on the highest click through rates, the most popular interviews were with the top tech chiefs from DBS, Citibank, CIMB and OCBC.

Upon review, key themes consistently referred to in the top 10 included the importance of customer centricity, the continued growth of mobile banking, and the emergence of big data and analytics, and building systems around this.

David Backley, Managing Director Technology, Consumer Banking Group, DBS Bank

“I think the top two macro areas continue to be mobility and analytics. There is a lot of hype, a lot of talk and quite a lot of momentum in the mobile space.”

Maggie Yung, Head of Digital Banking, Citibank Hong Kong

“The ability to recognise the gap between existing offerings and implicit opportunities that exist within the company or industry is crucial.”

Manuel Tagaza, Head of E-Channels, Bank of the Philippine Islands

“Banks have been using social media to support the non-transactional aspect of banking. However, at a time when most banks are focusing on multi-channel and omni-channel strategies, some institutions may be considering social media as an additional distribution channel.”

Gurmail Parmar, Chief Information Officer, Asia-Pacific, BNY Mellon

“Within the big data space we have created a common data architecture and governance structure enterprise-wide. We are now using predictive analytics to learn about the habits of our clients. We have information that gives insight into how our clients use different types of technology for different transaction types.”

Joe Cunningham, Global Head of Technology Strategy and Innovation, Visa

“Asia is an extremely diverse region with countries at differing stages of economic development. This requires tailored solutions in terms of payments technology as markets mature at different rates.”

Iswaraan Suppiah, Head, Group Information & Operations, CIMB Group

“Lifestyles have become digitally integrated; just the degree of sophistication and modes in which technology are used differ. This is an opportunity for the financial services industry to reinvent how customers choose and consume financial products and services.”

Mike McCarthy, Head of Global Infrastructure Services, Asia Pacific, RBS

“Data will become what business is all about – companies will increasingly need to integrate information from multiple data sources, including third parties, and the trick then will be to derive useful and actionable results from all the analysis. And to do all this in real time.”

Kanchan Nijasure, Chief Information Officer, Bank Danamon

“I see the roles of the chief digital officer (CDO) and chief marketing officer (CMO) as complementing the role of chief information officer (CIO) if the right kind of communication takes place between them. The increased complexity of business environments and speed of change requires a collaborative approach between CDOs, CMOs and CIOs.”

Pranav Seth, Head, E-Business and Banking Transformation, OCBC

“If you look how information is being generated and consumed, there is a massive surge in the volume of information being consumed and the number of channels customers are using.”

Chee Khong Wong, Chief Operating Officer and Technology, Heong Leong Bank

“To stay competitive and relevant, a bank’s channel strategy must be reshaped in today’s fast-changing service delivery landscape. The brick-and-mortar branch needs to be re-configured to meet discerning customer service expectations. Technological innovations alone are not enough without customer process transformation to elevate customer experience.”

Click here for the 10 most-read 2013 Who’s Who of Financial Services interviews (NEW ZEALAND)
Click here for the 10 most-read 2013 Who’s Who of Financial Services interviews (AUSTRALIA)