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Tag: bank

  • UBS Appoints New CEO

    UBS Appoints New CEO

    Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, has named Ralph Hamers as its new Group Chief Executive Officer, effective November 1, 2020, according to a media release. Hamers currently serves as CEO of Dutch ING Group.

    Ralph Hamers will join UBS as a member of the group executive board on 1 September 2020 in order to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Effective 1 November 2020, Hamers will become group chief executive officer (CEO) and president of the executive board of UBS.

    The 53-year-old Dutch banker Hamers will succeed group CEO Sergio Ermotti who has been with the bank for more than nine years. He joined ING Group in 1991. During his career, he progressed through a series of roles across business segments and geographies before becoming CEO in 2013.

    Under his leadership, ING Group has implemented a fundamental shift in its operating model and is now considered one of the best examples of digital innovation in the banking sector.

    Hamers holds a Master of Science in Business Econometrics and Operations Research from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and is chairman of the European Banking Group, the leading European banking association.

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  • Standard Chartered Hires Fintech Leader

    Standard Chartered Hires Fintech Leader

    The bank is bringing on board a fintech evangelist, who will focus on strengthening data analytics and channel capabilities at its transaction banking business.

    Standard Chartered has announced that fintech leader Kahina Van Dyke has joined its Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking division (CCIB) team in Singapore as global head, digital channels, and client data analytics. Her career in financial services spans more than two decades, during which she focused on the access and delivery of financial services worldwide.

    She previously spent just under two years at blockchain payments company Ripple, where she was senior vice president of business and corporate development. She also held executive roles at Facebook, MasterCard, and Citi.

    She moves to Singapore for her new role and reports to CCIB chief executive Simon Cooper. She will also be a part of the CCIB management team, the statement said.

    The move signals the bank’s continued commitment to building its digital capabilities as fintech players continue to encroach on its turf, especially in Asia. In January Standard Chartered announced the appointment of Rene Keller as a chief information officer, CCIB.

    Projects to boost its tech capabilities include a mobile token rolled out for corporate clients in more than 38 markets; the joining of the Enterprise Etherium Alliance to develop blockchain research and application in banking; and a new venture with five other banks to address unmet financing demand from the early stages of supply chains.

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  • AXA Names Asia Chief Strategy and Customer Officer

    AXA Names Asia Chief Strategy and Customer Officer

    AXA appoints a chief strategy and customer officer for Asian markets to place an even greater emphasis on the region including a doubling down on mainland China.

    AXA appoints Dongjun Choi in his newly expanded role in addition to the strategic development office. Choi will be responsible for finance and operations & technology alongside health and distribution, reporting to Gordon Watson, CEO of AXA Asia.

    Choi has over 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial sector. Prior to joining AXA, he was a managing director with Barclays U.K.’s Strategic Analytics Centre of Excellence responsible for optimizing the bank’s commercial performance. Previously, he had also worked for Cigna, Standard Chartered and McKinsey & Company.

    Choi brings vital expertise to this important function within AXA’s Asian Markets business as we focus on our strategic pillars ­– an enhanced health business, expanded distribution, building our brand and doubling down on mainland China, said Watson, commenting on the new hire.

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  • DBS Reports Second Staff Infected With Coronavirus

    DBS Reports Second Staff Infected With Coronavirus

    Another staff of DBS has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a media report. This time around, the latest patient is based in one of the bank’s satellite offices, a DBS spokesman said in Singapore, without disclosing the location. The new case – Case 77 – is understood to be a staff at DBS’s Ngee Ann City office on Orchard Road.

    DBS Treasures has a branch on the fifth story of the property. This satellite office has been deep cleaned as per MOH and National Environmental Agency guidelines, the spokesman added. Case 50 involved a 62-year-old male DBS employee who works at Tower 3 of Marina Bay Financial Centre.

    Case 77 was a first-degree contact, which means he was in close contact with the first DBS employee infected, Case 50, the spokesman added.

    The Ministry of Health (MOH) had announced two more cases in Singapore on Monday evening, with one of them being Case 77, a 35-year-old Singaporean man with no recent travel history to China.

    The affected office space and floor in Tower A have been cordoned off, and common areas such as lifts and toilets are being deep-cleaned and disinfected.

    The DBS spokesman said the bank has a framework for contact tracing, which is done through a mix of physical interviews and data analytics. Through this, we are able to contact-trace up to three degrees of separation, said the spokesperson.

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  • HSBC Joins Singapore Banks In Local Relief Measures

    HSBC Joins Singapore Banks In Local Relief Measures

    HSBC Singapore is the latest to join other Singapore banks in announcing a slew of relief measures to help businesses and retail customers tide through the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

    HSBC announced on Friday its set of support measures for Singapore clients, joining DBS, Standard Chartered, OCBC who already pushed out their relief packages on Thursday. UOB had announced mid-week it would set aside S$3 billion to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

    The bank’s set of support measures aims to ease Singapore’s flow of commercial trade, which includes maturity extensions to SGD$600 million of current trade loans and 1-hour turnaround on the issuance of shipping guarantees. «Trade underpins Singapore’s economy and society. The measures that we have introduced today aim to facilitate the continued flow of trade by easing the cashflow and operational pressures faced by businesses tackling supply chain disruptions. We are committed to supporting our customers,» said Tony Cripps, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Singapore.

    In addition, it is waiving amendment fees on Letters of Credit impacted by delays, plus providing enhanced support to enable customers to shift towards digital processing.

    On Thursday, DBS provided details of its liquidity relief packages to address their customers’ «most urgent cash flow needs» after the lender announced its year-end results. In particular, it will provide a six-month principal repayment moratorium for SME property loans.

    In addition, DBS will offer an extension of import facilities of up to 60 days to act as immediate cash-flow support for businesses coping with disruptions from the Covid-19 situation. These relief packages will be available to customers with good repayment histories when they apply, it added. Assistance for affected retail customers will be shared on DBS/POSB’s website from 17 February.

    Standard Chartered is looking to offer loan tenor extensions and principal moratoria of up to 12 months for affected clients with business banking installment loans upon request. Other forms of support could include bill maturity extensions of up to three months for clients with trade facilities who face delayed trade payments, waivers of business banking late fees and related charges such as restructuring costs for up to six months, and extra loans or overdrafts against their property for clients with commercial mortgages.

    For OCBC, it will offer targeted support to customers across its core markets which include Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Measures include letting customers restructure their loans, providing a moratorium on principal repayment for loans, extending the due date of affected trade finance bills, and extending bridging loans in the form of additional working capital financing.

    The bank will not limit he help it will extend to customers, noting that the scale of the virus outbreak is «different from that of previous challenges» due to increased connectivity in the region, said OCBC chief executive Samuel Tsien in a media statement.

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  • AXA Investment Management Launches All China Strategy

    AXA Investment Management Launches All China Strategy

    AXA Investment Managers as launched its All China Evolving Trends strategy, which aims to provide investors with access to the growing pot of investable Chinese equities listed both in China and abroad.

    The strategy will invest in A-Shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges traded via the HongKong Stock Connect, H-shares listed in Hong Kong as well as Chinese companies that are listed globally. It will be managed by William Chuang, who has over 18 years of investment experience and currently oversees the Greater China region research for AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) Framlington Equities investment platform.

    We see that the Chinese equity market offers a diverse and attractive set of opportunities to investors. Our goal is to tap into those opportunities with a robust investment approach and the flexibility to invest across Chinese onshore and offshore equities,» said Chuang, portfolio manager at AXA IM in a media statement on Friday.

    We have been researching Chinese companies for many years, we felt this was the optimum time to launch an All-China strategy as the Chinese A-share market attracts greater interest following inclusion into various indices and importantly, there are plenty of high-quality companies which are benefitting from structural growth drivers including rising consumption, technology innovation and shifting demographics,» Chuang added.

    Utilizing a fundamental, bottom-up investment approach, Chinese companies will be selected through the lens of five long term investment trends which form the basis of AXA IM Framlington Equities’ evolving economy thematic range:

    • Aging and Lifestyle – the changing ways that people are living across the globe as life expectancies rise.
    • Connected Consumer – technological advancements that enable companies to engage their customers more deeply in a digital economy.
    • Automation – applications of robotics and automation to improve or optimize processes across various industries.
    • CleanTech – low-carbon economy solutions and sustainable resources management.
    • Transitioning Societies – economic inclusion and changing consumption patterns of the growing global middle class, particularly in the developing world.

    In addition to the launch, AXA IM has hired Natalia Mu as an Investment Specialist to provide further expertise in the region. She works closely with William and the AXA IM Framlington Equities thematics portfolio managers and assists sales teams across Asia.

    We are convinced that the secular themes we have identified will accelerate and evolve over the next decade and believe investors should be invested in active strategies that aim to capture those opportunities. China is a key strategic focus for AXA IM, and the launch of the strategy is a logical progression of the thematic range, said Matthew Lovatt, Global Head of AXA IM Framlington Equities.

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  • DBS Evacuates Staff as Covid-19 Case Detected

    DBS Evacuates Staff as Covid-19 Case Detected

    An employee at its headquarters, who was tested on 11 February, was confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus or Covid-19.

    DBS has evacuated its staff from the bank’s Marina Bay Financial Center (MBFC) Tower 3 headquarters following confirmation that one of its employees there had contracted the Covid-19 virus.

    In a statement released on Wednesday, the bank said it is «providing the employee and his family with every support and guidance» and is conducting detailed contact tracing with all employees and other parties that the infected employee may have come into contact with. It is also deep cleaning and disinfecting the affected office space in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines.

    In the meantime, staff on the affected floor have been instructed to work from home, and all employees will be provided a personal hygiene and protection care pack, the bank said.

    The news comes a day after two cases were reported in Singapore’s central business district, with one located just next door at MBFC Tower 1, where Standard Chartered is a key tenant. The other case is an employee of United Industrial Corporation (UIC), who works at Clifford Centre.

    Buildings in the area have stepped up preventive measures in recent days, requiring all tenants and guests to undergo a temperature screening before entering and to fill up forms with their contact information and recent travel history.

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  • Coronavirus Hits Singapore CBD

    Coronavirus Hits Singapore CBD

    Staff of major firms are being told to work from home and temperature screening and sanitation are being stepped up at many towers in the central business district as two cases emerge.

    The novel coronavirus outbreak in Singapore has spread to its financial district, with two employees at buildings in the area found to have been infected, «The Business Times» reported, citing circulars seen by the publication.

    The first, who contracted the virus on February 8, works at Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 1, where Standard Chartered is a key tenant. DBS has offices in Tower 3. The building’s management said that affected office space, lifts and ground floor common area have been deep cleaned and disinfected in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines, according to the report.

    The other, an employee of United Industrial Corporation (UIC), works at Clifford Centre. No other UIC employee has displayed any signs of the virus as of February 7, a circular said, noting the building has since been disinfected.

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued an advisory urging financial institutions to adopt additional measures and precautions on Friday, the same day the city-state raised its response level to Orange, the same level as during the Sars epidemic in 2003.

    They include maintaining effective internal controls across operations should split team arrangements be implemented, anticipating and preparing for an increase in demand for services such as cash withdrawal or online financial services, informing customers of the availability of services and operating hours, and supporting staff morale.

    It also warned of the heightened risk of cyber threats as actors take advantage of the situation to conduct email scams, phishing and ransomware attacks.

    As a precaution against the novel coronavirus, UOB has closed two banking outlets in Shanghai and Beijing, the bank said in a media statement on Monday.

    UOB’s Commercial Banking Centre in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong remains closed until 14 February. Corporate customers are encouraged to use the Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay branches during this time.

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  • DBS Makes First Transaction on Networked Trade Platform

    DBS Makes First Transaction on Networked Trade Platform

    The platform, which connects players in the trade value chain in Singapore to their counterparts abroad, cuts trade processing time from about one week to a day.

    DBS Bank has completed the first fully digital trade settlement on Singapore’s Network Trade Platform – a $3.5 million letter of credit transaction between car manufacturer Audi and its local distributor Premium Automobiles.

    The first transaction is a «critical step towards transforming documentary trade, of which domestic letters of credit constitute around $150 billion of Singapore’s trade flows», DBS said.

    A second trade among the two parties, valued at $2.8 million, is currently in the works.

    The NTP is part of a wider concerted effort by the Singapore government to drive an industry-wide digital transformation to build a trade and logistics digital ecosystem that connects businesses, community systems and platforms and government systems.

    «Digitalizing a traditionally paper-centric trade ecosystem requires support from like-minded industry partners who embrace technology and change,» said Serene Ho, director of Networked Trade Platform Office (NTPO). She said the office would continue to work with financial institutions and industry partners to «realize Singapore’s vision of a paperless trade ecosystem».

    In the statement, DBS highlighted its other recent initiatives to digitize trade, including the ICC Tradeflow Platform with Trafigura; HeveaConnect, a digital trading marketplace for sustainable rubber; Agrocorp, a digital trade platform for commodities; and YunLiangMeng, a blockchain platform for automotive logistics.

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  • Standard Chartered Hires Senior Strategist From BCG

    Standard Chartered Hires Senior Strategist From BCG

    The move continues the bank’s string of similar hires from top global consulting firms to its Singapore office.

    Standard Chartered has hired Douglas Jackson as managing director of group strategy, who moved from Boston Consulting Group earlier this month.

    His move continues a string of recent hires by the bank, which has been bringing on consultants due to its restructuring drives that have taken place since the appointment of CEO Bill Winters in 2015.

    The publication noted the bank’s 2019 hire of Pierre Paoli, who moved from BCG to lead its strategic initiatives unit for commercial and institutional banking, the hire of IBM consultant Sushil Anand as head of computational and digital advisory for wealth management, and former Deloitte and UBS strategist Christopher Williams as global head of strategy, governance and change for technology services.

    The bank, which makes two-thirds of its profits from Asia, will certainly benefit from Jackson’s intimate familiarity with the region, where he helped global and local companies realize their ambitions in Southeast Asia. His expertise includes strategy, business model innovation, risk management and operations transformation, particularly in finance and the public sector.

    According to his LinkedIn profile, Jackson spent more than 10 years at the management consulting firm’s Vietnam office, most recently as a senior advisor. His time in the country also included a secondment at Vietnam International Bank in Hanoi. Prior to that, Jackson was also stationed in Thailand for almost 10 years as country manager of A.T. Kearney, and was a branch manager for J.P. Morgan in Seattle.

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  • UBS Doubles China Headcount Early

    UBS Doubles China Headcount Early

    UBS shows no sign of slowing down its mainland China expansion plans despite an ongoing coronavirus outbreak, having met its target set in 2016 to double headcount to 1,200 ahead of schedule.

    UBS group chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in 2016 that the bank would double its China headcount in within five years to tap into the gargantuan domestic financial industry which is undergoing a historic transition to allow greater foreign ownership.

    Sources familiar with the matter said that UBS had already met the target to overall double staff size from 2016’s 600 to 1,200 ahead of its 2022 plan.

    The bank remains committed to wealth management in China despite the ongoing outbreak,, adding that business was largely unaffected with the exception of deferring non-critical travel. For staff that must enter the mainland, the bank has asked that they stay home for a 14-day period afterward before returning to office – the widely used standard to determine if one has been infected by the deadly virus.

    A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment on the matter.

    Even with its current scale, the bank’s hiring spree in mainland China is unlikely to end soon. UBS’s majority-owned investment banking joint venture is also accelerating growth with plans to double its current headcount of around 400 in three to four years, in addition to pursuing full ownership by 2020-end.

    Overall, our plan is to steadily grow China onshore headcount, but we are not just going to compete on size,» said David Chin, APAC head of investment banking and China country head at UBS, to reporters in December last year, placing emphasis on the derivatives business.

    Chinese regulators announced last year that it would scrap foreign ownership limits this year in futures, securities, and mutual fund companies. Global financial institutions including J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock are vying for a piece of mainland China’s financial industry as the country undergoes a landmark opening of its $45 trillion market.

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  • CIMB Bank Philippines Partners With Jumio

    CIMB Bank Philippines Partners With Jumio

    CIMB Bank Philippines’ all-digital bank has partnered Jumio, a provider of AI-powered end-to-end identity verification and authentication solutions to provide a simple, hassle-free and convenient digital onboarding solution to Filipinos.

    Jumio’s identity verification solution uses machine learning, AI, certified liveness detection and face-based biometrics to ensure the person behind a digital transaction is who they say they are by matching a user’s live selfie with the photo shown on their government-issued ID.

    Our partnership with Jumio has been integral in achieving our milestones so far as an all-digital bank in the Philippines to deliver a safe and secure banking experience. We are very grateful to have them as an ally in bringing Filipinos closer to financial inclusion, said Vijay Manoharan, CIMB Bank PH CEO in a statement on Tuesday.

    In its first full year of formal operations, CIMB Bank Philippines (CIMB Bank PH) signed in almost 2 million Filipinos via the CIMB Bank PH digital platform, 30 percent of which are first-time customers to a bank. CIMB Bank PH is part of the CIMB Group, which has a presence in over 16 global markets.

    The all-digital bank offers one of the most attractive savings interest rates of 4 percent, with zero transaction fees and minimum balance. With the bank’s digital proposition, it takes only 10 minutes to open a safe and secured account and 10-minute approval response for personal loans up to Php 1 million.

    CIMB Bank PH’s mobile app integrates Jumio’s AI-driven identity verification technology to provide a safe, secure and fast digital onboarding experience. What used to take 15 minutes with a video KYC process now takes less than five minutes, resulting in an increase in conversions. «In the Philippines and across the greater APAC region it’s becoming increasingly important for banks to offer a streamlined digital onboarding process,» said Jumio CEO Robert Prigge.

    Leveraging advanced technology including augmented intelligence, AI, biometrics, machine learning, certified 3D liveness detection, and human review, Jumio helps organizations meet regulatory compliance including KYC, AML, and GDPR and definitively establish the digital identity of their customers.

    Based in Palo Alto, Jumio has verified more than 200 million identities issued by over 200 countries and territories from the real-time web and mobile transactions. Jumio’s solutions are used by companies in the financial services, sharing economy, digital currency, retail, travel, and online gaming sectors.

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  • Citibank’s Singapore Head of Retail Exits

    Citibank’s Singapore Head of Retail Exits

    Citi’s head of retail banking in the city-state leaves after more than two decades with the American lender.

    Charles Wong exits the bank after nearly five years in his last role as Singapore head of retail banking. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed his exit.

    In 2015, Wong was appointed to his current role to oversee the retail banking business alongside wealth management, bancassurance, sales and network distribution.

    With over 20 years of experience at Citi, Wong has held a range of roles in retail banking, bancassurance, credit payment products and marketing across Asia Pacific. He was seconded to Citibank’s China business from 2006 to 2008 where he was the head of branch expansion and ATM distribution as well as director for CitiBusiness and customer experience. He was also previously involved in the launch of the Citi Priority segment across APAC which targets emerging affluent customers.

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  • OCBC Automates Cooperation with Law Enforcers

    OCBC Automates Cooperation with Law Enforcers

    OCBC has implemented an automated solution that accelerates collaboration with law enforcement agencies by up to 100-fold.

    On average, it takes between 10 days and three months for banks to respond to production orders or requests by law enforcement agencies to provide information for investigation on the bank accounts of individuals or companies. With the new solution – Production Orders: Electronic Transmission (POET) – OCBC will cut turnaround time to just one or two working days with minimal manual processing assuming the information requested does not exceed 13 months.

    By greatly reducing the turnaround time for production orders, we are doing our part to put the squeeze on criminals, said Loretta Yuen, OCBC’s head of group legal and regulatory compliance.

    After a successful pilot, OCBC launched POET in collaboration with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in July 2019. Since then, it has extended collaboration to other agencies including the Singapore Customs, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) and various units under the Singapore Police Force. It is in collaboration with more than 10 law enforcement agencies and expects about 70 percent of production orders to come through POET.

    Other banks are also considering to adopt the solution to improve compliance efficiency. In addition to DBS and UOB, the report noted that foreign banks in Singapore also expressed interest in POET.

    Collaboration with regulators aside, Yuen also highlighted the benefit of data gathered by POET for banks not only to respond to requests but to identify compliance risk early.

    We can use it as additional surveillance risk indicators, as well as in intelligence data mining and transactional link analysis to identify hidden relationships and/or clustering relationships that may pose money laundering risks to the bank, Yuen said.

    On average, OCBC receives more than 1,000 production orders per month from law enforcement agencies and the figure is projected to rise in the coming years.

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  • UBS to Hire Investment Bankers in Performance Bid

    UBS to Hire Investment Bankers in Performance Bid

    The investment bank of UBS didn’t deliver as much as the bank had hoped it would in 2019. The heads of the unit have reacted to the underperformance by setting new hiring targets.

    UBS wants to sign experienced staff to boost its investment bank in the U.S., according to a report. The move follows after the publication of the unit’s disappointing performance in 2019.

    According to the hiring plan, UBS aims to add 20 managing directors to the ranks of the investment bank over a two-to-three-year period. Switzerland’s largest bank restructured the investment bank, led by Piero Novelli and Rob Karofsky, in the fourth quarter of 2019 to put its focus on a few, global areas. The number of full-time-equivalents fell by about 150 jobs to 5,332 in that period.

    The bid to boost its U.S. business follows a year in which the division’s profit almost halved. Revenues dropped 9.6 percent and fell across all units of the division.

    UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti labeled the performance as unacceptable and told the unit to deliver more. At the same time, he also dropped the performance target of 15 percent previously set for the division.

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