Tag: banks

  • Banks Keep Hong Kong Branches Shut

    Banks Keep Hong Kong Branches Shut

    Five banks continued to demonstrate caution with 13 branches kept shut and hundreds of automatic teller machines still offline after a weekend of political unrest.

    Bank of China (Hong Kong) kept five branches open on Tuesday after closing all but one of its 200 on Saturday. ICBC has kept four branches closed.

    Bank customers are advised to use online banking or ATM services as far as possible, and check bank branches service status before visiting, said the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in a statement after revealing that 330 ATMs had been vandalized.

    Recent spate of vandalism and arson attacks have seriously affected the use of banking services by the public. Any form of vandalism and violence should be condemned.

    According to an SCMP report, banks declined to comment on cash lost but underlined that safe deposit boxes were unscathed.

    Our customers’ assets, information and all safe deposit boxes remain safe upon evaluation. We would like to reiterate that the operation of the bank remains normal, with a strong financial position and ample liquidity said BOCHK in a statement. We reiterate that our banknote supply remains normal and have stepped up our efforts to replenish cash for ATMs where practicable.

    The branches had been seriously damaged in the past few days, and are currently undertaking repair works, ICBC Asia said in another statement.

    Upon inspection and evaluation, all safe deposit boxes of the bank, and the customers’ assets and information remain safe. The operation of the bank also remains normal, with a strong financial position and ample liquidity.

  • Standard Chartered Launches Sustainable Deposit Solution

    Standard Chartered Launches Sustainable Deposit Solution

    Standard Chartered will offer both its corporate and retail clients in Singapore access to a deposit solution focused on supporting financing needs related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

    U.S. dollar deposits were co-developed with sustainability research firm Sustainalytics and liquidity raised from sustainable deposits will be used to fund SDG-related activities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This follows what the bank claims to be the world’s first SDG deposit product launched in Europe by Standard Chartered in May 2019.

    While green deposits – dedicated to renewable energy – are increasing in popularity, this is the first time any bank has launched a deposit product linked to sustainability and the SDGs, said Patrick Lee, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Singapore.

    The Sustainable Deposit offers both retail and corporate clients an opportunity to address global challenges such as poverty and inequality in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

    With corporate banking and asset management clients already in the midst of adopting environment, social and governance-related factors when making decisions, the bank focused on the untapped potential of the retail market.

    A recent sustainability survey by Standard Chartered said that 68 percent of high net worth individuals want to create a better future through sustainable investing with a high portion of Singapore’s wealthy (43 percent) exhibiting knowledge about the space

    We are taking a cue from our clients to make sustainable retail banking a reality, and have created the world’s first Sustainable Deposit for our individual clients, Lee said.

  • Internet-Only Banks Closing Trust Gap

    Internet-Only Banks Closing Trust Gap

    Trust in tech firms entering the financial sector is strong and rapidly improving to close the gap with traditional banks in Asia Pacific where 77 percent already prefer accessing their banking services via digital channels.

    According to the research firm Forrester, banks continue to lead in trust rankings regarding consumers’ financial interest but tech firms are rapidly catching up. In India, for example, Google outranked banks as the most trusted company to act in their best financial interest. In another tech-savvy nation like mainland China, companies like Alibaba and WeChat were only slightly behind their traditional competitors.

    In addition, global tech giants, payment providers, e-commerce players, and even ride-sharing leaders are threatening the pole position of incumbents by providing simple, convenient, and more personalized digital experiences.

    Across all eight markets surveyed, the preference for digital channels dominated in banking as agreed by 69 to 79 percent of respondents in any given market. 78 and 76 percent of respondents in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively, preferred digital channels for banking with the former ranking the lowest for branch preference (7 percent).

    Digital played dominance in banking is not so much replicated in the insurance sector where only between 32 and 59 percent of respondents in the various markets preferred digital channels. In markets like Singapore and Malaysia, agents were the most preferred channel as agreed by 46 and 41 percent of respondents, respectively.

    Consumers are more likely to engage with firms that prioritize helping them improve their financial well-being, said Dane Anderson, VP, research director, and regional manager at Forrester. We expect that customers will dynamically deconstruct their personal financial services ecosystems and reassemble them with newer and better players. Traditional institutions have several advantages but will be left behind if they do not transform faster to meet the challenge.

  • APAC Banks Face More Competition From Disruptors

    APAC Banks Face More Competition From Disruptors

    Technology and e-commerce disruptors such as Google, Alibaba and Apple are considered the biggest threat to banks, followed by payment players and Neo-banks, says Asia’s bankers.

    In markets where mobile payments have already taken root, banks and payment processors are battling tech companies on two fronts. They are working to retain their own retail card and current-account customers and attract new users to their apps and e-wallets. They also need to get and keep merchants on their side if they are to reap the economies of scale from a high-volume, low-margin sector, according to a study by The Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by Swiss software firm Temenos.

    The survey, entitled «A Whole New World: How technology is driving the evolution of intelligent banking in Asia-Pacific», found that competition is intensifying between established retail banks and the technology and e-commerce disruptors that threaten to carve up the payment solutions market. Big tech giants Google, Alibaba and Apple are considered the biggest threat to banks (32 percent), followed by payment players such as PayPal, Ripple, and Alipay (28 percent) and Neo-banks such as Volt Bank, Varo Money and Monzo (25 percent).

    With these threats top of mind, 37 percent of Asia-Pacific bankers see mastering digital marketing and engagement as their top strategic priority by 2020.

    Asia-Pacific bankers are acutely aware of the race they find themselves in against technology giants that have the capital and scale to take market share from established players. Neo-banks are not far behind and have the flexibility to outmaneuver major banks on the margins. To remain relevant, retain customers and appeal to the evolving demands of younger generations, banks must master digital engagement, and quickly, said  Martin Frick, Managing Director of APAC at Temenos, in a media statement on Tuesday.

    To counter the possibility of losing customers to non-traditional banking competitors, some banks are following a “2 app” approach in order to counter non-traditional banking competitors. For example, Singapore’s DBS bank has its traditional banking phone app and PayLah!, an app that is used for transactions and lifestyle services. With over 1 million users for its PayLah! app, DBS DBS believes more users would come on board for its trusted data privacy and security measures.

    In contrast, big tech competition could struggle to ensure the trust of traditional bank users because of the high possibility of data leaks that have occurred in the past in the tech industry.

    One of the main issues being brought forward from the survey is how to regulate banking effectively across the APAC region. The survey highlighted the dangers of a deregulated banking environment with the dominance of the WeChat Pay and AliPay duopoly in China. Sopnendu Mohanty of the Monetary Authority of Singapore argues that a common data policy would be beneficial for the APAC region.

    A regional regulatory banking policy would be effective in creating a balanced and transparent intelligent banking industry, the survey highlights. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation could be an inspiration for how to push forward such regulatory oversight in the APAC region. These standards would be easier to implement in the digital economy than in the physical economy.

    Regulation across the region has developed disparately. In Australia, open banking is being driven by the government to increase competition within established regulatory frameworks. In other parts of Asia-Pacific, such as Singapore, open banking is primarily being driven by the players themselves propelled by their desire to remain competitive and resulting in a need for retrospective regulation. In China, tighter licensing and data protection rules are set to diminish Alipay and WeChat Pay’s duopoly across the broader region.

  • UOB Expands SME Accelerator Program

    UOB Expands SME Accelerator Program

    UOB has announced that it is bringing its business transformation program to Malaysia, following successful editions held in Singapore (2018) and Thailand(2019), the bank announced on Friday.

    The three-month-long «Jom Transformation Program» run by UOB innovation accelerator The Finlab aims to help businesses in Malaysia adopt technology to drive productivity and growth.

    As part of the program, they will be matched with technology partners to address their concerns and to pilot the implementation of the solution. Participants will be able to gain the skills and knowledge in areas such as business process re-engineering and digital marketing, the bank said.

    Businesses will also be matched with mentors, including the Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Maxis, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and SME Corporation Malaysia, who will be able to advise them on how to increase operational efficiency, expand and scale across Southeast Asia,

    Malaysian businesses will be able to tap the combined knowledge, experience and networks of these organizations to accelerate their transformation process, Pauline Sim, co-head, The FinLab, said

  • Singapore Banks’ FX Volumes Pushed Up

    Singapore Banks’ FX Volumes Pushed Up

    Singapore banks will enjoy increased FX volumes going forward as the country grows as a foreign exchange (FX hub), banking heads said.

    «Singapore is fast evolving into a natural hub for FX in Asia with the many initiatives to promote FX trading in the region, coupled with regulatory support to encourage key market participants to set up their pricing and matching engines in Singapore,» said Lim Wee Kian, DBS managing director, head of FX.

    «FX trading activities and volumes in Singapore have increased over the past few years due to several reasons including the strong economic growth of Asia and a larger share of global investment flows into the region,» said Jose Luis Yepez, Citi head of FX and local markets, Asia-Pacific, Singapore.

    Plus, there is significant growth in the wealth management industry in the region, added Yepez. Despite the slight decline in assets under management (AUM) from $1.69 trillion to $1.63 trillion last year, Asia’s private banks have enjoyed a 6.9 percent compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, according to data from the Asian Private Banker.

    Last year, DBS Bank reported that its consumer banking/ wealth management income rose 21 percent to S$ 5.65 billion from increases in all product categories, despite a dip in the segment’s income during the fourth quarter last year. In the FX spot space, Southeast Asia’s largest bank saw strong growth, with spot volumes for 2016, 2017 and 2018 growing by 20 percent, 28 percent and 45 percent, year-on-year,  respectively, said Lim.

    «Digitisation of DBS’ FX transactions was a key driver of the strong growth in FX volumes, which started from a lower base, coupled with the strong traction from all remittance corridors of our consumer banking group and wealth management business,»  said Lim.

  • DBS Partners Sinosure for BRI Projects

    DBS Partners Sinosure for BRI Projects

    DBS Group has signed a cooperation agreement with China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, adding to the list of banks that are partnering Sinosure for projects under the Belt Road Initiative.

    DBS Group Holdings on Monday announced that it has partnered with Sinosure, the only state-funded Export Credit Agency conducting export credit insurance business in the People’s Republic of China. It joins OCBC Bank, who last week announced a similar partnership agreement.

    «Through signing the cooperation agreement with Sinosure, we will strengthen our partnership and increase the depth of our business with mainland China by facilitating project finance, and investment and trade opportunities especially with partners in ASEAN. We look forward to helping companies capitalize on the numerous business opportunities offered under BRI,» said DBS Singapore Country Head Shee Tse Koon.

    Under the cooperation agreement, DBS and Sinosure will collaborate on projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, especially those from ASEAN, by leveraging each other’s strengths in trade and investments and in-market experience.

    Sinosure will provide credit insurance for DBS’ mid and long-term financing activities for projects in the fields of marine engineering, infrastructure construction, energy, chemicals and textiles, aerospace, as well as services and technology.

  • South Korean bank launches hand palm recognition verification

    South Korean bank launches hand palm recognition verification

    A South Korean bank has launched a service allowing customers to use palm recognition to withdraw cash – a likely precursor to similar technology becoming available in retail stores.

    KB Kookmin Bank says by using palm prints, customers no longer have to use a bankbook, stamp or password.

    The bank explained that palm vein recognition is safer and more precise than other biometric identification methods such as fingerprint or iris recognition. It believes the service will appeal to older customers who often have difficulty recalling passwords.

    According to a report, using palm recognition is also quicker than current means. Palm vein patterns differ by individual, allowing the scanner to correctly identify the customer.

    Similar palm-vein scanners are already being used at automated teller machines (ATM) from major banks worldwide, including Barclays in the UK and Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank in Japan.

    To prevent biometric information from leaking, the bank will encrypt the vein pattern database and work with the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute to store the information. The data will be disassembled into multiple blocks when stored, and reassembled when used for transactions.

    KB Kookmin Bank expects that the new palm-recognition service will particularly benefit senior customers who often have a hard time remembering passwords.

  • Google’s mobile payment service expands to more banks

    Google’s mobile payment service expands to more banks

    If you’re anxious to use Google Pay, but can’t because your bank doesn’t yet support the mobile payment service, you’ll be happy to know that Google is working hard to bring the product to as many consumers as possible. At least in the United States.

    We’re back with the monthly list of banks and credit unions that are about to receive Google Pay support, and this time there are only 15 of them. If your bank is among them, but you still can’t use the service, then give a few days. Without further ado, here is the full list of banks and financial institutions that should now offer Google Pay support.

    American State Bank & Trust Company, Commercial Bank, Community First Bank of Indiana, First National Bank of Paragould, Generations Bank (AR), Generations Bank (NY), Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union, Harvard State Bank, Heartland State Bank, Minnesota National Bank, People’s Bank of Commerce, PrimeWay Federal Credit Union, Spring Bank, Tampa State Bank, Walden Savings Bank, and Zellco Federal Credit Union.

    To find out if your bank or card works for in-store purchases with Google Pay on your phone, you should check out the full list from the service’s support site.

  • Legacy Banks Must Become Agile, Says Citi

    Legacy Banks Must Become Agile, Says Citi

    New entrants and increased competition brought about by challenger banks could result in revenue losses of up to 30 percent among legacy banks over the next 10 years. While digitalization can lower costs for incumbent banks by 30 to 50 percent, new competition and greater transparency in the banking market, prompted by the emergence of challenger banks driven by fintech startups, are likely to lower revenues by 10 to 30 percent in the next decade, according to the report “Bank X: The New New Banks” published by Citi on Thursday.

    As legacy banks recognize the threat that new entrants into banking are posing to revenue and customers, they need to reinvent themselves and reimagine banking. This involves legacy banks partnering with technology companies to create effective joint ventures as well as moving into more disruptive technology and business models to transform themselves into digital competitors, the report said.

    If banks successfully transform digitally, their ROEs will rise from 8 percent in Europe and 16 percent in the U.S. to 15 percent and 24 percent respectively in a bullish scenario, and 5 percent and 10 percent respectively in a bearish scenario, the report noted.

    Bank X

    Built by new entrants, challenger banks designed around new digital technologies, leveraging data insights via agile technology stacks to offer customers better personalization and fully digital banking experiences. As they offer their services remotely via online or mobile banking, challenger banks tend to be quicker at incorporating new products or processes into their platforms and help easily connect with third-party products, ultimately offering more choices to the end-user.

    By creating their own Bank X, we believe legacy banks can transform themselves from slow-moving caterpillars to agile butterflies, Ronit Ghose, Citi Global Head of Bank Research, said.

    The report noted that while creating a new digital-only bank can help incumbent banks meet an evolving set of customer expectations quickly and effectively, setting up an independent challenger bank needs to be differentiated from digital transformations and core banking overhauls that they undertake. This is because creating their own Bank X requires independent application programming interfaces (APIs) and technology stacks, which is a significant departure from the operating model of incumbent banks.

    Need for Regulation in Asia

    Apart from the lower number of challenger banks in Asia compared to the U.K. and U.S., Citi noted that challenger banks in Asia are largely offshoots of big tech, telcoms, and banks. For example, WeBank, MYbank, and Kakao Bank are all backed by tech firms, KBank and Jibun Bank are backed by telcoms, while DBS has made progress in Indonesia and India with digibank, its own challenger bank.

    While Asia has several challenger banks originating from startups aiming to disrupt the financial system, Neat in Hong Kong or Paytm in India, they are exceptions. This is a result of the limited regulatory framework for challengers in Asia, with the emerging exception of Hong Kong, and the presence of large tech companies, particularly in China.

    Conversely, challenger bank activity is vibrant in the U.K. and Europe as a result of progressive regulations enacted to promote competition and break up the banking monopoly, the report said.

  • New Milestone for Hong Kong as a Financial Center

    New Milestone for Hong Kong as a Financial Center

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has granted the first virtual banking licenses to three institutions. According to their business plans, these banks will launch their services within six to nine months.

    The three banks that received a license are Livi VB, SC Digital Solutions and ZhongAn Virtual Finance to operate in the form of a virtual bank. The granting of these banking licenses takes effect today, according to a media release on Wednesday.

    According to their business plans, these three newly licensed virtual banks intend to launch their services within 6 to 9 months. After the granting of the above banking licenses, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong will be increased to 155.

    Reinforcing Hong Kong’s Position

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is making good progress in the processing of the remaining 5 virtual bank applications, according to further information.

    «It is a major milestone in reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a premier international financial center. I believe that virtual banks will not only help drive fintech and innovation but also bring about brand new customer experiences and further promote financial inclusion in Hong Kong», Norman T.L. Chan, CEO of the HKMA, said.

    Targeting the Retail Public and SMEs

    I believe that virtual banks will have to offer innovative and customer-centric services in order to attract customers. Moreover, in targeting the retail public and SMEs as their main client base, virtual banks should help promote financial inclusion in Hong Kong, he added.

    The U.K. market, where neobanks and digital-only challengers have been around for a while, shows there’s a big chance new players will grab a significant chunk of new financial services revenue in the near future in Hong Kong, but that doesn’t mean all is lost for traditional banks here, Fergus Gordon, a managing director at Accenture who leads its Banking practice in Asia Pacific and Africa, said.

    Some Consolidation Expected

    Virtual banks will need some years to establish themselves, then there will likely be some consolidation among some of the players, and in the meantime, traditional players should continue to rapidly reconfigure their branch networks to become more focused on experiences and use technology to make the transition from digital to physical and back much more seamless, he added.

  • Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Korea’s Woori Bank partners with Chinese banks on remittance

    Woori Bank launched a money-transfer service linked with Chinese banks to allow its customers to readily and easily send money to people holding Chinese bank accounts. On Monday, the bank said the service will be carried out in real time. The partnered entities include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications and also Chinese financial services company UnionPay.

    The service will charge 10,000 won ($8.9) in fees for a transaction less than 2 million won. For remittance over 2 million won, the charge will increase to a flat rate of 20,000 won.

    The service was jointly developed by Woori Bank, Woori Card and UnionPay. Once a user sends money, the service will notify the user of the transfer result via text message.

    The sender must send Korean won and the receiver will receive Chinese Yuan.

  • Foreign investment crucial to Vietnamese banks in 2019: Moody’s

    Foreign investment crucial to Vietnamese banks in 2019: Moody’s

    Most Vietnamese banks fall short of international capital adequacy norms and have to focus on attracting foreign capital this year, Moody’s has said. The credit rating agency said in a release Monday that “the underdevelopment of the domestic capital markets” means the banks would have to look to foreign investors to meet the capital requirement of 8 percent of risk-weighted assets to cover operational risks.

    Raising capital has been a struggle for Vietnamese banks in recent years. Major state-owned banks such as BIDV and Vietinbank have for long been making plans to increase charter capital but in vain.

    BIDV, the second largest listed bank, has had charter capital of nearly VND34.19 trillion ($1.46 billion) unchanged since 2015.

    Last November it planned to sell a 17.65 stake to South Korea’s KEB Hana Bank to increase it to over VND40.22 trillion ($1.73 billion), but the deal has not been consummated.

    Vietinbank, the fourth largest listed bank, has seen its capital remain unchanged since 2014 at VND37.23 trillion ($1.59 billion).

    Only Vietcombank, the largest listed bank in the country, last month raised VND6.2 trillion ($265.86 million) from selling a 3 percent stake to foreign investors, as part of its plan to ultimately sell 10 percent.

    BIDV and Vietinbank had offered to pay its largest shareholder, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the previous year’s dividends in stocks and not cash to increase their capital, but the central bank refused saying it needed the cash.

    Moody’s added that the banks’ capitalization will strengthen this year because of stronger profitability and stable credit growth.

    It said that Vietnamese banks last year achieved a higher aggregate return on assets for a second year running, registering a rise of 1.1 percent from 0.9 percent in 2017.

    Aggregate net income for the banks rose 35 percent to VND70 trillion ($3 billion) in 2018 from the previous year, it said.

    “For 2019, Vietnamese banks that Moody’s rates will achieve a further improvement in profitability, again because of wider net interest spreads and lower credit costs,” said Rebaca Tan, a Moody’s analyst.

    “Credit growth will stay stable over the same period because of tighter control by the State Bank of Vietnam, and asset quality will improve further, as the banks continue cleaning up their balance sheets.”

  • CIMB Niaga posts 16.9% net profit growth in 2018

    CIMB Niaga posts 16.9% net profit growth in 2018

    CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s 92.5%-owned T Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk reported an audited consolidated net profit of 3.5 trillion rupiah (RM1 billion) for the financial year ended Dec 1, 2018 a 16.9% growth compared with a year ago. The bank said the improved net profit came on the back of a 13.8% increase in on-interest income to 3.8 trillion rupiah and a 63 basis-point improvement in credit charges from 2.26% to 1.63% as provisions declined 25.7%.

    CIMB Niaga’s loan loss coverage remains comfortable at 105.86%.

    “We aim to maintain a targeted growth trajectory while keeping asset quality as a priority,” said CIMB Niaga president director Tigor M. Siahan.

    Total loans grew by 1.8% to 188.5 trillion rupiah mainly from growth in mortgages of 11.2% to 30 trillion rupiah, small- and medium enterprise loans of 8.5% to 29.6 trillion rupiah and credit card of 5.5% to 8.6 trillion rupiah.

    With total assets of 266.8 trillion rupiah as at Dec 31, 2018, CIMB Niaga maintained its position as Indonesia’s second largest private owned bank by assets.

    Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 19.66% as at end-December 2018, representing a 106 basis-point increase from the previous year.

    “Going forward, we will continue to focus on expanding our consumer and SME businesses, building our CASA (current account savings account) franchise and strengthening our Sharia business proposition and Sharia-compliant product offerings,” Tigor added.

  • HSBC pre-tax profit up 16% at US$19.9 bn in 2018

    HSBC pre-tax profit up 16% at US$19.9 bn in 2018

    Banking giant HSBC said on Tuesday that pre-tax profit rose 16% to US$19.9 billion last year with growth across its global businesses despite a “challenging external environment in the fourth quarter”. The results capped the first full year at the helm of the Asia-focused bank for chief executive officer John Flint, who has vowed growth while keeping a lid on costs as trade tensions between the United States and China rumble.

    However, earnings in the last three months of 2018 came in below expectations as Washington’s trade war began to bite globally and hammered the stock markets, especially in Hong Kong and China.

    Adjusted pretax profit fell one percent to US$3.39 billion in October-December, missing the US$4.4 billion consensus average by Bloomberg Newsderived from estimates compiled by the bank.

    Global markets adjusted revenue was down US$202 million to US$1.1 billion over the same period, while wealth management dropped 18%, also to US$1.1 billion.

    Overall the year saw strong growth for HSBC with net profit ballooning 30%to US$12.6 billion while adjusted pre-tax profit rose three percent to US$21.7 billion.

    The bank had to lay off tens of thousands of staff as part of a wide-ranging overhaul that also saw it sell its Brazil operations in 2015.

    But it showed a healthy doubling of profits by 2017, a year that also saw it nominate Mark Tucker as chairman, breaking a longstanding tradition of appointing insiders to the post.

    In a statement attached to Tuesday’s earnings, Tucker and Flint said the bank was prepared to weather fallout from both a possible deterioration in the trade talks between Washington and Beijing and Britain’s impending departure from the EU.

    “The fundamentals for growth in Asia remain strong in spite of a softer regional economic outlook,“ Tucker said in a statement attached to the annual report.

    “The system of global trade remains subject to political pressure, and differences between China and the US will likely continue to inform sentiment in 2019,“ he added.

    With Brexit looming, HSBC followed the other major British financial giants in ring-fencing its UK bank.

    “We continue to prepare for the UK’s departure from the EU” Flint said, adding its operations in France “gives us a major advantage in this regard”