Till Guldimann, vice-chairman of financial services solutions provider SunGard, outlines the major changes in capital markets and the accompanying technology trends. Interview by Parveen Bansal. With a focus on the company’s long-term strategy, Till Guldimann sees a dynamic future for the capital markets. Each of the three main market segments – institutional asset managers, intermediaries (brokers, dealers and some corporate treasuries) and private investors – faces a number of key inter-related challenges.
In the wake of banking sector liberalisation in the 1990s, Alain Law Min, head of retail at MCB, tells Parveen Bansal how and why the bank has restructured and how it has improved its business. Established in 1838, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) is one of the oldest banks in the region. The bank’s performance has been driven by strong growth in the economy, which, once highly dependent on sugar, is now well diversified.
Parveen Bansal talks to Mr Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Bank, to learn how and why the bank spread its wings across central Europe. Founded in Austria in 1819 by a Catholic priest to help devout people save money for difficult times, Erste Bank today is home to the savings of around 12 million customers across central Europe. “When we went public in 1997, we set several targets, one of which was to become the leading retail banking service provider in the region,” says CEO Andreas Treichl. The bank is already benefiting from the unusual decision in 1990 to focus on retail banking in central Europe.
Tim Jones, CEO of Simpay, talks to Parveen Bansal about the future direction of the payments industry and the power of technology to shake up accepted ways of doing things.The payments world has evolved in a complicated way, says Tim Jones, chief executive officer of global mobile payments scheme Simpay. This state of affairs – due to “all manner of reasons” – has led to the current way in which the world’s payment systems operate, which he describes as “complicated, and by no means optimal”.
Parveen Bansal talks to Bertrand Lavayssičre, head of Capgemini’s Global Financial Services Sector and managing director of Financial Services North American Region.Speaking with extensive experience on consulting and IT in financial services, Bertrand Lavayssičre shares Capgemini’s view on the main issues in the financial services industry and their possible solutions. He highlights three key issues that continue to plague retail banks: creating customer loyalty, integrating different channels and, in particular, the need to reduce back office costs.
Parveen Bansal speaks to Dr Angus Porter about Abbey’s strategy to change the face of banking in the UK.With a PhD in metallurgy and with marketing and executive management experience gained at Mars Confectionery and British Telecom, Dr Angus Porter is new to the financial services industry. In June last year he joined Abbey as customer propositions director.
Douglas Beckett, regional head of consumer banking at Standard Chartered explains the bank’s strategy in Africa, following its recent re-entry into South Africa and Nigeria. By Parveen Bansal.With its roots in both Asia and Africa, Standard Chartered Bank has emerged in the past 150 years as a leading financial institution in these markets. The present-day bank is the product of a 1969 merger between Standard Bank of South Africa and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, the latter being the older institution, having been founded in 1835 following the grant of a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria.
Are banks’ IT systems providing value or are they effectively brain dead? This month our technology editor, Parveen Bansal, considers how little banks get back from their huge investment in IT and what can be done to improve it. Financial sector reform is also high on the agenda of Asian Development Bank president Tadao Chino who insists it is key to sustaining high growth across the region. And in Malaysia, Maybank’s chief executive, Amirsham Aziz, discusses corruption, Havana nightclubs and the upcoming elections.
With more than three-quarters of Qatar’s population come from overseas, Doha Bank is focusing on expatriate customers, says Parveen Bansal.With energy needs expanding worldwide and oil prices remaining high, the Qatari economy is booming. Under the prudent leadership of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani, the state’s development strategy is focusing on diversification of the economy away from oil, toward extensive gas reserves and industrial expansion. Oil and natural gas revenues enable Qatar to have a per capita income not far below the leading industrial countries in western Europe.
How should banks meet the challenge of growing competition from retailers for financial services? And where should their technology priorities lie? Bill Hartnett, financial services manager at Microsoft, gives Parveen Bansal some pointers.Software giant Microsoft is well known not only in the consumer world, but it has also made serious inroads into the financial services sector, where it commands the majority market share in the server and desktop computer operating systems areas.