Bank of the Year Awards 2022 — Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific’s top lenders from 2022

Bangladesh
Standard Chartered Bangladesh

Standard Chartered Bangladesh (SC Bangladesh) scooped the 2022 Bank of the Year award after it took bold steps to drive forward the country’s green and digital agenda, launching services specific to the domestic market.

The bank has championed the introduction of green financing in Bangladesh, as it issued the first green zero-coupon bond for the Sajida Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that works to improve health outcomes. The total face value of the bond was Tk1bn ($9.8m), which provided the foundation with an alternative source of funding for its microcredit operations.

SC Bangladesh also arranged the first green bond for Pran Agro, a large agricultural and food processing company, with a face value of Tk1.5bn.

In technology, the bank launched the Digital Trade Counter during 2021. The online solution, available on the Straight2Bank NextGen portal, simplifies the process of document submission and tracking for both international and local businesses.

To provide support during the Covid-19 pandemic, the lender launched the Saadiq Sadaqah account. Set up as a mudaraba-based account, which is widely used by Islamic banks to raise deposits, the account allows holders to donate profits raised by the account to a charity of their choice.

Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of SC Bangladesh, says: “Global trade remains one of the key building blocks of Bangladesh’s growing economy. By accelerating transformational innovations, we will continue to help businesses dovetail with their global counterparts.

“With our uniquely diverse network, we are also helping Bangladeshi businesses access 59 markets globally, at the same time, reinforcing Bangladesh’s potential as an investment destination through our key corridors and international financial hubs,” he adds. “We are committed to putting Bangladesh on a sustainable path without slowing development, co-creating unique sustainability-focused solutions with our partners and clients.”

Brunei
Baiduri Bank

Brunei’s Baiduri Bank has won the Bank of the Year award on the back of sound fundamentals. In 2021, it recorded net profits of Br$58.5m ($42.5m), while its cost-to-income ratio improved and now sits below 50%, following initiatives to improve efficiency. Non-performing loans also declined.

Baiduri has focused on building up its environmental, social and governance credentials, as well as becoming actively involved in supporting the local community. Developments included working in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports on the creation of a mobile app for volunteers. Named ‘Mengalinga’ (‘we care’ in English), the app connects companies and organisations with volunteers, especially young people.

In addition, the bank launched its first QR code payment solution, DSTPay, in conjunction with UnionPay. DSTPay also marks UnionPay International’s (UPI’s) first in south-east Asian mobile wallet that features a collaboration between a bank, telco and a payments network. Customers can use the QR code at more than 200 merchants and in 45 international markets, because it leverages the UPI platform.

Baiduri has supported high-net-worth customers at its headquarters with the launch of a Prestige Centre, which offers customers a more relaxed environment and dedicated space for meeting with their relationship managers.

To support and upskill its staff, the bank created its Leadership Academy in December 2021, to enable staff to self-direct their learning and development paths. HR systems were overhauled, with new modules focused on recruitment, digital onboarding, job profiling and succession planning soon to be added.

Baiduri also launched employee engagement strategies, such as an employee wellness initiative to make fitness and wellness activities a part of the workplace culture, with a volunteer programme, Baiduri Cares, encouraging employees to spend at least eight hours a year on volunteering activities.

Cambodia
ABA Bank

Cambodia’s Bank of the Year in 2022 is ABA Bank, which ambitiously overhauled its consumer banking services over the course of the review period.

ABA expanded its mobile offering at the start of 2022 with the introduction of its ABA QR feature in its banking app. An account-to-account transfer feature, it allows for fast and secure transfers between ABA Mobile users. ABA QR is integrated with the Cambodian national QR code standard, KHQR, allowing its customers to receive transfers from customers of other KHQR-integrated banks for free. The QR code helps eliminate the risk of customers inputting incorrect account numbers and is dynamic, so the user can input the amount to transfer or pay, ensuring the correct amount is sent.

To make the process of banking more convenient for its customers, ABA introduced self-service plastic cards. Customers are able to order new cards from their ABA Mobile app and then issue it through the ABA card machine. Cards can be issued within two minutes of being ordered through the app, with users presenting a QR code from within the app. In the three months since the launch of the service, the ABA card machines have issued 50,000 cards, representing 50% of all cards issued by the bank during the period.

ABA Bank has further improved its mobile app, recognising the demand from consumers for this service. Of the 603,000 customers who joined the bank in 2021, 99.5% downloaded the app. These people contributed to the 1.9 million active users of the app as of the end of June.

“ABA will surely continue implementing its unique strategy with a focus on the user-centric approach, while developing new services and platforms,” says Askhat Azhikhanov, CEO of ABA Bank. “We will keep relying strongly on technologies and the progressive development of our self-banking facilities for our proposition.”

China
Agricultural Bank of China

In the highly competitive Chinese banking market, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) came out on top to win the Bank of the Year accolade. In 2021, the bank enjoyed good financial results, with an 11.7% increase in net profits and a 9.4% increase on Tier 1 capital. Meanwhile, its non-performing loans fell slightly, to 1.43% from 1.57%.

Recognising the differing needs of its customers in accessing its apps, ABC released new versions of its apps. The bank launched a rural version of its mobile banking app following research into the preferences of customers in country areas. This included adding services such as Huinong wealth management and Huinong e-loan. These updates were promoted through its ‘revitalising villages and benefiting rural people with mobile banking’ marketing strategy.

ABC also supported rural areas through credit lines, with the balance of loans to key counties reaching Rmb266bn ($37.6bn), representing a 15% increase on the previous year.

A customised version of the app was developed to support elderly customers. The special modifications included large font sizes and page display, simplified service functions and transaction processes, and a one-click direct line to customer service. The app also has expanded language features, including Tibetan and Uighur, to support basic banking functions.

As part of its focus on digitisation, ABC set up a fintech innovation centre in Xiong’an New Area, constructing an incubation centre and a pilot area to test innovations. The bank is also focusing on ‘big data’, introducing in-depth data integration and data accumulation.

It has introduced cloud computing technology with the construction of an integrated cloud platform, developed as one cloud with multiple cores. All new production and test resources were integrated to the cloud, which help teams to self-service when developing and testing new products and services.

Hong Kong
Standard Chartered Hong Kong

In its pledge to support sustainable business, Standard Chartered was the first bank in Hong Kong to launch a green mortgage programme with the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) in October 2021. As of the end of May 2022, 10% of the bank’s portfolio was green mortgages. In the first half of 2022, 21% of new business drawdown has been to properties certified as green, which is gold standard or above, by HKGBC.

Standard Chartered Hong Kong (SCHK) launched a sustainable savings account (SSA) in December 2021, enabling retail clients to contribute to sustainable development. Their ‘sustainable balance’ will be used to support activities funded by the bank, including infrastructure projects, as well as financing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Since launch, it has acquired almost HK$1bn ($130m) of new funds through SSA.

The bank’s green focus extends to its cards, with new credit cards issued since November 2021 being carbon neutral.

SCHK also launched a focused service, ‘Priority Private’ (PP), for wealth management customers. The bank opened a dedicated centre for these customers to provide a high-end experience in early 2021. Since the launch of PP, the client base increased by 21% year-on-year, while the segment’s assets under management grew by 5%.

Mary Huen, CEO of SCHK, says: “Despite the pandemic headwinds, our business in Hong Kong remains strong and resilient in 2022. In the third quarter, our Hong Kong business recorded its best quarterly income and was the largest income contributor to the group.

“This achievement supports our strategic focus in the wealth management business in Hong Kong and the GBA, along with continuous investment in digital initiatives,” she adds. “Moving forward, we would continue to transform on innovation and sustainability in supporting our customers’ needs to capture the unique opportunities ahead.”

India
Canara Bank

India’s Canara Bank rounded out a successful 2022 by picking up the country’s Bank of the Year award. The lender saw its profits increase by a whopping 462.2% year-on-year in 2022, its return on equity almost doubled to 12.82% and non-performing loan ratio fell to 2.65%.

To support its customers across each aspect of their banking journey, Canara Bank launched a banking super-app called Canara Ai1 (All in One). The app has more than 250 features, with services such as deposits, loans and transfers being joined by shopping, payments and booking facilities.

Additionally, the bank launched a foreign exchange (FX)-specific app, FX4U, allowing customers greater ease in handling FX transactions through internet banking. The app includes modules on currency sale and purchase, realisation of export bills, onward remittance and booking for forward contracts.

Recognising the potential in the gold loan segment, the bank created a gold loan vertical. Tapping into significant market demand, the bank reached the milestone target of Rs1tn ($12.3bn).

Remarking on the bank’s success in this year’s awards, Shri LV Prabhakar, managing director and CEO of Canara Bank, says the bank has initiated a process of focusing on retail growth, recovery and empowering regional offices, in tandem with corporate social responsibility themes. This is the basis of the bank’s mission to become a Rs20tn business by the end of the 2023 financial year.

“Canara Bank has shown stellar growth in business during the previous two years by adding business of Rs1.28tn and Rs1.42tn during financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22, respectively,” Mr Prabhakar says. “On a technological front, the bank has launched the banking super-app Ai1 with more than 250 features and FX4U platform for smoother FX transactions. The bank believes in inclusive involvement and inclusive development for sustainable growth.”

Indonesia
OCBC NISP

OCBC NISP has undergone several transformational changes, as it turned to focusing on addressing the pain points of its customers across Indonesia.

To support its younger customers on their journey into banking and financial security, the bank implemented the #FinanciallyFit scheme in 2021. Working with NielsenIQ, the bank conducted the 2021 Financial Fitness Index survey, which found young Indonesians had a low financial fitness score of 37.72/100. In response, OCBC set up financial education programmes, which have so far helped 72,000 participants.

OCBC also launched its Financial Fitness Gym, which is a bank branch where customers can learn about their financial health. As a result, the bank saw an increase in the use of its wealth management products, with a 15% year-on-year increase in revenue from products including mutual funds and securities products as of the end of 2021.

Green finance remained a focus for OCBC, with the bank seeing Rp30.89tn ($1.9bn) of sustainable financing by the end of 2021, with 40% of this comprising green financing disbursements. The bank continued its work in the TAYTB Women Warrior programme, which has seen loans to female business owners increase by 41% year-on-year to the end of June 2022, and women debtors increasing by 20%.

The bank also introduced the Global Wallet debit card, which enables debit transactions in 12 currencies while abroad. The transactions are debited immediately, with no extra charges or conversion fees on currencies including the US dollar, euro or renminbi.

“Our focus is to be the bank that is embedded in people’s daily lives,” says Parwati Surjaudaja, president director of OCBC NISP. “We believe the approach to banking will look very different in the future, but the core purpose will remain the same. Thus, we need to continuously adapt to address these challenges and maximise the opportunities arising from next-generation banking.”

Kazakhstan
ForteBank

Kazakhstan’s ForteBank enjoyed a year of solid financial results, as the bank saw its net profits rise by 21%, Tier 1 capital increase by 2.3% and assets grow by 16.1%, all while its non-performing loan ratio declined to 4.92%. This helped the bank through its ambitious programme of improvements to its product offering.

During 2021, ForteBank stepped up its online game with the implementation of ForteBusiness. The new service is focused on helping the digital journeys of legal entities by rolling out digital onboarding. During the launch, the bank managed the migration of customer data to the new platform, representing around 25,000 users. Through digitisation, the bank was able to speed up the support it offered to these customers on non-loan products.

The bank followed this up with the implementation of a mobile application for individual entrepreneurs, providing online services, such as the remote opening of accounts and applying for loans online. The implementation of remote services has helped to reduce the workload burden on the bank’s offices.

Responding to the requests of its customers, in June 2021 ForteBank introduced three new card products. Each of the products has a range of benefits, including higher cash-back, no monthly fee and no fees for transferring or withdrawing cash. Card issuance is fully automated and takes five minutes, after which the cards can be used without restrictions. This means that customers with the Forte App installed can use it immediately on their mobiles. Customers wanting a physical card can receive it via a courier or pick it up from a branch.

In its goal to support inclusivity, ForteBank became a member of Closing the Gender Gap accelerator in June 2022, held in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

Kyrgyzstan
DemirBank

DemirBank has held on to its title of Bank of the Year for Kyrgyzstan, as the bank coupled its digital ambitions and consumer services with a year of strong results. As well as seeing net profits rise by 33%, assets increase by 18% and Tier 1 capital expand by 17%, DemirBank saw its non-performing loans ratio almost halve, to 2.1%.

It has worked to expand its footprint of ATMs across the country, with 303 machines representing around 40% market share. The bank also has 3627 point-of-sale terminals, worth 30% of market share.

The bank has undertaken a strategy toward digitisation, both as a means of supporting customers and increasing the bank’s own efficiency and effectiveness. In order to achieve this, DemirBank brought in several processes, such as the simplification and automation of credit card applications and introducing new mobile banking services. The bank is working closely with the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic and the government on the development of digital projects and regulatory frameworks.

Among the innovations is the creation of the QR code ATM, a first for the banking market in Kyrgyzstan. It enables customers to withdraw cash without the need for a card. DemirBank continued to expand its mobile app through 2022, adding functions to enable them to manage their accounts without visiting the branch.

The bank has expanded its Card Plus product, which allows customers to pay for goods and services with their credit cards through a selected instalment plan of six, nine or 12 months. Since its launch, the service has seen 350 merchants join the programme, including in the medical, restaurant and education sectors. A total volume of more than $1.2m has been transacted. The service has the additional process of reducing the number of cash-based payments in the country.

Macau
ICBC (Macau)

ICBC (Macau) took steps to leverage its market position to expand its business opportunities in 2021. The bank set up the research centre for Portuguese-speaking countries, a first for the Chinese banking industry. The centre leverages Macau’s position as a former Portuguese colony to explore the commercial and trade potential with Portuguese-speaking countries as part of China’s Go Global strategy and to support the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

To support customers on their digital journey, the bank released an update to its personal mobile banking app, accelerating the integrated connection between mobile banking and physical outlets. The number of merchants linked to the mobile banking service increased, with the number of Simply Pay merchants reaching 1500 with a total volume of $989m and a market share of 30%, as of the end of June 2022.

Consolidating its position as a cross-border player with mainland China, ICBC (Macau) enables customers to use the witness account opening programme to open and use banking services overseas. As of the end of June 2022, the number of accounts opened in the Greater Bay Area was more than 2000, seeing double-digit growth year on year.

In response to the difficulties still being felt by local companies caused by the pandemic, the bank offered measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

Jiang Yisheng, chairman of ICBC (Macau), says: “During the past 12 months, by improving the governance capacity and accelerating the digital transformation, ICBC (Macau) continued to pursue customer-centred development, diversify and improve personal finance services, to better meet the customers’ needs. We also shouldered our responsibilities as a major bank and contributed to the economic recovery, actively served the transformation and upgrading of the real economy, and went all out to meet the diverse financial needs.”

Malaysia
Maybank

Maybank has taken definitive steps to overhaul its business, as it embarked on the first phase of its five-year transformation plan, named M25, set to run until 2025.

The bank has three core aims for this plan, seeking a sustainable return on equity, offering a top-rate customer experience, and becoming a regional environmental, social and governance leader. In its first year of implementation, the bank facilitated cross-border fund transfers for customers to Singapore and Cambodia, and the launch of its mobile app Maybank2U Biz, which simplified day to day business banking for small and medium-sized enterprises.

On the sustainability front, the bank mobilised more than RM13.6bn ($2.96bn) in sustainable finance, with a commitment to a cumulative total of RM50bn by 2025. In its own ambitions to become carbon neutral, the bank has now entered into its Scope 3 portfolio emissions baseline.

During 2021, Maybank became the first bank in Malaysia to commit to buy Malaysia Renewable Energy Certificates, which are equivalent to 70% of the bank’s Malaysian operations’ Scope 2 carbon emissions.

To support its employees, the bank has officially rolled out a remote working solution, named mWork, after being piloted during the Covid-19 pandemic. The platform allows employees with secure and flexible access to internal systems using a virtual desktop interface. The system is available to more than 9000 employees working across the business, including in China, Myanmar and Brunei.

“Maybank’s recently refined corporate strategy, M25+, will focus on driving more meaningful differentiation in five key strategic thrusts and accelerating the development of key capabilities for sustainable long-term growth: intensifying customer centricity, accelerating digitalisation and technological modernisation, strengthening Maybank’s business presence and position beyond Malaysia, driving its leadership position in the sustainability agenda,” says Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, group president and CEO of Maybank.

Mongolia
Golomt Bank

Mongolia’s Golomt Bank has won the award for Bank of the Year thanks to combining a successful financial year with solid innovation. After a couple of difficult years, the bank returned to rude health, recording a 149.5% increase in profits for 2021. Tier 1 capital also rose by 4.3%.

The bank moved towards an open banking initiative, focusing on third-party financial service providers, government agencies and fintech start-ups. Through this, the bank has been able to implement several initiatives, such as using blockchain technology in 2021 to start sending online bank statements and account references to embassies. A chatbot was launched utilising artificial intelligence, speech recognition and robotics to help customers, too.

Customers have benefitted from the launch of a centralised billing system, allowing for more efficient payments of household billing and utility payments. Previously, both Golomt Bank and its commercial clients had to manually input information for each household. A centralised account management system enables customers to make payments to any bank account using a unique ID, such as a phone number or email.

Developments in mobile banking have helped customers in their daily lives, with the SocialPay Digital Wallet allowing in-store payments without the need for a card. The facility enables QR code payments, with transactions completed in fewer than five seconds. The wallet can be used in more than 90% of Mongolia’s supermarkets, and customers can use it to view, hide, and block or unblock their cards.

As part of its community support initiatives, Golomt Bank has organised events to support female entrepreneurs and business owners, who comprise more than 60% of small and medium-sized enterprises in Mongolia. Through providing e-learning and tailored programmes for women, the bank has increased its support to women business owners by 26% over the past three years.

Nepal
Nepal Investment Bank Limited

Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIBL) has made supporting the community the heart of its banking proposition, which allowed it to scoop the Bank of the Year award in 2022 in a hotly contested market.

Identifying areas of Nepalese society which needed additional support, the bank developed a programme for former army personnel. Working with the Nepal Army Welfare Board, NIBL introduced a low interest rate, deprived-sector lending programme with no additional charges or fees, and affordable payback. Many army personnel are from rural areas of Nepal and can struggle with limited pension payments and reduced employment opportunities after leaving the forces.

The bank also launched a digital wallet, called Thaili Digital Paisa, providing customers with a combined wallet and mobile banking service. Customers can use Thaili to transfer funds and make utility payments.

Following a directive from the Nepalese central bank to allow citizens with a PAN domestic taxpayer number to hold a prepaid card with a $500 per annum limit, the bank introduced the NIBL virtual prepaid international card. Under lockdown rules, the cards enabled people to make purchases from home, especially those who were studying and required resources from overseas.

“At the onset of the global pandemic, the bank provided sustainable loans to the customers adversely impacted by Covid-19 as a resilience measure,” say Jyoti Prakash Pandey, CEO of NIBL.

“In accordance with the strategy to diversify the portfolio from corporate sectors and support the sustainable economic growth of the country, the bank advanced the strategy to grow further in deprived sectors; women entrepreneurs; agriculture; renewable energy; micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; and national priority projects. The bank has established branches in rural areas and has given emphasis on financial literacy, and provided branchless services across the nation for financial inclusion.”

New Zealand
SBS Bank

SBS Bank has scooped the award as New Zealand’s Bank of the Year with a suite of products that are tailored to address the specific pain points of its customers.

As a challenger bank in the New Zealand market, SBS has built up a strong presence, seeing its pre-tax profits increase by 156% in 2021, and the non-performing loans ratio fall to just 0.2%. Return on equity, meanwhile, doubled to 11.4%.

Focusing on domestic home ownership, SBS has developed products to help more people to get on the property ladder. One such step was the development of the SBS FirstHome Combo, launched in August 2021, which combines several financial services with a mortgage. As well as a loan with a 12-month interest rate that is 1% lower than that offered by larger banks, customers will also receive a credit card offer, access to the New Zealand retirement savings scheme KiwiSaver and insurance contributions.

Supporting first-time buyers has been a successful part of the bank’s business, representing 30% of total profit growth in the year to the end of March 2022, an 11% increase on the previous year’s figures.

SBS’s Term Deposit Maintain service, launched in June 2021, allows members to self-serve and manage their term deposits through online banking or their mobile app. Prior to launch, customers were restricted to communicating with the bank during office hours.

During May 2022, the bank introduced a mobile-only service, named Skip, to help aspiring first-time buyers to prepare for and understand the process of buying a property. The app brings all the information they need together, providing insight on the amount of money they are eligible to borrow, whether they qualify for external assistance, and the ability to track their progress towards purchase with an easy to use dashboard.

Pakistan
Allied Bank

Allied Bank has made sustainability a focus, establishing a green banking office in its risk management group to lead the green banking initiatives and monitor environmental risks of obligors.

The bank planted more than 117,000 saplings between 2021 and 2022 to help tackle climate change. A further 4000 established trees of up to 10-feet tall have been planted in schools, colleges, universities and government-owned premises in collaboration with the Punjab Forest Department. Furthermore, Allied Bank has invested Rs171m ($770,000) in installing solar panels on branches, ATMs and warehouses. The bank has identified a further 149 potential sites for solar panels.

Recognising that women are underserved in the banking sector, Allied Bank refocused its existing Allied Khanum account. Operated with both conventional and Islamic banking segments, the account features a 1% discount on loans under Consumer Finance for Working Women, applicable to both salaried women and entrepreneurs. Services tailored towards women include opening seven women-themed branches, which deal with women-centric financial needs and to engage more women to become active members of the banking ecosystem, with greater understanding of deposit and lending opportunities.

Additionally, the bank has engaged in several corporate social responsibility initiatives, such as reducing fossil fuel consumption by 13%, arranging 954 sessions as part of the National Financial Literacy Programme in rural districts, and sponsoring 35 employees to perform hajj in 2022.

CEO of Allied Bank, Aizid Razzaq Gill, says: “Allied Bank continues its endeavours in achieving its vision of creating sustainable value through growth, efficiency and diversity, for all its stakeholders. The bank [will focus on] financial inclusion, low-cost deposit mobilisation, high-quality advances and enhanced customer experience through offering innovative digital and user-friendly products and services.”

Philippines
Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) has come out on top and secured the Bank of the Year award for the Philippines thanks to the bank’s development of innovative services that respond to the specific needs of its customers.

The bank provided support for remittance services with the development of new services and updated its mobile app with the cash pick-up feature. This enables clients to send up to 30,000 pesos ($524) in the Philippines via the bank’s partnership with more than 10,200 remittance outlets. The bank expanded its partnership with Western Union to support inbound money transfers and became the first banking partner of Sendwave, an international money transfer service, in the Philippines.

Understanding the unique needs of consumers and small businesses in the country, Metrobank launched PayNow, a payment service to provide real-time transactions via the bank’s chatbot within Facebook Messenger. There are many informal sellers in the country that sell via Facebook and Instagram and, with funds being transferred within five minutes, PayNow addresses their needs for an e-commerce platform with an integrated payments gateway.

Community support has also made up a large part of the bank’s work. Through the Metrobank Foundation, the bank has supported recovery from the pandemic, from the donation of funds to purchase personal protective equipment to supporting food relief programmes. A grant programme of 15m pesos has supported natural disaster support programmes, as well as financing education and the arts.

“Metrobank has been in the industry for six decades and throughout our journey we have always ensured that we are able to thrive in different market conditions. We are thankful for The Banker’s recognition. It is most timely, given the challenging economic prospects that the world faces today,” says Fabian S Dee, president of Metrobank.

Singapore
DBS

Singapore’s DBS has held on to its Bank of the Year title yet again, as it provides a differentiated offering to its customers and maintains strong financial results.

From the bank’s stronghold in its home market of Singapore, it has looked to expand its reach across Asia. During 2021, the bank extended its footprint in mainland China; it acquired a 13% stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank, becoming the largest single shareholder. It also launched DBS Securities (China), the first China-Singapore securities joint venture to capture the two-way flow as China’s markets open up. Additionally, in January 2022 DBS acquired Citi’s retail business in Taiwan.

On the technical front, DBS is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and launched a digital investment advisory feature to boost its DBS NAV Planner. Meanwhile, AI was also used to improve its anti-money laundering systems and identify threats.

In the services space, the bank launched the FIX Marketplace as a fully digital and automated fixed income platform that allows issuers to connect directly with investors. Investors are able to launch new deals without direct intervention from the bank.

Tse Koon Shee, country head at DBS Singapore, says: “Today, digital banking is the baseline for all of us. The true litmus test is how we leverage data and innovative solutions to help our customers ride out the tough times. In Singapore, the underserved are less the ones who don’t have access to banking and more those who don’t have access to financial advice.

“To this, we’ve been sharpening hyper-personalised customer communications, tapping on AI and ML algorithms to generate ‘nudges’ that guide them toward better financial decisions,” he says. “These include helping customers to spend and save smarter, and ensuring they are adequately insured and invested to achieve financial wellness.”

South Korea
Hana Bank

Hana Bank has won the title of Bank of the Year in South Korea thanks to its innovative approach of providing services to support young Koreans, catering to their financial needs and offering community support services.

Recognising the need to aid the next generation in their financial lives, the bank created a digital financial education app, ‘I buja’, to promote financial literacy. The app is aimed at Generation Alpha (those under age 14) and their parents, to share their experience of spending, savings and investing. Children can make payments through the app while parents control the amount that is paid into the wallet.

The Hana 1Q Apartment Loan, a fully contactless mortgage product, was launched to allow customers to check their eligibility — even when they have no transaction history with the bank — along with their credit limit and lending rate. Since its release in April 2021, the app has recorded transactions worth Won222.6bn ($167.7m) to the end of the year.

To allow customers to get an overview of their financial circumstances, the Hana Hap service compiles the customer data from across Hana Bank, Hana Card, Hana Financial Investment and Finnq mobile service. Through this, customers can receive an online asset management service, such as product recommendations and follow-ups based on the integrated information. The app has also allowed the bank to focus its asset managed and foreign exchange (FX) services for its customers, providing advice on FX products.

In addition to providing financial services, Hana Bank has addressed the issues around childcare and moved forward with its aim of creating 100 day-care centres, especially in areas with many vulnerable people. There is also a focus on developing facilities for disabled children, workplace centres for small businesses and locations in rural areas.

Sri Lanka
Commercial Bank of Ceylon

Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s Bank of the Year award comes in the middle of a three-year digital transformation to bring fully digitised services to its customers and boost the bank’s business growth.

These developments see the bank redesigning its conventional offering, introducing services such as fully digital bank accounts, introducing QR code payments and banking functionality through WhatsApp and Viber.

The credit card onboarding process has been automated end-to-end, allowing staff to track the progress of applications and reduce card-processing time from 10 days to three days. Its Credit Information Bureau reports, meanwhile, are now available in two minutes, rather than the previous 12.

In order to reach its goal of being the bank of choice for women in 2023, Anagi Women Banking was launched in October 2021. Developed in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, the service offers services including a savings account with a high interest rate and life insurance products for retail customers. On the business banking side, loans from SLRs2m ($5469) to SLRs250m are available for working capital or investments. In addition, the bank worked with female entrepreneurs, offering structured training programmes and capacity building initiatives for more than 500 women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Sanath Manatunge, managing director and CEO of Commercial Bank of Ceylon, says the challenging business conditions the industry has faced in recent years have shifted the bank’s business priorities. “The main focus will be on digitisation, be it customer journeys, processes or products and services,” he says. “While we will be maintaining our brick-and-mortar presence, our business expansion will also be mainly digital.

“We will further strengthen our relationship with our three key customer segments – retail, corporate and SME – through use of analytics, customer service excellence and customer relationship management.”

Taiwan
Taishin Bank

Taishin Bank scooped the award for Taiwan’s Bank of the Year following impressive financial results – it recorded a 7.8% increase in net profits, a 3.7% rise in Tier 1 capital and a non-performing loan ratio that has fallen to just 0.12%.

The bank worked to update its existing Richart digital banking brand, partnering with electronic payments system PlusPay to develop a financial ecosystem. Customers were given an incentive to join with a free coupon, seeing 15,000 applicants, and more than 600 new clients. Richart also collaborated with DDRoom to provide money transfer services between tenants and landlords, and with Famiport to support online sellers by analysing operational performance and providing personal loans. There was also a collaboration with LINE Pay Money, with customers able to open an account and bind it to the social messaging app LINE.

Taishin LINE, launched during 2021, provides a bill paying feature. The platform was updated in 2022 with the creation of digital ATM transaction details and digital ATM coupon wallet.

Wholesale banking was given a boost with the bank’s smart processing and workflow optimisation of wholesale banking operations project (SPS Project). The project consists of a smart application that allows clients to fill out each step with auto verification to avoid entry error, with a QR code issued on completion.

The SPS system offers a straight-through processed workflow. When clients submit the application, the system will automatically decode the transaction from the QR code and register the information into the banking system. This is particularly useful for the remote submission of applications, removing friction which could be caused when working from home. Since launch in May 2021, the SPS project has increased operational efficiency by 60%, and reduced paper consumption and warehousing costs by 40%.

Thailand
Siam Commercial Bank

Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has undergone a bold process of overhauling its operations, helping it further become a modern digital bank. SCB has enjoyed its financial results, with its net profits leaping by 31% and its Tier 1 capital rising by 6%. Meanwhile, the cost-to-income ratio has fallen to 42.3%.

The bank’s move into innovation came with the launch of SCBX, which centres its digital and technical abilities as the key focus of its operations. When it was announced in September 2021, SCB outlined the aim to become the most admired financial technology group in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In addition to becoming a financial technology business offering a variety of services and integrated digital platforms to increase the competitiveness of the group, it also set out the measurable goals of expanding the customer base from 16 million to 200 million within five years.

Within its bold ambitions to become a leader in the investment and digital asset service, the bank has overseen the launch of SCB Securities (SCBS), a subsidiary under SCBX. SCBS has been granted licences for digital asset exchange and digital asset brokerage by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A further SCB subsidiary, Token X, has attained an initial coin offering (ICO) portal licence from the SEC. The company is ready to provide digital token solutions, including tokenisation consultation and planning, and the development of blockchain and associated technologies. The ICO portal will help create new capabilities in digital asset tokenisation and lay the foundations for a digital asset ecosystem in Thailand.

Vietnam
Southeast Asia Bank

Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) has taken home the prize for the Bank of the Year for Vietnam, as the bank’s internationalisation goals have helped it to see strong financial returns. The bank chalked up a 92% increase in net profits and a 39% increase in Tier 1 capital, while also seeing assets rise by 17%. Meanwhile, non-performing loans declined slightly, to 1.65%.

In its push towards internationalisation, the bank established strategic partnerships with organisations to help attract foreign investors. Among them was a $150m loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in June 2021, to support the expansion of lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. After six months, the IFC, in conjunction with five other international financial funds, increased the credit package to $220m.

The Asia Development Bank, for example, increased the guarantee limit for commercial transactions with a total transaction value of up to $30m. During the first half of 2022, SeABank received a $200m loan from the Development Finance Corporation and a convertible loan of $75m from the IFC to support women-owned and -led small and medium-sized enterprises, and address climate risks.

On international standards, SeABank became one of the first in Vietnam to implement Basel III and IFRS 9. The two standards in conjunction have helped the bank to increase resilience against macroeconomic shocks.

Corporate customers were assisted with the new digital banking service SeAMobile Biz. A professional version of the existing SeAMobile, the app allows users to manage account information, sub-account books and credit statements. Businesses can automate payments of recurring bills or revenue and expenditure transactions to multiple accounts, and get a detailed overview of all transactions to better manage revenue flows and balance the books. Additional features include currency trades, management of cards and management of users.