Standard Chartered Bank’s chief information officer for India talks to Joy Macknight about using artificial intelligence and big data to uncover new business opportunities, as well as attracting tech talent in a highly competitive market.  

Zuzar Tinwalla

Zuzar Tinwalla

The Internet of Things is one of the biggest impending technological transformations, according to Zuzar Tinwalla, chief information officer (CIO) for India at Standard Chartered Bank. “Machine-to-machine connectivity is going to have a major impact on society, culture and business,” he says.

Analytics firm IHS Markit predicts the number of connected devices – including smartphones, smartwatches and other wearables, and connected cars – will reach 125 billion by 2030. “This level of connectivity enables mass collection and exchange of information from processes and objects,” Mr Tinwalla continues. “It opens up numerous opportunities for banks, as we will be able to better track, analyse and understand customer behaviour and needs. We can achieve a new level of intimacy with our clients to enable personalised products and services, as well as new cross-selling opportunities.”

Exploiting data

However, managing this huge increase in data flowing through multiple systems and channels – and extracting meaningful insights from it – is challenging. Standard Chartered is leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), such as machine learning and deep learning, to turn this challenge into an opportunity, according to Mr Tinwalla. For example, the bank has developed a better credit risk analytical model, leveraging external data pools, such as social media, for more meaningful credit decisions.

Standard Chartered is also using AI and big data to uncover business opportunities. “By combining internal and external data, we can pitch new products at the right client target audience,” he says. At a global level, the bank has invested in Paxata, an enterprise information management company, to help it turn raw data into valuable insights.

In addition, the bank has built a separate data lake for India, leveraging Standard Chartered’s Enterprise Data Management Platform, specifically for regulatory reporting. “This resolves the issue of local regulatory reporting within global systems,” says Mr Tinwalla. 

Talent pipeline

Attracting and retaining the right kind of IT talent in the highly competitive Indian market is an ongoing issue. Standard Chartered has more than 7000 staff in Chennai and, in October 2017, the bank opened a global business services centre with 3000 employees in Bangalore, a city known as the Silicon Valley of India. “We are a growing organisation, with many new and exciting digital initiatives, so we find it easy to attract talent,” says Mr Tinwalla.

Career history: Zuzar Tinwalla 

  • 2015 Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), chief information officer for India
  • 2012 SCB, head of banking operations for India and south Asia
  • 2009 SCB, head of transaction banking operations, India and south Asia
  • 2006 SCB, head trade services and cash management services, India

Both cities have new technology and computer engineering colleges, which are a rich source of talent for Standard Chartered. “It is extremely important to recruit young people into the organisation to get their feedback on new products before rolling them out to the ‘next gen’ customer base,” says Mr Tinwalla.

The bank runs fintech competitions in the engineering colleges. “We give them problem statements and the students form teams to develop solutions,” he says. The best teams often get job offers. “This methodology has ensured we have employed the right talent from universities over past two years.”

Standard Chartered also encourages a constructive challenge culture within its organisation. Across its global operations, the bank uses competitions and other initiatives to encourage staff to come up with suggestions and solutions. Additionally, in March 2016, it launched eXellerator, an innovation lab in Singapore, where it runs proof of concepts (PoCs) and pilots solutions.

In India, the bank launched more than 150 technology projects between 2016 and 2017, according to Mr Tinwalla, some “quite substantial” but also several smaller initiatives, ideas or plug-ins based on customer feedback. For example, the bank developed a recurring deposit functionality for its online platform and made statements available for two years, instead of just 12 months.

“These are real things that we worked on based on PoCs. All these ideas came from the grassroots level, not from management. It is heartening to know that there is an urge to drive positive change within the organisation,” he says.

The changing CIO role

Traditionally, the CIO’s role was to roll out new technologies and then help other business areas adopt the technology. However, with the consumerisation of technology and the demands of digitally native customers, Mr Tinwalla believes CIOs should now be focused on enabling the business. “It’s no longer just about deploying technology but about supporting the business: understanding the business strategy and rolling out the technology that assists in meeting the business goals,” he says.

Accordingly, Mr Tinwalla involves himself in business strategy discussions and is part of the strategy team. For example, after speaking to the retail arm about its expansion plans leading up to 2020, his team is working to build a platform to help seamlessly on-board customers and also digitally service them. “I define what is possible from a technology perspective and how we can help the business line to fast-track their goals,” he says.

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