Friday 29 Mar 2024
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The Covid-19 pandemic has done more than any other event to drive digital usage in Malaysia. Within just a few weeks, individuals and businesses replaced face-to-face interaction with remote transactions on digital platforms. As the impact of the coronavirus will continue to be felt in the near future, it is unlikely that things will revert to the pre-pandemic way of life, at least not in the next six months.

For banks, this means that digital banking is no longer an option, says Abrar A Anwar, managing director and CEO of Standard Chartered Malaysia. “The current pandemic has forced those who initially resisted online banking to adopt digital banking. Online and mobile banking used to be a matter of personal convenience. Now, it is a matter of personal safety. Furthermore, once more people realise how easy it is to bank digitally, the less likely they are going to turn back,” he says.

Currently, more than half of Standard Chartered Malaysia’s retail customers use its online banking services and mobile application regularly. The use of digital payments among its clients have also increased since the Covid-19 outbreak. According to Abrar, digital payments such as financial process exchange (FPX), direct debit, JomPAY and Giro grew 87%.

“During the Movement Control Order, our teams moved quickly to engage with our clients. We provided online content such as financial tips and cleared up investing misconceptions to help our clients better manage their financials during the crisis. Clients could also access regular investment and economic advice on our mobile and online on-the-go market views. We also provided virtual events on a range of topics, from smarter ways to save to advice on navigating uncertain market conditions,” he says.

Helping Malaysians to endure the pandemic

Globally, Standard Chartered invested close to US$1 billion (RM4.25 billion) in digital, wealth management, infrastructure and cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence, chatbots and cybersecurity from 2015 to 2018. “Technology has always been at the heart of our strategy. We leverage technology to drive efficiencies, increase automation, introduce global platforms, reduce manual errors and strengthen our defence against financial crime. Our investment in technology was made way before the Covid-19 outbreak and it is certainly bearing fruit today,” says Abrar.

“Now the bank is positioned to help Malaysians endure this pandemic by providing a simpler and more convenient banking experience. This enables individuals and businesses to work towards a more sustainable economic and social development.”

Although Standard Chartered’s services are increasingly digitalised and conducted online or over mobile applications, it does not do away with human interactions. The personal touch is often the key factor behind a positive experience that keeps customers coming back.

This is in line with its vision of becoming a digital bank with a strong human touch serving the mass affluent as well as being the go-to bank for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporates. Abrar says this reflects the bank’s emphasis on staying human in the digital banking age.

“Essentially, our client relationships are still human. We are dealing with human beings who want to deal with us as human beings, however digital or automated our business becomes. Our digital journey is essentially about being client-focused. This is a key pillar of delivering on the bank’s strategy of staying strong, focused, lean and profitable,” he adds.

“Looking at the world around us, many things did not exist 10 years ago but are now completely ingrained in our daily lives. For example, a day without Google or WhatsApp would be quite an experience for many of us. Obviously, banking services are more complex and richer than messaging services. Our spectrum ranges from basic transactions to complex corporate financing deals.”

“Clearly, complex financing deals cannot be acknowledged with two blue ticks. Within our portfolio, there are many steps that are simple and straightforward and these are presented with a neat digital interface to fulfil basic human needs. For more complicated matters, customers still prefer to talk to someone who can guide them.”

“The underlying expectation is that things should be easy and work efficiently. That is essentially what technology must be — simple and reliable. Technology and [being] human are simply two different sides of the same coin,” says Abrar.

 


Elevating the digital banking experience

Abrar A Anwar, managing director and CEO of Standard Chartered Malaysia, says digital banking transformations must be embraced by clients. He pays close attention to increasing the take-up rate for the bank’s innovations and digital products. Here, he shares statistics that reflect high digital adoption rates among the bank’s customers.

 

Between 2016 and 2020, Standard Chartered Malaysia saw:
60%
digital adoption rate, 

which translates to more than half of its client base using its online banking services and mobile application regularly. In contrast, the digital adoption rate in the banking industry ranges between 30% and 40%.

 

155%
increase in online-banking active clients and an increase of 253% in mobile-banking active clients.

 

70%
Close to two-thirds of our clients are on eStatements.

 

Digital sales grew 
369% 

with more products being made available online and increasing efficiency of its digital (sales) funnel.

 

Standard Chartered’s online banking service is among the 
Top 2 
most liked service in the country 

According to a 2019 net promoter score (NPS) survey by the RFI Group


A pioneer in the high-tech digital banking era

Standard Chartered’s notable digital banking innovations and prominent achievements include:

  • Launching the country’s first video banking services for personal and priority banking clients in 2016. “By using our video banking service, clients can securely interact with our banking consultants via video, audio and chat. This allows them to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of banking from any location using their devices,” says Abrar A Anwar, managing director and CEO of Standard Chartered Malaysia.
  • Allowing most service requests to be transacted online. According to Abrar, this lets their clients to bank conveniently anywhere, anytime. There is also a “catch-all” function where clients can raise any service request via an open text box.
  • Coming up with real-time onboarding that allows clients to apply for banking products online and obtain approval within minutes.
  • Debuting the SmartDirect and SmartGoals robo-advisory features in its mobile banking application, under which clients can select and transact in over 250 mutual funds in various currencies and achieve their investment goals.
  • Being the first financial institution to join TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled digital container logistics platform jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM in 2018.
  • Partnering with Ant Financial Services Group to launch the world’s first blockchain-enabled cross-border remittance service from Hong Kong to the Philippines. This service is currently being piloted between Malaysia and Pakistan.
  • Being a founding member and investor of Contour, a blockchain-based open industry platform that focuses on digitally creating, exchanging, approving and issuing letters of credits for clients accessing trade finance. In April this year, Standard Chartered issued the world’s first yuan-denominated international letter of credit for the world’s biggest steel maker, China Baowu Steel Group Corp.
  • Being the first bank to launch smart guarantees on Contour and to successfully execute a pilot transaction for PTT Group, PTT International Trading Pte Ltd and IRPC Public Company Ltd. This transaction is the first cross-border letter of credit issued over the Contour blockchain platform for the oil industry.
  • Being the first bank to offer the ability to trace all cross-border payments cleared through its major clearing centres to clients, as well as their corporate and retail clients, through a publicly accessible portal. The clients’ ability to track payment status has improved and this has, in turn, facilitated the movement of goods and services and grown supply chains.
  • Developed a trade augmented intelligence engine in partnership with IBM to enhance the client experience in trade document processing through increased operational efficiency and strengthened operational control. This industry-leading solution is currently available in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and will be made available in other markets.
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