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MAS Announces 20 Finalists for the 2020 Global FinTech Hackcelerator
MAS Launches World’s First Grant Scheme to Support Green and Sustainability-Linked Loans
Staying resilient and continuing operations is always a priority for organisations but it took on far greater urgency when the pandemic hit. Governments and enterprises were under a lot of pressure to keep citizens safe, businesses running and nations and economies afloat.
As the world recovers from the pandemic, mere continuity and survival are not enough. Organisations must adapt to the changing dynamics, constantly innovate and be hyper-vigilant to remain relevant and thrive in the new normal.
Financial organisations currently struggle to cope with changing client demands, the need to have a far greater online presence and provide more comprehensive digital offerings. Adjusting requires new knowledge and deep dialogue. Keeping this in mind OpenGov Asia organised an OpenGovLive! Virtual Breakfast Insight on 18 November 2020 to discuss the need to embrace disruption and innovation for the financial sector with delegates from Malaysia and Singapore.
Essential for financial institutions to adopt technology against the historical convention
Kicking off the session, Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, OpenGov Asia, opened the session after a quick round of introductions in the virtual space.
Mohit opined that the convenience and flexibility of digital banking and commerce are making our currency increasingly digital. This has made it essential for banks to adopt technology and go digital, to a large extent, against historical convention and experiential wisdom.
Digital banking has exposed customers to the convenience of online transaction, making e-commerce a torchbearer in the online space. That being the case, he emphasized the importance of using technology and the need to innovate to stay relevant in the current environment.
In the same vein, he advised delegates to not try and do everything in one big step; rather delegates should partner with champions who will help them accelerate their innovation journey and help them stay relevant.
OneConnect’s Solutions can assist financial institutions to transform digitally
After Mohit’s opening, Yao Jing, Head of Singapore and Malaysia, OneConnect Financial Technology shared his insights.
Yao began by sharing the inception of OneConnect Financial Technology in China and how they are exploring growth opportunities in other parts of South East Asia. OneConnect’s goal is to support small banks and financial institutions in building digital ecosystems and banking platforms to help them stay ahead of the curve in today’s digital world.
He briefly spoke about some of the digital solutions offered by OneConnect:
- Digital Identity Verification
- Smart Landing Platform
- Digital Bank-in-a-Box Solution
- Insurtech Solutions
Wrapping up his talk, Yao provided an overview of OneConnect’s workings and introduced Vijay Manoharan, Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Bank Philippines Inc – a pioneer and expert in fintech and digital banking – to share his story with the delegates
The need to democratize banking and promote financial inclusion in the Philippines
Vijay began by sharing that their primary goal of entering the Philippines was disrupting the banking landscape and promoting financial inclusion. The Philippines is in a very nascent banking stage with only 35-40% of the bankable population having bank accounts.
CIMB wanted to create value by addressing the real pain points of the customers. Keeping that in focus, they came up with a go-to-market strategy of removing the barriers to banking and incentivising opening bank accounts with higher interest rates.
Vijay gave an overview CIMB and why it perceives itself as platform bank – not just a digital bank. He explained that they have the capability of allowing outside partners to extend CIMB services on their platform. This allows CIMB to reach a wider audience, integrate better with customers and partners and have effective collaboration.
He spoke of the partnership they have with the biggest telecom and e-wallet in the country, They have become the first bank in the region to tie up with a fintech and enabled the end-to-end opening of a bank account on the partner’s platform.
Further proof of the success of their strategy is in the overwhelming recognition his team has received over the last 22 months.
Vijay concluded his presentation by listing some of the benefits of operating as a platform bank for both their partners and themselves. They include seamless digital experience, system readiness and agility, risk and credit expertise, fast and aggressive culture and partnership model and adding value.
After the informative presentations, it was time to engage delegates in a time of discussion through the polling session.
On the first question on the biggest benefit of using AI/Technology in the financial services industry, a majority of the delegates seemed divided between better risk control (26%) and new ways of credit assessment (26%).
A senior executive from China Construction Bank reflected that processing data is an organisation’s biggest asset in transformation and innovation. Technology, he felt, would support fintech initiatives but data will be the overarching driver for change.
On the second question about the most competitive advantage of FinTech/TechFin, close to half of the audience voted for innovation/willingness to take risks (47%).
A delegate from a banking organisation in Malaysia reflected that in a conventional banking setup, the ability to take risk is subdued. Smaller fintech setups have the liberty to be innovative and use different kinds of technology from opensource and cloud.
On the final question regarding the biggest competitive advantage of traditional financial institutions, a third voted for brand value (36%).
Reflecting on this, a participant felt that new upcoming FinTech companies are catching up with big organisations on a lot of fronts like management, people and culture but they struggle when it comes to regulatory support.
After the completion of the discussions, George Lee, Strategy and Business Development Director, OneConnect Financial Technology addressed the audience with closing remarks.
He shared that Fintech setups today are getting as big as the banks they are competing with. They have a mature workforce and enough resources, along with the ability to take risks and have flexibility.
He encouraged the delegates to use technology to serve their customers better and to stay relevant in this increasingly digital economy.
George urged the delegates to initiate conversations with the OneConnect team who are always ready to support them on their digital transformation journey.
A leader in digital banking and one of Thailand’s largest banks and a Singapore-based financial consultant, a subsidiary of China’s leading technology-empowered personal financial services platform, recently announced the launch of FinVest, an online wealth management platform.
The new digital investment platform is aimed to help retail investors in Thailand gain access to a full spectrum of onshore and offshore investment products at a low minimum investment amount through the extensive network and relationships brought by the two parties.
FinVest aims to provide personalised investment solutions for retail investors. The online investment platform that has been built in partnership between the two entities caters to digitally savvy investors, providing access to more than 600 funds from 15 Asset Management Companies in Thailand.
Additionally, FinVest offers a curated client experience, including an enhanced design as well as user-friendly and mobile-friendly screen flows. In designing the mobile app, the entities prioritise the needs of retail investors. These include the ability to make informed investment decisions and the access to relevant investment knowledge provided by the firm and the bank in collaboration with a wealth-tech and investment specialist and investment solutions provider in Thailand. The ultimate goal of this collaboration is to make sure of the best investment journey to all investors.
The CEO of an online Internet finance marketplace stated that Thailand is one of the fastest-growing markets in Southeast Asia and continues to see rapid wealth growth and economic development. Partnerships and the sharing of technological know-how are defining the financial industry across the region, making significant improvements to the quality of service and offerings to clients. Through this collaboration, investors now have access to international investment opportunities that have previously only been available to a select few.
The CEO of the consulting firm noted that digital technology is rapidly changing the way investors use financial services. They are increasingly using digital channels to purchase financial products and invest. FinVest offers clients the convenience, efficiency, intelligence, and ease of use through a personalised online wealth management platform that will help Thailand and its economy stay at the forefront of the digital financial revolution taking place across the region.
An executive of the bank stated that in 2020, Thailand’s total outstanding capital market value is worth around THB44 trillion. Of this amount, investment in mutual funds totals THB4.8 trillion or around 10%. Of late, the younger generation has shown increasing interest in mutual funds, preferring to conduct transactions via digital channels and seeking products related to Thai and foreign equity instruments.
Moreover, open-architecture investment is growing every year. Development of the FinVest digital platform will help enhance investment potential for Thai retail investors, allowing them to directly invest in global mutual funds via FinVest.
FinVest marks a cooperative effort towards digital technology development; the bank which has extensive digital banking expertise; the Singapore-based company (under the online Internet finance marketplace) and the wealth-tech firm, ensuring that the FinVest platform is in alignment with the Thai capital market under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand.
This cooperation also reinforces the bank’s status as a complete banking service provider, based on a combination of its own digital banking expertise and that of the world’s leading partners and fintech experts.
FinVest seamlessly caters to local investors with round-the-clock digital access to comprehensive information about their accounts, market insights and intelligence relevant to their portfolio, while opening the door to premium onshore and offshore wealth management products. The platform also adopts strict Know Your Product (KYP) and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance procedures, alongside an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and an anti-fraud system, to meet regulatory requirements.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore Cyber Security Advisory Panel (CSAP) stressed the need for financial institutions to review their security controls given the elevated technology-related risks arising from remote working and safe management measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Panel shared its insights on cyber risks in the new operating environment and made several recommendations.
Mr Ravi Menon, MAS’ Managing Director who chaired the CSAP meeting, said, “Singapore’s financial sector has done well so far in its cyber and operational resilience amid the new operating environment created by the pandemic. But as the situation prolongs, that resilience will come under greater stress as cyber attackers look for new vulnerabilities.”
“Financial institutions must remain alert and nimble and strengthen their defences against emerging cyber threats. CSAP members have provided useful recommendations on maintaining cybersecurity against the backdrop of growing reliance on remote working arrangements and cloud service providers.”
Key recommendations from the CSAP meeting include:
Reviewing risk profiles and adequacy of risk-mitigating measures.
The Panel discussed the risks and vulnerabilities arising from the rapid adoption of remote access technologies and work processes that could affect financial institutions’ (FIs) cyber risk profiles. The meeting highlighted the need for FIs to assess if their existing risk profiles have changed and remain acceptable. This is to ensure that in the long run appropriate controls are implemented to mitigate any new risks.
Maintaining oversight of third-party vendors and their controls.
With the increased reliance on third-party vendors, the Panel emphasised the need for FIs to step up their oversight of these counterparts and to monitor and secure remote access by third-partiesto FIs’ systems. This is even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic where remote working has become pervasive.
Strengthening governance over the use of open-source software (OSS).
Vulnerabilities in OSS are typically targeted and exploited by threat actors. The Panel recommended that FIs establish policies and procedures on the use of OSS and to ensure these codes are robustly reviewed and tested before they are deployed in the FIs’ IT environment.
The Panel also exchanged views with the Association of Banks in Singapore Standing Committee on Cyber Security (SCCS) and the Insurance SCCS on enhancing cloud resiliency, monitoring insider threats, and the role of cyber insurance in risk management over two days of virtual meetings. Participants included representatives from government agencies such as Ministry of Communications and Information, Ministry of Defence, and Government Technology Agency.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today the launch of a S$35 million Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) for the financial services sector to help smaller financial institutions adopt digital solutions for more streamlined data reporting to MAS.
The grant is currently applicable to banks and will be subsequently expanded to include insurers and capital market intermediaries.
Support for smaller financial institutions to adopt regulatory reporting solutions
The PSG provides funding support for smaller financial institutions to adopt regulatory reporting solutions from pre-approved managed service providers.
These technologies will facilitate more efficient processes for the preparation and submission of data, in line with regulatory requirements.
Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said, “The co-funding support for the adoption of regulatory reporting solutions will help smaller financial institutions leverage technology to better meet regulatory obligations. There are now a range of grant schemes specific to smaller financial institutions. Together, these schemes provide strong support for these financial institutions to adopt solutions that improve their operational capabilities in various domains.”
Productivity Solutions Grant to co-fund 30% of cost of digital solutions
The PSG will co-fund up to 30% of qualifying expenses for the adoption of digital solutions from the pre-approved managed service solution providers, capped at $250,000 per project for banks. Eligible banks can now apply for funding via the Business Grants Portal.
Smaller financial institutions that wish to adopt digital solutions outside of regulatory reporting can consider the Digital Acceleration Grant (DAG).
This grant is part of MAS’ recent initiatives to support smaller financial institutions in their efforts to improve productivity.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore have announced that 40 solutions to address key challenges have been shortlisted for the MAS FinTech Awards to be presented at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SFF x SWITCH). The theme for this year’s Awards is “Building Resilience, Seizing Opportunities, Emerging Stronger”.
The Awards are organised in partnership with PwC Singapore. They recognise groundbreaking solutions that enable the financial sector to respond better to two key global challenges such as the new operating environment created by COVID-19, and sustainability and climate change.
Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said,“2020 has witnessed unprecedented challenges for the global economy and society. It is heartening that despite the upheavals, the international FinTech community has remained resilient and committed to serving their customers while tackling key issues of sustainability and digital transformation. The innovative solutions from the finalists demonstrate how resiliency and sustainability are now integral parts of the design of financial services for the future. We invite the international community to join us in recognising these remarkable innovations at SFF x SWITCH 2020.”
MAS received 326 submissions this year which is a 33% increase from 2019 from applicants across 55 countries. This marks the highest number of submissions received since the FinTech Awards began in 2016.
Many of the submissions focused on enabling the financial industry to operate digitally and remotely by removing the need for face-to-face interaction while maintaining the security, integrity and customer experience of the services provided.
On sustainability and climate change, submissions were geared towards sustainable investing, improving supply chain resilience, enhancing credit access for lower-income individuals and SMEs, and accelerating green finance flows to support low-carbon economic activities. The finalists were selected by a panel of industry judges.
The winners of the FinTech Awards will be announced on 10 December 2020 at SFF x SWITCH. The 40 finalists of the FinTech Awards will also participate in a specially curated Deal Fridays.
Ms Wong Wanyi, FinTech Leader, PwC Singapore’s Venture Hub, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has created deep unprecedented changes across the world. Despite challenging times, it is very encouraging for us to have received the highest number of innovative solutions since the first FinTech Awards. We see a focus on acceleration of technology advances and digital transformation within the financial services sector, some of them expedited by the new way of life. These innovative solutions demonstrate agility and creativity to overcome the challenges posed by the global pandemic. Some also look to strengthen business resilience and sustainability in the future with the use of technology.”
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) announced that it has joined fintech industry leaders in lauding the success of the first-ever Apidays LIVE Hong Kong which was held on 8 October 2020.
Apidays is the leading industry technology and business series of conferences in Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and the programmable economy. Since 2012, the worldwide conference has run across 13 countries and cities such as London, New York and Singapore.
Themed as “The Open API Economy: Finance-as-a-Service & API Ecosystems”, Apidays LIVE Hong Kong attracted more than 1,000 audience members and 52 speakers from the territory and overseas. The tracks for the Hong Kong conference covered topics including API-driven economy and architecture, as well as the trends and technologies of Open Banking.
Organised by HKSTP and Hong Kong’s leading API development company, Apidays landed in Hong Kong this year among other destinations, bringing in industry thought-leaders to share their latest insights.
At the Hong Kong conference, HKSTP hosted a signature session titled “Co-creating API Ecosystem for Financial Services” with key representatives from leading banks to share the power of open APIs and the transformative potential of financial services. In addition, seven Park companies were invited to share the development of the API community in Hong Kong.
The Head of Electronics & ICT Clusters of HKSTP stated that it is exciting to have brought Apidays to Hong Kong for the first time. The world is moving towards Open Banking, and Hong Kong is championing a vision to deliver this reality. A stream of innovation created through this open collaboration model is expected shortly.
To enable rapid collaboration between technology companies and financial institutions, HKSTP is rolling out an OpenEX program (Open for Excellence) to promote industry standards for technology companies to get onboard. The program will support participating start-ups and companies in going through the standard assessment process, providing a positive impetus to promote and adopt innovation and technology in the financial sector.
As a partner company of HKSTP, the API development company is a pioneer in Open APIs providing platforms to enable businesses across industries to rapidly deliver new service models and offerings. The firm is driving industry-wide development of APIs for businesses by organising this international conference, to improve digital user experience and explore cross-industry innovation, its CEO noted. Working with HKSTP and leading enterprises, the company will build an Open API ecosystem, allowing start-ups to integrate and collaborate with enterprises via innovative API services.
Propelling API development in Hong Kong
The formulation of the Open API Framework is one of the seven initiatives announced by the HKMA in September 2017 to prepare Hong Kong to move into a new era of Smart Banking. Following a public consultation, the HKMA published the Open API Framework for the Hong Kong Banking Sector on 18 July 2018.
The Framework takes a risk-based principle and a four-phase approach to implement various Open API functions, and recommends prevailing international technical and security standards to ensure fast and safe adoption. It also lays out detailed expectations on how banks should onboard and maintain a relationship with TSPs in a manner that ensures consumer protection. The HKMA believes that the Framework will serve as an important guide for the banking industry in Hong Kong to adopt APIs effectively and strike a good balance between innovation and risks.
The key benefits of Open API can be reaped only if it is widely, securely and cost-effectively implemented in the banking sector. The HKMA will therefore work closely with the banking industry in implementing Open API effectively, securely and smoothly through the development of the governance structure and necessary guidance during the implementation process.
The path-breaking e-invoice initiative which completed one month on the 31 October is poised to revolutionise the way businesses interact with each other. The e-invoice system, the game-changer for the GST system, was launched on 1 October 2020 for businesses with an aggregated turnover of more than Rs. 500 Crores (INR 5 billion) in a financial year.
It is perceived as another milestone in India’s efforts to enhancing the ease-of-doing-business in the country. The data captured by the Invoice Registration Portal (IRN) will flow seamlessly to GSTR1 return of the tax-payer in GST Common Portal (gst.gov.in), reducing the compliance burden.
Over 49.5 million e-invoices have been generated on the National Informatics Centre (NIC) portal by 27,400 tax-payers within the first month of the introduction of the e-Invoice system. Further, an additional 64 million e-way bills were generated during October 2020 – the highest in a month during two and half years of journey of e-way bill system.
Starting with 8.4 million e-invoices after it was launched (1 October 2020), the usage gradually picked up. The last day of October saw a generation of as many as 3.5 million e-invoices in a single day. This coupled with the generation of 64.1 million e-way bills during October 2020 well-establishes the robustness of the system.
From the feedback received from tax-payers, the response of the system is good and the generation of IRNs is hassle-free. Proactive communication by NIC Help desk with tax-payers has helped them in finetuning their systems to reduce the errors.
Currently, there are three modes of generations of IRNs in the NIC system. First is the direct API interface of the ERP system of tax-payer with the NIC system. The second is the API interface of the ERP system of the tax-payer through GSP with the NIC system. The last is using the offline tool for bulk uploading of invoices and generating IRNs. About 15% of the tax-payers use the offline tool for the IRN generations while 85% directly integrate them through API.
Presently, the generation of IRN using API interface is allowed for businesses with aggregate turnover more than Rs 500 crores (INR 5 billion), GSPs and shortlisted ERPs. Now, direct access will be extended to the tax-payers using the E-way Bill API interface. Big businesses will enable their suppliers and clients to use their ERP/SAP systems for the generation of invoices. With this is mind, it was decided to facilitate them to enable their suppliers and clients to use their integration channels.
The government is planning to reduce the aggregate turnover cut off to Rs 100 Crores (INR 1 billion) for the generation of IRN by the tax-payers in the short term. NIC has already enabled the API and offline tool based trial sites for this tax bracket. They have also upgraded their infrastructure to handle the generation of e-invoices from this broadened pool.
Keeping the needs of smaller tax-payers in view who need to prepare 5-10 B2B invoices in a day, the NIC is in the process of developing an offline Excel-based IRN preparation and IRN printing tool. This would allow the group to enter invoice details, prepare files to upload on NIC IRN portal, download the IRN with QR code and print the e-invoice with QR code.
Having battled the global pandemic for more than 6 months and foreseeing its lasting impact in the times to come, it is important to ask how prepared we are for the life after COVID–19. What are some of the valuable lessons that we have learnt in the past few months that we must take with us as we venture into the ‘new normal’?
In an attempt to discover and delve into the answers to these questions, OpenGov Asia hosted an OpenGovLive! Virtual breakfast insight with financial industry executives based in Indonesia.
The timely and thought-provoking issues saw a 100% attendance and high engagement rate from the audience for the session.
Balancing digital transformation along with managing fraud and risk is a major challenge for banks
Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, OpenGov Asia set the tone for the discussion by pointing out that the new, transformed workspace is no longer a physical place that employees go to but a cluster of virtual work tools that lets employees stay productive anytime and anywhere.
This free and flexible style of working has posed a major challenge for the financial sector industry. They are under a lot of pressure to balance their digital transformation efforts with the increasingly stringent regulatory guidelines alongside managing stakeholder expectations.
Apart from being resilient, banks have to constantly ensure that they are compliant and not flouting any regulations to ensure their presence amongst other contemporaries.
Operational resilience, which was earlier a seldom-discussed topic in the boardrooms, has been elevated on the priority list of CIO’s.
Mohit also highlighted the fact that mere compliance is not enough to ensure survival in the post-COVID-19 world. Constantly pushing the envelope by innovating and thinking outside the box is more important than ever.
He left the audience with advice that to effectively manage these distinct aspects of their business, it would be expedient to seek help and support of partners who specialise in it and who can help them prioritise right in the new uncertain normal.
How SAS can help and support financial institutions in the post COVID era
After Mohit’s challenging opening, Anggaraini Rahayu, Director-FSI, SAS Indonesia, shared her insights on the topic.
Anggaraini began by explaining how SAS can support, help respond to sudden changes and mitigate risk for the financial institutions as they recover in the post COVID–era.
She shared that SAS is doing this by identifying the volatility in macroeconomic factors that are key drivers of change, building up data and analytics capabilities along the journey to recovery and getting ahead of the innovation curve and applying analytics for future strategies.
Anggaraini elaborated on the various trends and opportunities in the FSI that have emerged beyond the pandemic. They are enhanced focus on digital transformation, better integration of financial services to the monetary policies, the robustness of asset and liability management, heightened security risks and surge in contactless payments.
She also talked about the way SAS operates in the financial industry space by enabling effective operations and working with innovative solutions that are driving amazing outcomes for their customers. As SAS champions driving value from analytics, she some of their use cases across the financial institution value chain shared with the delegates.
Anggaraini delved into the biggest focus area of SAS I.e. risk management for banking and insurance industry. She shared with the delegates the details of the SAS fraud and security intelligence solutions and how it enables users to stay resilient and relevant in the post-COVID-era.
She concluded her presentation by sharing some successful implementations of the above-mentioned solution.
Speed of service delivery is of utmost importance in the new financial industry world
After Anngarani’s information-rich presentation, Gerard Mcdonell, Regional Solution Director Fraud & Security Intelligence, SAS came forward to share his perspectives with the audience.
In his very first slide, Gerard highlighted the importance of the speed of delivery in the post-Covid era. Banks and financial institutions are under a lot of pressure to meet the changing demands of their customers in this new world. The need to go digital for financial institutions in the current scenario comes with the downside of increased risk of financial crimes and fraud.
He underscored the need for speed by quoting Klaus Shwab, who said that in this new world it’s not the big fish that eat small fish but the fast fish eating the slow fish.
Gerard validated his statement by citing a recent example where a large European bank lost an opportunity to expand their market due to the lack of agility and velocity in their DNA.
He also echoed the sentiment that the pandemic has only exacerbated the situation for financial institutions forcing the unbanked population to make a leap to digital banking. This, on one hand, has added to the existing challenges for the banks but, on the other, has exposed them to a new customer base that they can tap on.
He went on to shed light on the ways AI can support them. They include accuracy and efficiency with compliance, quick identification of fraudulent transactions, fast and accurate credit scoring.
Gerard strongly advised the colleagues from the industry to embrace the latest advancements in AI to tap on this newly created customer base.
He concluded his presentation by sharing how SAS helped a major bank to significantly improve its fraud management by implementing the fraud management and credit authorisation solution together.
Learning to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 crisis in the financial sector industry
After Gerard, Alfanendya Safudi, Senior Vice President, Head of Credit Portfolio Risk at PT. Bank Mandiri shared his learnings with the delegates.
Alfanendya opened his slot by sharing that, just like the most of delegates and their organisations, Bank Mandiri had very limited visibility of the impact the COVID-19 crisis would have on the economy.
But early stress testing and contingency actions are key to mitigating the impact of COVID–19 outbreak. He ardently advocates stress testing as an effective way of mitigating COVID risk and also emphasised that the test needs to be updated frequently as well as supported by robust tools and systems.
He cautioned the delegates to not rely on a singular stress cycle and undergo multiple rounds of it as they did at Bank Mandiri.
Towards the end of his presentation, Alfanendya shared with the delegates how banks need to prepare as they move forward in the new normal. He also agreed that there is an increase in non-financial risks like fraud, scams, cyber-attacks etc. during the COVID-19 crisis that needs to be better prepared for in times to come.
After the informative presentations, it was now time for the more interactive part of the session: the polling questions and discussions.
On the question about your organisation having the tools to model out the P&L under a wide range of different economic and non-economic scenarios, a majority of the audience voted that they use traditional forecasting techniques, and they are good enough (77%).
One one of the delegated reflected that they are currently using the traditional techniques that are sufficient for now but they are also open to new technologies out there that can help them do it better.
On the question about the impact of the pandemic on their operational risk exposure, particularly relating to fraud and compliance, a major chunk of the delegates voted that increased online and application fraud, along with greater resource demands to keep AML/ KYC/ screening compliance under control have been impacted (50%).
A digital executive shared that increased online or payment fraud and application fraud are bigger impact areas in their organisation that they need to work on.
On the final question about the top priorities, while managing risk management portfolio, the delegates seemed divided between updating their legacy with a modernised risk infrastructure (36%) and using AI and machine learning for credit scoring, capital optimisation, back-testing and model validation and regtech (36%).
After the polling session, the Virtual Breakfast Insight reached a timely conclusion with closing remarks by Febrianto Siboro, Country Managing Director, SAS.
Febrianto began by thanking all the delegates and speakers for joining the session and sharing their insights with the audience. He encouraged the audience to make use of various AI/ML and analytics solutions by SAS to augment their service delivery and team SAS would be happy to entertain their queries and demonstrations for the same.
