CeBIT in the Media

This week, Steve Monaghan, Chief Innovation Officer from DBS Bank in Singapore is sharing his time and experience with us on Financial Technology. He will present at the Financial Tech @ CeBIT Conference 2013 on 29 May at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Steve Monaghan, in this interview, explains the challenges of a complex financial Technology and the trends he sees influencing this industry. He is presenting on International Keynote: Looking From the Outside In – Driving Innovation From A Customer Perspective.

1. Please briefly describe your role and responsibility at your organisation.

As Chief Innovation Officer for the Group I am accountable for building an innovation culture at DBS and driving ‘step change’ innovation initiatives across our various business groups and geographies.

2. What are you presenting at CeBIT Australia?

A core focus in innovation at DBS centers on changing customer experience in an impactful and meaningful way. I’ll be sharing some of our insights, learning’s and failures under the banner of “Looking From the Outside In – Driving Innovation From A Customer Perspective” at CeBIT.

3. What do you think are the main issues that people are facing in financial technology?

There are a broad range of issues in financial technology, from legacy to security. But from a customer perspective, simplicity is one of the key challenges. As an industry invested in complexity, how can we make banking contextual and easily actionable? There are enormous opportunities with emerging technologies to remove complexity in banking and provide customers with new interaction models.

4. Can you describe a current project you’re working on and how the solution/product is helping business to adapt to the challenges of financial technology?

Banking channels and instruments have grown over time requiring customers to learn disparate processes and shoulder the complexity of poor design. We have a number of convergent initiatives around simplifying and enriching customer interaction and engagement.

5. What do you see as the strengths for the Singapore and Australian industry; and how do these strengths compare globally?

Singapore and Australia both have strong banks and resilient markets in a well regulated environment. Globally these strengths give us a competitive advantage of a strong foundation from which to base our continued growth.

6. What trends do you see as influencing your industry?

Digital Darwinism is a key trend I see has having a high degree of influence in the financial industry. Banks are essentially secure information businesses with traditional distribution economics. As you’ve seen in other industries, as the digitization of business and channels accelerate, there are those whom will adapt well and those whom may no longer survive. The transition from traditional bank economics to information technology economics is both a key opportunity and at threat to traditional banking. Another key trend is the exponential growth of information available to customers to influence decision making. While information has become a commodity, insight remains invaluable.

7. What do you believe the future holds for financial technology?

The future is ours to create. Markets like Korea have already seen bank branch traffic reduce by 87%, presenting new challenges in reaching and selling to customers. While a new challenge for banking, there are many other industries whom have gone through similar transformations. One thing is certain, the future of financial technology is bright and growing brighter.

See Steve Monaghan, Chief Innovation Officer, DBS Bank (Singapore), at the Financial Tech Conference @ CeBIT Australia 2013 in Sydney on 28 – 30 May 2013.

The days of New Zealanders having to lug around an overstuffed leather wallet may soon be over with Auckland Transport, Telecom and Westpac today revealing details of their “mobile wallet” trial.

The trial, announced earlier this year, is in collaboration with Gemalto, Thales and Paymark. The six organisations have worked together to develop a virtual mobile wallet that can hold multiple cards – including a credit card and transport card.

The three partners say that the “proof of concept‟, revealed at the Thales test laboratory in central Auckland today, is further evidence that mobile wallet technology will soon be a reality in New Zealand. They emphasised today’s demonstration is simply the first stage of a much bigger vision, which will see mobile payments and other mobile wallet services rolled out nationally, involving multiple vendors and service providers.

Speaking about the progress they have made in the trial, Telecom’s Chief Product Officer Rod Snodgrass said “Telecom built the Smartphone Network with smartphones in mind, as people are doing more than ever on these devices. This trial takes the use of mobile payment technology to a whole new level. We are all accustomed to storing our address books and diaries in our phones. Well, now we can store our wallet there as well. This is not simply another application – it truly is a “mobile wallet‟, which will hold multiple cards and secure applications, providing a fast, convenient and safe way to purchase goods and services.”

Westpac Chief Information Officer Peter Fletcher, said “over the next 3-5 years, mobiles will become our customers‟ key banking tool for transactions, product research and other banking needs. Westpac is committed to delivering a market leading mobile proposition and the mobile wallet trial is an important step as we help Kiwis move towards a mobile banking future.”

Auckland Transport Chief Operations Officer, Greg Edmonds, said “mobile phone technology will form an important part of the mix of payment options for transport services in the future.  We look forward to the introduction of this technology providing further choice for commuters in the way they pay for transport.”
The next phase of the trial will see 30 plus participants test the new mobile wallet technology at contactless Point of Sale terminals, across Auckland Transport’s network and top up their Telecom Mobile Accounts on their mobile. The technology is expected to be available near the end of 2013.

Learnings from this next trial phase are expected to enable the collaboration partners to further build on the proof of concept and develop an even wider and more valuable mobile wallet proposition for consumers.

This mobile wallet trial is another step towards a full rollout of NFC technology within New Zealand.  It comes off the back of Paymark, Telecom New Zealand, 2Degrees and Vodafone New Zealand’s announcement in April 2012 of their intention to form a Trusted Services Manager (TSM), which will establish a robust, open ecosystem for NFC-enabled New Zealand.

See Roxanne Salton, Snr. Product Manager – mCommerce and Advertising, Telecom NZ, at the Future of Payments Conference in Sydney on 16 – 17 October 2012.