This archive report was first published on 4 June 2020.
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for digital transformation in the banking sector has become more pressing than ever. According to Liao Yong, Vice President of Huawei Southern Africa Region, advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) present unique opportunities for the banking sector, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where 70% of the population does not have a bank account.
Speaking during a virtual financial services industry summit, Liao emphasized the importance of digitisation in giving the banking sector the resilience it needs to withstand the pandemic and enable sustained growth afterwards. He noted that the merging of ICT and banking services is powerful, but how much power can be unleashed depends on how quickly the banking sector goes digital.
With a rapid uptake of mobile technologies in the region, the adoption of 4G mobile broadband technology is expected to overtake 2G by 2023, and the total number of unique subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to reach 600 million by 2025, representing half the region's population.
Brett King, author of Bank 4.0, a New York-based mobile banking startup, highlighted the behavioural changes that come with the coronavirus pandemic, further underpinning the need for digital transformation in the banking sector. He noted that the declining use of physical branches is likely to remain a permanent feature of customers' lives, accelerating a multi-decade trend towards digitisation.
Chen Kunte, former Chief Information Officer of China Merchants Bank and current Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Global Financial Services in Huawei's Enterprise Business Group, attributed the 6% year-on-year growth in China's financial sector to the sector's years of unremitting efforts in digital transformation. He emphasized the need for banks to restructure their ICT platforms from legacy architecture to cloud-based, open architecture, leveraging cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data to expand the way financial institutions engage and interact with their customers.
Banks from the region shared case studies on digitisation in banking services, including FNB's fundamental shifts across all dimensions to transform the bank into a helpful, trusted, and people-centric money manager leveraging digital and data platforms. KCB's Head of DFS, Alex Siboe Wekunda, noted that 97% of all transactions are done digitally, leading to substantial growth during the pandemic.
Joshua Oigara, CEO and MD of KCB Group PLC, emphasized the bank's commitment to accelerating investment in digital platforms beyond just lending, which has been very successful.
Published on June 4, 2020 by The Standard.
