All articles by Titien Ahmad
Titien Ahmad
A true turnaround story
He tells her the bank has successfully reduced its NPL ratio from 15.3 percent in 2005 to 1.5 percent and is focusing on growing its underweight consumer banking business.In the cavernous, wood-panelled offices of Indonesias largest bank, Bank Mandiri, Budi Sadikin stands out and its not just because of his purple shirt and tie underneath the classic dark bankers suit
Competing against yourself to stay ahead
Titien Ahmad talks to Rungruang Sukkirdkijipoon, executive vice-president of retail lending, products and customer relationship management at Siam Commercial Bank, about the banks leading role in Thailands dynamic retail banking market a market in which foreign groups such as GE Money and ING now compete Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), the third-largest bank in Thailand by assets, leads the Thai retail banking market with its customer-centric approach It posted a fifth consecutive year of positive earnings for its unaudited 2007 operating results with an increase in net operating profit of 31 percent
We have to be prepared’ – Callataÿ & Wouters
Titien Ahmad talks to the CEO of Callata & Wouters, Marc de Groote, about its bank in a box platform and his thoughts on the international banking crisis He thinks the role of the internet in retail financial services will become even more profound and banks need to adapt to a changing competitive landscape. The direct consequence of the sub-prime-induced global banking crisis is, according to Marc de Groote, chief executive officer of Belgian fintech Callata & Wouters (C&W), that financial institutions do not trust each other anymore.
We have come a long way
Titien Ahmad talks to V Vaidyanathan, ICICIs executive director responsible for retail banking Over the past eight years, ICICIs consumer banking unit has grown from 60 employees to 26,000, and Vaidyanathan says the group is profiting from an explosive mix of banking innovation and an increasingly wealthy mass market ICICI Bank, recent winner of the Most Exciting Emerging Markets Bank at the Retail Banker International Awards (see RBI 589), is clearly the bank to watch in India
Citi rewards its Asia franchise
As Asias highly competitive cards markets get ever more aggressive, particularly when and where banks are targeting affluent segments, spending-based rewards programmes have become a major tool to entice cardholders to use a specific bankcard at the point of sale.Card issuers are no longer solely interested in just card numbers, but in getting people to spend more on their cards to increase the profitability of their portfolio.Marketing campaigns include instalment payment plans at 0 percent interest in partner retailers, reward programmes focused on specific segments, giveaways based on transaction size or frequency, automatic cashback refunds credited to the card and attractive discounts.Rewards programmes are becoming ever more popular, driven by statistical data that show such programmes increase card spend
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Asia shines as the world turns gloomy
The overall conclusion from this years Retail Finance Asia-Pacific conference was that while the US market will continue to stumble, most markets in this region will maintain their upwards trajectory, fuelled by strong fundamentals as well as foreign banks looking for good market opportunities The conclusion drawn from RBIs recent Retail Finance Asia-Pacific conference, held in Kuala Lumpur at the end of October, was clear: while the US and some European markets continue to reel from the subprime mess, opportunities across the Asia-Pacific market abound
CBA sees safe bet in Asia-Pacific
Titien Ahmad talks to Richard Williamson, general manager, Asia strategy for Commonwealth Bank of Australia, about his banks plans for the Asia-Pacific market in particular the focus on the fast-developing mortgage market across the region, which he says represent strong growth opportunities for bold banks. While ANZ has begun to distinguish itself, buying into a number of markets such as China, India, Vietnam and Malaysia, the other Big Four banks in Australia have largely sought safer pastures elsewhere.In an interview with RBI, Hong Kong-based Richard Williamson, general manager, Asia strategy for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the countrys largest bank, said of his companys plans for the Asia-Pacific region: We have strategic investments in Asian banks mortgages is one area where we are devoting some focus at the moment.In particular, he sees an upside in terms of customers for mortgage markets across Asia: We think there is a lot of upside
The big small bank
Titien Ahmad talks to David Liddy, the chief executive officer of Australias tenth-largest bank, Bank of Queensland, about the companys franchise-driven business model Liddy says ownership of the business drives up productivity of which the bank is seeing improvements of up to 60 percent.
Cut off in its prime?
Puneet Bahl, ABN AMROs recently appointed head of consumer finance in Asia-Pacific, says his bank will continue to focus on high-growth affluent segments Profits at its Asian unit increased significantly in the first half of 2007, driven in part by consumer finance and credit card growth
Celebrating independence
In conjunction with the 50th anniversary celebrations of Malaysias independence, Hong Leong Bank (HLB) has launched a promotional campaign running across its entire suite of products and services.Moey Tan, Hong Leongs CEO of personal financial services, said: Rising from a small player to a full-fledged financial institution with more than 1.7 million consumers, HLB has grown along with the country