Global Banking & Finance Review Issue 33 - 2021 Banking Awards - Business & Finance Magazine by Global Banking & Finance Review®

Issue 33

www.globalbankingandfinance.com

EDITORS LETTER

FROM THE

editor

Chairman and CEO Varun Sash Editor Wanda Rich email: wrich@gbafmag.com

Dear Readers’

Head of Distribution & Production Robert Mathew Project Managers Megan Sash, Amanda Walker Video Production and Journalist Phil Fothergill

I am pleased to present Issue 33 of Global Banking & Finance Review. For those of you that are reading us for the first time, welcome.

Graphic Designer Jessica Weisman-Pitts Client & Accounts Manager Chanel Roberts Business Consultants Rick Saikia, Monika Umakanth, Stefy Abraham, Business Analysts Samuel Joseph, Dave D’Costa Advertising Phone: +44 (0) 208 144 3511 marketing@gbafmag.com GBAF Publications, LTD Alpha House 100 Borough High Street London, SE1 1LB United Kingdom Global Banking & Finance Review is the trading name of GBAF Publications LTD Company Registration Number: 7403411 VAT Number: GB 112 5966 21 ISSN 2396-717X. The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources the publishers believe to be correct. The publisher wishes to stress that the information contained herein may be subject to varying international, federal, state and/or local laws or regulations. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes all responsibility for the use of these materials and information. However, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretations of the subject matter contained herein no legal liability can be accepted for any errors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher

2021 has been a challenge year around the world. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact daily life and business operations. In this edition, we are pleased to present the Global Banking & Finance Award® 2021 Award Winners. The awards were created to recognize companies of all sizes that are prominent in particular areas of expertise and excellence within the financial community. This year’s winners have had to adapt and innovate to the current environment. Global Banking & Finance Review would like to congratulate the award winners and look forward to their continued success. Featured on the front cover is Zachary Harding, Executive Chairman and Founder of Delta Capital Partners Group. Our cover story, ‘The Delta Effect: Delta, Spearheading Innovation-Led Growth and Sustainable Profits in the Caribbean’ is an exclusive interview with a number of senior members from Delta, including Executive Chairman and Founder Zachary Harding. We discusses their unique model and value proposition Delta offers to businesses and investors. (Page 72) You requested more of the exclusive, interviews we are known for and in this edition we deliver. Inside you will also find insightful commentary from industry experts. We strive to capture the breaking news about the world's economy, financial events, and banking game changers from prominent leaders in the industry and public viewpoints with an intention to serve a holistic outlook. We have gone that extra mile to ensure we give you the best from the world of finance. Send me your thoughts on how I can continue to improve and what you’d like to see in the future.

Enjoy!

Wanda Rich Editor

Stay caught up on the latest news and trends taking place by signing up for our free email newsletter, reading us online at http://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/ and download our App for the latest digital magazine for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store

Issue 33 | 03

CONTENTS

BUSINESS Industry Experts Look Ahead to 2022

Global Banking and Finance Review spoke with industry experts to get their thoughts on what the coming year may look like.

COP26 and the impact on the future of M&A deal activity Merlin Piscitelli Chief Revenue Officer, EMEA, Datasite

Preparing For The Future With Climate Intelligence Iggy Bassi CEO & founder Cervest

New Imperative for Information Management -- The Convergence of Privacy, Records Management, Data Classification and Data Destruction Eric Mueller Senior Advisor & Strategic Netting Lead D2LT

ESG – A driver for transformational change Daphne Biliouri-Grant ESG Senior Advisor Sibylline Ltd

Measurable steps towards sustainability in procurement Edward Cox Principal Efficio

04 | Issue 33

CONTENTS

BANKING

BUSINESS

The financial services market needs to crack down on fraudulent lead gen advertising – but will new regulations on lead generators be enough? Oliver Cripps Sustainability Manager Herman Miller

The Future of Banking Nigel Moden European Head of Banking EY

24 Five key themes to watch out for in 2022

Sudeepto Mukherjee

92 How digital identity will shape a

more inclusive and sustainable global economy with Stephan Wolf, CEO at GLEIF

82 The Biggest Trends in Banking

and Risk Management for 2022

Stephan Wolf CEO GLEIF

Why financial organisations need to put sustainability at the top of their workplace agenda Alain Desmier Managing Director Contact State

Philip Dransfield Partner at credit risk analytics firm 4most

FINANCE

Senior level departures – negotiating your exit

Jeroen Hölscher Global Cards & Payments Practice lead Capgemini Financial Services

Eleanor Rowswell Partner Partner at Farrer & Co

Elias Ghanem Global Head of Market Intelligence Capgemini Financial Services

128 Why ESG is no longer

just a passing thought for landlords James Shannon Chief Product and Technology Officer essensys

134 How to implement ethical

employee productivity monitoring for future business growth Michael Cupps Senior Vice President, Marketing ActiveOps

Allied infrastructure and collaboration will be increasingly critical as payments become invisible

Can blue financing help save our waters? Bjarni Herrera Head of Sustainability KPMG Iceland (former CEO and Co-Founder of CIRCULAR Solutions, acquired by KPMG Iceland in 2020).

Issue 33 | 05

CONTENTS

TECHNOLOGY The future of human flight: The tech that’s taking us to new heights

Stuart Parker Head of Future Lab Goodwood Group

A Look into 2022: A world triumphed by cybercrime? Javvad Malik lead security awareness advocate KnowBe4

Regulatory Reporting in the Digital Age

STRATEGIES FOR RESOLVING THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT GAP

Deependra Kushwaha Head of US Basel III Reporting for a Global Bank Manoj Reddy Head of BFSI Risk & Compliance & LIBOR Transition Practice TCS North America

Simon Patteson VP UKI & The Nordics Icertis

122 Cybersecurity trends 2022:

Ransomware and supply chain attacks are major threats Mark Ruchie Chief Information Security Officer Entrust

06 | Issue 33

122

CONTENTS

TECHNOLOGY Better technology & building trust must go hand-in-hand

126 26

Lewis Pinner Senior Director at NetApp of Enterprise Globals

130 The Future Will Be Touchless:

How To Prepare For The Contactless Payments Revolution David Poole Contactless Payments Lead at digital business transformation consultancy Publicis Sapient

INSURANCE Insurers are facing new pressures and demands post pandemic – could new corporate wellbeing packages move the dial?

132

Ivan Zhiznevskiy, CEO, 3S Money

TRADE FINANCE

20 The Digital Future of Trade Finance

Tushar Chitra Vice President Product Strategy & Marketing Oracle Financial Services

PAYMENTS Biggest trends in the payments industry for 2022

136

Dima Kats Clear Junction

Issue 33 | 07

CONTENTS

Interviews... 18

AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance: Capitalising on Growing Opportunities in the Qatari Market Mr. Abdulla Bin Ali Al-Asiri CEO AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance

Blue Finance and Evolving Consumer Behaviours Ludovic Garnier Group Chief Financial Officer Thai Union Group PCL

56 How Sendly Is Making Money

Transfers Easier for Mongolians, Both at Home and Overseas Nyamjargal Batdorj Remittance Director Sendly

08 | Issue 33

CONTENTS

Cover Story Ivan Carter Chief Executive Officer and Partner Delta Capital Partners

72 The Delta Effect:

Delta, Spearheading InnovationLed Growth and Sustainable Profits in the Caribbean Zachary Harding Executive Chairman and Founder Delta Capital Partners

Ambassador Dr Neil Parsan CEO Delta Health & Wellness

Janelle Brown Chief of Staff in the Office of the Executive Chairman Delta Capital Partners

Lesli Prendergast Chief Operating Officer Delta FinTech

Nicki Franklin Grant Head of Projects Delta Capital Partners

Anthony Dunn Chief Investment Officer and Partner Delta Capital Partners

Issue 33 | 09

BUSINESS

Industry Experts Look Ahead to 2022 As 2021 rapidly nears its end and organisations continue to navigate the changes caused by the pandemic, we must also look ahead to 2022. Global Banking and Finance Review spoke with industry experts to get their thoughts on what the coming year may look like. Banking, Finance and the Economy “Open banking focus will shift from standards to value generation. Since open banking was originally introduced in the form of regulation, the focus of these regulated regions has understandably been on compliance; as a result, open banking has often been painted as a compliance exercise,” explains

10 | Issue 33

Eyal Sivan, Head of Open Banking at Axway. “However, two things are changing: first, regulated players are looking to generate a return on their initial investments; and second, market-driven regions are beginning to adopt open banking in absence of regulation. These two factors will fundamentally shift the focus of open banking over the next year, from regulatory compliance to the generation of real value. Expect banks and other players in the financial ecosystem to demand solutions which tie open banking to their existing assets and capabilities in order to deliver on business-driven initiatives.”

Eyal Sivan Head of Open Banking Axway

BUSINESS

Hugh Scantlebury, Founder & CEO of Aqilla adds that “UK PLC is very much suffering right now from what I’ve come to call economic long COVID. Lockdowns have lifted, and the vaccination programme is going well. But there’s still lots of disruption across the economy as the result of the pandemic. Looking back at this year, it’s been hard — and continues to be difficult — for many businesses to trade in the way that they used to. And the after-effects of Brexit have compounded many of the problems, particularly in relation to labour supply. “While it’s not always possible to deal with all these problems directly, businesses can take back control of some aspects. They can start using solutions that provide real-time information on resource location, supply

chain logistics, and finances. They can begin 2022 with a resolution to use software to deliver cost of sale analysis, cash flow updates, and broader financial intelligence that improves efficiency. This is particularly important to keep in mind against the backdrop of rising energy prices and the knock-on effect this could have on supply chains.

Hugh Scantlebury Founder & CEO Aqilla

“Although it’s always been the case, it’s worth reiterating at the end of a challenging year that timely access to this kind of data and knowing how to intelligently interpret it will mean the difference between success and failure. That’s why, during 2021, the accounting and finance function in most businesses has continued to shift from a purely transactional-based role to a much more analytical one.”

Issue 33 | 11

BUSINESS

Governance, Analytics and Automation “The pandemic exposed ill-prepared boards and forced all boards to work remotely, relying entirely on digital tools to carry out their duties. The new work reality is a mix of virtual and in-person, and the move to digitise will continue to be a priority in 2022 as new variants are surfacing,” notes MarKeith Allen, SVP and GM at Diligent Mission Driven Organisations. “Modern Governance should be viewed as an integral part of a digital strategy rather than an add-on. It is crucial to create the clarity and accountability that is needed for a successful digital transformation process. As the digital and governance landscapes are rapidly changing, so is the need for technology that delivers beyond the basic online repositories of board data. “Board portals must evolve into holistic governance, risk, audit, and compliance platforms that enable transparency and connectivity between leaders, boards, and employees. Moving into 2022, we’ll see increased adoption of modern governance initiatives like ESG and tools that support better decision making. Moving into 2022, we’ll see increased adoption of board portal solutions that put innovative leaders at the helm of an intuitive environment that improves efficiency, collaboration, communication, security and board governance.” “For the next 3-5 years, I expect there will be a heavy drive to automation, outsourcing/managed service and out-tasking expertise around data projects,” predicts Michael Queenan, Co-Founder and CEO of Nephos Technologies. “There is an expectation gap from CEO/CFO’s where they want to be driving the types of projects to provide better customer insights, new product launches and increase revenue per customer. However, to do that

12 | Issue 33

Rich Pugh, Chief Data Scientist at Ascent furthers, “As businesses plan for 2022, organisations that have championed data science practises – despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic – will perform better than those who chose to furlough their data and analytics teams. 2022 is likely to be the year of the ‘reckoning’ where some companies will pay the price for holding back on innovation.

MarKeith Allen SVP and GM of Mission Driven Organizations Diligent Corporation

Rich Pugh Chief Data Scientist Ascent

Michael Queenan Co-Founder and CEO Nephos Technologies

you need better data management (analytics/governance/security) and the resources just don’t exist in most organisations to do that well, so I think a move to outsourcing or outtasking these projects will become the only way to go. The problem with that, is that there aren’t a large number of providers of those types of services in the market right now. That is why I think a big prediction for 2022 is the increase in “Managed” data solutions.”

“The chasm will have widened between companies that have embraced data to become smarter and more digitally nimble relative to their counterparts that find themselves in a changed landscape with an outdated business model. The world has shifted and they will find themselves left behind. Those companies who kept the pedal down on data and analytics, and invested in AI and machine learning to support their data-driven business model, will emerge as leaner, smarter, more engaging businesses.”

BUSINESS

“I think we’ll see the use of operational performance analytics become more of a priority in 2022, with an emphasis on organisations understanding data in real time,” agrees Simon Gould, Chief Product Officer at Totalmobile. “As they start to use analytics in the workforce management environment to understand the past, they will gain insight into what’s going to happen in the future. That’s where the real value lies, as with knowledge comes power. There’s often lots of generalisms in workforce management – organisations need greater understanding of how individual employees can perform their job, because different people will be able to do the same task at different rates. Combined with scheduling solutions, this type of data analysis will help ensure that all workers are being used to their full potential, whatever that may be.” Sascha Giese, Head Geek™ at SolarWinds adds that, “The explosion in data available to public sector organisations has made the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) a critical advantage, but the talent and resources required to build solutions in-house is still prohibitive. Ultimately, a machine is faster than a human—or even a group of humans—which means shifting to AI/ ML services also allows for cost savings, something that is vital across the sector. Yes, purchasing or subscribing to an AI service and integrating it doesn’t come cheap, but it’s still far more efficient than a team of 20 data analysts. “In 2022, we’ll start to see AI and ML featured more prominently in organisations’ IT environments through the adoption of off-the-shelf AI/ ML services. As organisations look to strengthen their security postures in response to the evolving threat landscape, for example, they may look for security tools leveraging AI/ML to perform tasks. Meanwhile, offerings from cloud service providers, like Amazon® SageMaker® or Google® TensorFlow™, will similarly see widespread growth by reducing the barrier to adoption and implementation for tech pros.”

Sascha Giese Head Geek™ SolarWinds

Issue 33 | 13

BUSINESS build skills in more than one platform. The first step is identifying the skills you need in all aspects of the role – from deployment and migration to security. Then, it’s about applying these on both an individual platform basis while also incorporating the implications of a multi-cloud environment. Teams will need to be able to think critically across several cloud infrastructures – asking, for example, which workloads work best in which environment, or how they can backup critical data most effectively. Agnes Schliebitz-Ponthus Senior Vice President of Product Fluent Commerce

Talent Shortage “The global tech talent shortage will only increase the number of companies adopting a ‘low code, no code’ approach to software development,” begins Agnes Schliebitz-Ponthus, Senior Vice President of Product at Fluent Commerce. “Low and no-code platforms will help to fill the gap, shifting the responsibility for app development from expensive programmers and engineers to business subject matter experts. Gartner says that as many as 75% of large enterprises will be using four or more low-code toolsets by 2024. With budgets under extreme pressure, we’re going to see more companies adopting a ‘low code, no code’ approach in 2022. At Fluent, we launched Fluent Order Management Experience (OMX) earlier this year, our new low-code platform for order management.” “One of the big shifts we’ve seen over the last 18-months is a widespread move to a cloud-first mindset and this has laid the foundation for many of the key training and development areas businesses will need to focus on in 2022,” adds Don Mowbray, EMEA Lead, Technology & Development at Skillsoft. “The most effective approach is to look at role-based learning journeys that help learners

14 | Issue 33

“For many organisations, this will represent a step change in cloud infrastructure management in 2022. Skills development will be central to this shift. Companies will need to build durable and resilient skills, and this can only be achieved with hands-on learning. Any business investing in new cloud services and platforms in 2022 should first invest in training – giving learners the ability to develop and practice their skills in a safe, non-production environment first.” Ian Rawlings, RVP EMEA at SumTotal reflects: “In 2021, we saw how developments like hybrid working dramatically reshaped the work environment and redefined how organisations approach learning and development. With workers, managers, and business leaders all feeling the pressure to upskill and reskill, organisations began rethinking their L&D models in a bid to foster lifelong learning cultures that allow employees to quickly build, develop and transform their skills – often on their terms. To build the high-performing workforce of the future and demonstrate to employees that their development and advancement matters, in 2022, we expect many organisations will go ‘all in’ when it comes to enabling more predictive and personalised learning journeys that motivate and encourage professional development and improve employee engagement. By leveraging the power of emerging technologies, they’ll be able to actively tune learning content to each individual’s current role and future needs. Delivering up learning events and follow-ups that seamlessly extend the learning process for employees while delivering actionable insights that can be used to inform individual development plans and succession planning.

Don Mowbray EMEA Lead, Technology & Development Skillsoft

He concludes: “One thing is for sure, in 2022, predictive learning is set to infuse corporate L&D programmes with the consumer-grade adaptability that enables organisations to prepare for the future and deliver a more enriching learning experience for all.””

BUSINESS

COP26 and the impact on the future of M&A deal activity Earlier this month, representatives from over 200 countries gathered in Glasgow for COP26. As predicted, the summit focused on big policy pledges aimed at addressing climate change and pr.omoting sustainability. There were some positive steps. For the first time countries agreed to act on fossil fuels and there was consensus across several issues including approving to a set of rules on reducing emissions and bolstering the climate finance package to support developing countries to reach their climate goals. While there have been encouraging developments, achieving these targets will take some

16 | Issue 33

doing not to mention strong political will. Some critics have argued that COP26 mounted to nothing more than greenwashing however in short, it has brought us closer to being on track for a 1.5C world and galvanized a global impetus for transformative change on a scale never seen before. It is key that we work to closing the gap between ambitions and actions. The UK Government made some very clear announcements about the finance industry and how it can ensure best practices are implemented in the transition to net-zero, a stance welcomed by the M&A sector. For example, our recent

survey interviewing 200 dealmakers found that 42% of UK dealmakers wanted to see unified commitment from COP26 and 40% expect climatechange concerns to be the biggest dealbreaker in the next 12 months. This sentiment is robust, and dealmakers are clearly planning with the environment at the forefront of their minds. In fact, climate change related financial risks and ESG issues are increasingly dictating how investors assess M&A targets and deploy capital. Combined with political and regulatory pressures, dealmakers are beginning to grasp the urgent need to approach investment in a more sustainable way.

BUSINESS

COP26 pledges and ESG dealmaking At COP26, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak pledged to turn the UK into ‘the world’s first net-zero aligned financial center’. A week earlier, the Chancellor announced that large businesses will be required to report climate-risk related information in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures from April 2022. Therefore, dealmakers will need to assess a deal’s susceptibility to climate change, analyse its longer-term financial impact and mitigate against any negative impacts to protect returns. Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney also declared a ‘watershed’ moment in financing the world’s move to net zero. As part of this commitment, he noted that $130trn of private capital is now waiting to be deployed to achieve this target. From an M&A perspective, this is likely to trigger an acceleration of deals with an environmental agenda. The focus on the ‘E’ in environmental, social and governance (ESG) within business comes as no surprise as shifting consumer and investor sentiments is likely to lead to a disinvestment in companies with poor ESG outcomes. In fact, just under two-thirds (65%) of 400 US and UK dealmakers that we interviewed expect to see more deals fall apart because of climate-change related due diligence risks over the next two years. The state of M&A and due diligence following COP26 Global M&A activity accelerated to new heights in the first half of 2021, reaching $2.6trn, largely in part to the imbalance between the amount of capital looking to be invested and

suitable opportunities. Amid this backdrop, market players are also placing greater importance on due diligence as part of the dealmaking process. In fact, from January to September 2021, new content on Datasite’s platform was up 52% year over year. This not only reflects the increase in deal activity, but also the increased rigor during diligence and expanding content areas like ESG. With 70% of dealmakers stating that ESG is now a priority category for them, any future due diligence will need to consider ESG outcomes. By incorporating these factors into the formal review process, professionals in the M&A industry will be in a better position to understand how the companies in question are actively promoting sustainable activities and if they are environmentally conscious. Doing so ensures those involved in future deals understand their risks, opportunities, and exposure in accordance with new regulation concerning the environment. Prior to COP26, 76% of UK dealmakers said the UK and FCA needed to be more ambitious when integrating ESG factors into the financial markets. Governing bodies will ultimately need to put regulatory measures in place that satisfy ESG outcomes, while giving M&A professionals the freedom to originate and conclude deals. Overall, dealmakers are aware of the increased focus on ESG considerations and the global shift towards more sustainable practices. The impact this will have on future deals will vary as risks are quantified and returns are calculated on a longer-term basis.

Merlin Piscitelli Chief Revenue Officer, EMEA, Datasite

Looking to the future, we can expect to see an increase in the number of green deals, with private funds targeting sustainable companies focused on green tech or solutions that address environmental concerns. With the large amounts of capital currently floating around, along with limited assets to invest in, activity within the M&A market is likely to remain high in the shortterm. There is no doubt that climate change presents significant risks that all businesses must navigate. With climate-related considerations becoming increasingly incorporated into investment decisions in the M&A context, businesses can use their M&A activity to jump on opportunities and make transformational improvements that mitigate climate change risk. With the dust settling on COP26, the bigger question now is understanding what action will be taken by the government to realise climate goals and how this will evolve over time. Changes to international cooperation, stakeholder and investor expectations, public pressure, the development of carbon markets and success of renewable technologies will all play a part and impact M&A activity.

Issue 33 | 17

INTERVIEW

AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance:

Capitalising on Growing Opportunities in the Qatari Market AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance is one of the leading insurance providers in Qatar, having been established in 1979 and becoming fully compliant with Islamic Sharia principles in 2010. It aims to offer innovative solutions to both individual and corporate customers while continuing to contribute to the economic progress of Qatar. The CEO, Mr. Abdulla Bin Ali Al-Asiri, spoke to Wanda Rich, editor of Global Banking & Finance Review, to answer our questions on the evolution of AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance so far, how the Qatari market differs from its international counterparts, and the organisation’s commitment to the country’s socio-economic development. AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance has been in operation for over 40 years now. How has the company evolved during that time? AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance has rapidly evolved over the last 40 years. We now have a more diversified portfolio and improved technical capabilities, along with the investment size, which make us very different and much better compared to where we were 40 years ago.

18 | Issue 33

How is Qatar different from other insurance markets? What opportunities do you see for further development of the Takaful industry? Qatar is proving to be profitable across the insurance market. The growth of insurance sectors is always above the GDP growth levels, partly because we see a continuous trend of growth in the insurance penetration levels. There is a huge opportunity to increase market size from the new compulsory medical scheme. Nevertheless, we are seeing an increase in the level of penetration in the market in all other lines of business such as property, life, motor, etc. Which business lines do you see driving the industry forward? If you look at the past, we have had semi-cycles where there is always a ‘champion’ among business lines with better profitability and focus from the market. For the past year, it has been property and motor. However, pressure in each line of business exists, especially during this hard time, and thus we cannot always predict which line will be more successful.

INTERVIEW

Mr. Abdulla Bin Ali Al-Asiri CEO AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance

What are some of the key products available to individuals and families? Currently, we have a strategic focus on retail business i.e. individual medical insurance/individual property insurance/motor insurance. We try to provide as many features and options as possible to tailor the policy according to individuals’ different needs. What innovative products are emerging in direct response to customer needs? Has technology influenced this process? Yes, technology influences this process as consumers are looking for an easier option in buying insurance policies, as well as submitting and tracking their claims. With this innovative technology easily at hand, companies are looking for optimisation by better quantifying their risk and exposure, leading to better pricing and coverage.

How do you ensure customers are receiving the best customer experience available?

How is AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance supporting the social economic development in the country?

Customer focus is one of our corporate values. We believe that customer satisfaction should be our main priority. We always prioritise customer concerns and try to make ourselves easily reachable via all possible communication channels, including e-insurance. We place particular emphasis on the after-sale experience, where we make the handling of claims very smooth and quick.

We try our best to be active in social involvement - charities and different entities such as non-profit organisations - as we believe that we have a role to play in our society. This is not only through monetary contribution, but also our staff level, to show our genuine care for social economic development.

When it comes to employment development, what programmes or initiatives do you have in place? Last year, we started a revamped policy on addressing our employees’ training and development needs, with particular focus on technical and commercial capabilities. COVID-19 slowed the progress of the plan, but now we are almost back on track.

What is your business strategy for the year ahead? We continue to improve business growth, but do so cautiously, as we don’t want to grow without insuring good profitability. A particular focus will be on the implementation of a compulsory medical scheme which is going to create huge business. However, we are still seeing opportunity in our other lines of business. In the longer term, we are expecting a change demographically which will entail more retail sales.

Issue 33 | 19

TRADE FINANCE

The Digital Future of Trade Finance

The ongoing economic downturn has affected global trade, and consequently, trade finance. Emerging technologies, agile competitors, supply chain disruptions, and a low interest rate environment are mounting further challenges on the banking and corporate sectors – but beneath these challenges, there may yet be a business opportunity. Crises Drive Change Yes, crises drive change. That’s why now more than ever, banks need a better understanding of corporate customer needs and a willingness to recognize, embrace, and become a catalyst for change. There’s a lot of buzz around trade digitalization and the urgency to leverage emerging technologies and capabilities to do many of the things banks regularly do, but in new and better ways that drive improved outcomes. The key underlying question is: how can organizations build a resilient business that’s ready for whatever comes next? There’s no guaranteed answer to this question, since each organization has its own reasons for transformation, but it’s important to remember that it’s less about choosing a specific

20 | Issue 33

technology and more about choosing the right technology to achieve your desired outcomes. Where change previously came over years or decades, present-day organizations must learn to adapt at digital speed. Nowadays, crisis response begins with recovery. While some organizations may have adopted digital platforms to enable smarter trade finance operations, the rationale and imperative to find ways for humans and machines to work together to get work done quickly has never been more apparent. Many organizations were already gearing up for the new and ‘different’ future of trade finance with trade finance-as-a-service. However, due to the global business environment, a gradual process of evolution has suddenly become a business imperative. Enabling Technological Transformation Today, digital transformation is beyond the conversion from manual and analog processes to digitized processes in every aspect of trade finance from initiation to fulfillment. The umbrella of trade digitalization now encompasses a wide variety of technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, the cloud, and more:

TRADE FINANCE

•

Machine Learning (ML)/ Natural Language Processing (NLP): Banks can use optical character recognition (OCR) to convert documents into e-documents without any human intervention. NLP is a great tool to automatically mine information from scanned copies of purchase orders and invoices and extract relevant information.

•

Digital Assistants: Digital assistants, such as chat bots can recognize a wide variety of user requests, match them to the appropriate entry in the database, and formulate an appropriate answer to the user. For example, a digital assistant can help track outstanding credit across borrowers, or for a specific borrower, and decide how to address the borrower within minutes.

•

Open API: With the open banking momentum emerge new opportunities for better engagement. Corporates expect data to be seamlessly available in their ERP system and in turn expect banks to respond to triggers generated by the ERP without manual intervention. Blockchain: When a blockchain adapter is used along with a trade finance system, it gives access to the technology’s cryptographic security and unchangeable recordkeeping, providing a full audit trail within a trading ecosystem. With a blockchainbased transaction, members can automate liquidation of bills under Letter of Credit (LC), automate liquidation of loan contract, and transmit real-time data across smart contracts in minutes.

•

Software-as-a-service: Trade finance-as-a-service have all the same features and functionality as their onpremises’ counterparts, but without the overhead of IT infrastructure, maintenance, and upgrades. The current global business environment, in which on-demand agility and scalability is an imperative for banks, is accelerating the shift to trade finance operations in the cloud.

Reaping the Rewards

Tushar Chitra Vice President Product Strategy & Marketing Oracle Financial Services

These technologies are quickly becoming mainstream—and banks are already realizing their benefits: •

•

Automate routine tasks: AIguided digital assistants can automate a large number of routine tasks, while freeing up employees to work on more revenue generating customer service tasks. Improved data confidence: Blockchain reduces manual, error-prone information exchange and transaction execution across enterprise boundaries, while avoiding the costs and delays of offline reconciliations.

The Bottom Line Banks have an opportunity to bridge the global trade finance gap. This can be achieved when banks start digitization and automation of their trade finance function to serve their customers better in this connected real-time world.

•

Get work done faster: With NLP, businesses are better able to analyze their data to help make faster decisions.

Each of these technologies is increasingly vital, whether a bank wants to improve an existing or new business process, innovate in one key area, or reduce data silos. As SaaS applications are becoming the status quo, differentiating a business by leveraging emerging technologies have opened up new pathways to meet rapidly changing customer, employee, and counterparty expectations.

•

Rapid deployment: SaaS applications enables customers to get up and r u n n i n g f a s t e r, o n a m o r e reliable resilient technology backbone than ever before.

A technology-first approach is to embed AI, machine learning, digital assistants, and other emerging tech into the trade and supply chain finance application – leading to larger successes down the line.

Issue 33 | 21

BANKING

The Future of Banking The world of banking is changing – faster than ever. Faced with technology developments, and evolving customer demands – banks must think carefully about their future and the strategy they need to remain responsive and relevant. As well as facing a more competitive landscape with new market entrants, banks are also working within an ever-broadening ecosystem, in order to help access new technology, create new products and services, and grow revenue with an entirely new customer base.

Banks will also leverage ‘open banking’ to become more customer-oriented and tech-savvy. Historically, banks have been big collectors of data, but not great users of it. Greater use of data analytics, utilizing cloud and AI, will facilitate a better understanding of customers, identification of business opportunities, and reduction of costs. The future bank sees fintechs as a payments partner

The future bank is digital

Payments data is at the core of banking. The future bank will increasingly convert data into insight, and insight into sustainable value, to create new revenue streams and build trust with customers.

The lines between banks, fintechs, and big tech companies will continue to blur. Technology companies that would not be classified historically as ‘fintechs’ are working to gain more control of business banking and payments.

Collaboration within the payments ecosystem will allow banks and fintechs to play to their strengths. Through partnerships or investment relationships, banks will work with fintechs to better understand and influence payments technology.

But the real change is being driven by the customer. Changing customer behaviours mean banks need to curate unique journeys and propositions to meet evolving customer expectations.

B ank s w i l l a lso inc orpora te the ir i nherent ad va nta ge s – strong bal ance sh e e ts, de posit f unding, customer da ta , re gula tor y exper ti se, a nd truste d loc a l bra nds – to make the pay m e nts e x pe rie nc e more perso na lize d.

So, what will the ‘future bank’ look like?

The future bank will combine digital speed and convenience, in a way that is thoughtful and caring, at crucial moments in the customer journey. This is already happening in payments and will gradually creep into lending and savings.

22 | Issue 33

Banks that demonstrate the greatest empathy with customers will be able to offer more distinctive, attractive personalized banking experiences. Customer-forward firms in sectors like leisure and entertainment have revolutionized their industries. Banks have historically operated on an inside-out basis, creating products and solutions to fit their businesses, rather than fitting their businesses to customers. This fundamentally limits integration across products and services, and leads to inconsistent customer experiences. It is also opposite to how fintechs operate, creating solutions and entire business models centred around customer experience. The future bank has more diverse talent An area of emerging concern in banking is the ability to acquire and retain key talent, especially in the areas of digital and technology. This will be a core focus for banks in the coming years as they align hiring plans with tech-enabled growth opportunities. Cybersecurity, AI, and digital transformation were identified in the recent EY European FS CEO Imperative Survey as the top-three emerging skills required for c-suite development over the next five years.

The future bank is customer obsessed Banks will increasingly offer tailored, highly personalised customer experiences – all powered through data and technology.

Banks will maintain existing mainframe infrastructure skills, while simultaneously embedding new skills to enable them to embrace emerging technologies, including AI and cloud.

BANKING

Nigel Moden European Head of Banking EY

The future bank will also be defined by its culture of inclusive leadership – where leaders use D&I as a lever to help them develop more innovative teams and solutions. to support a more diverse customer base. To achieve this, banks must embed inclusivity across their entire talent infrastructure – from the type of people they hire, to how they reward their people, to the types of leader role models they promote. Most importantly, the future bank will be able to translate all of this into a highly attractive, competitive employer brand, which captures the imagination of highly ambitious, extremely mobile talent in a hiring environment where banks compete alongside big-tech brands for talent. The future bank is sustainable For the first time, climate change tops the list of long-term risks for banks, according to the 11th EY and Institute of International Finance bank risk management survey. The survey of 88 financial institutions across 33 countries provides a window into the changes in risk management seen

globally during the past decade, and the major risks anticipated over the next 10 years. More than nine in 10 (91%) bank chief risk officers (CROs) view climate change as the top emerging risk over the next five years. Only about half (52%) of CROs said the same in 2019. There is a growing expectation that banks do more to protect workers and build a stronger economy and society. This is more than a reputational imperative. Investors and customers will increasingly use ESG metrics information to determine a bank’s value. Managing the economic risks of climate change will be central to the future bank’s overall risk management strategy. They will incorporate climate decisions into product innovation, capital management, business planning and strategic transactions.

Conclusion Banks are under pressure to go further and act faster than ever before. They are making transformative changes to become more competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. They are also adhering to increasingly challenging regulation, while helping to solve societal challenges. And they are doing all of this while operating in a low revenue-growth environment. In their race to innovate and achieve scale, banks are grasping a once-ina-generation opportunity to accelerate transformation and define their own future.

The future bank will have the ability to easily assess risk exposures; currently, only 54% of banks have a preliminary understanding of this. It will incorporate climate risk into its corporate business strategy, existing risk assessments and active risk monitoring.

Issue 33 | 23

BANKING

Five key themes to watch out for in 2022

Twenty twenty-two will see unprecedented changes in banking and other financial services, with new innovations being added at scale and wholesale transformation programmes deployed to engage new demographics and change the customer experience forever. We predict that the following themes will dominate the financial services sector over the next year. 1.

Purpose as the new profit

We have seen in recent times that consumers, employees and shareholders are looking for far more than simply financial performance from their chosen organisations. Regulators are taking a zerotolerance approach, as can be seen from the recent events at Barclays.

Banks and other financial services firms are facing this added level of scrutiny on how they conduct their business and, even more so, from their consumers, who are now highly watchful. The triple bottom line will, going forward, become a higher priority for senior FS executives. We have seen firms such as Natwest publish their first ESG supplement to shareholders that detail their nonfinancial performance providing more disclosure on purpose, sustainability and ESG factors. Financial services firms will need to articulate a sense of purpose that extends beyond profiting shareholders. •

Financial inclusion will become a goal for financial services firms. The G20 in 2021 reaffirmed its support for this goal and digital transformation to reach the goal will be further prioritised.

Expanding financial products and services to underbanked populations will be front of mind for those taking a long-term view. •

Ethical financial services will gain attention, with individual consumers and institutional investors increasingly prioritising this as a differentiator. It is well documented that younger consumers are intent on putting their money where their values lie. In the long running aftermath of the financial crisis, prioritising an ethical model will be a great way for banking institutions to re-establish trust with their consumers.

•

Financial services will also need to incorporate sustainablility considerations into their investment approaches and take a leading role in confronting the climate crisis. We whave seen from the recently concluded COP26 that governments expect financial institutions to play a mjor role in facilitating the transition to a more sustainable future.

Customer experience will rule the day

The generic journeys and products currently offered by most financial services companies, that offer only a thin veneer of personalization and barely scratched the surface of feeling tailored, are no longer going to work in appealing to the customer. We

24 | Issue 33

BANKING

see in recent surveys that the big banks in the UK consistently trail the new digital only new entrants when it comes to customer satisfaction. The future will be significantly different. •

•

Experiences are going to start feeling like they are customised for the individual by meeting specific needs. The availability of a wide array of data from the Cloud and access to sophisticated AI-driven analytics algorithms will facilitate the creation of more personalised experiences and products. Customer journeys and products will feel more inclusive —not like one journey or product was designed for 20 million people. Most institutions are moving towards a customer journey paradigm that will allow them to focus on improving the end-to-end experience for their customers.

need to accept that the recent rise in platform businesses will continue and adjust accordingly. They can build platform businesses or partner with them—but they cannot afford to ignore them and go at it alone. We will see new patterns emerging: •

Transform or die. Transformation will no longer been seen by a sizable minority as a frill. Tech start-ups and other nonbanks have successfully embedded financial products into their digital offerings—chipping away at the market share incumbent banks enjoyed – in the coming year there will be a scramble to catch up to avoid losing more.

•

Paying back a friend on Venmo using emojis isn’t just convenient and sociable, it’s participation in a seismic shift of how money is managed and transmitted – this coming year traditional banks will have to get creative.

•

Cloud transformation will be scaled up. Currently a very low proportion of banking apps are held on the cloud. This will need to increase for stability and customer experience and companies will be investing heavily.

•

Growth of open banking and related services. New banking business models will move towards collaboration and away from competition.

Platform transformation

Companies that don’t modernise their IT infrastructure and move to an open platformcentric architecture will fall behind. Platforms and ecosystems are replacing standard distribution channels. We have seen in areas such as insurance and wealth that customers demand access to a broader set of products and services that can only be enabled by being part of a larger ecosystem. Regulations like open banking and PSD2 also facilitate this transition. To stay competitive, all established companies

Issue 33 | 25

BANKING

Data is the new oil

Financial institutions have lagged behind Big Tech in utilising data to drive competitive advantage. While banks and insurance companies have huge amounts of very valuable data about their customers, strict regulatory frameworks, a strong controls mindset and inability to access complex legacy data stores have prevented these organisations from fully leveraging data to drive differentiation and competitive advantage. This is likely to change as technology and modern processes begin to allow companies to overcome these barriers. As data becomes more accurate and easily available, AI & ML will also come to the mainstream and help make processes like fraud detection and customer onboarding more efficient. Executing the right data strategy will ensure that products/services can respond to customer feedback quickly and better decisions are made across all functions.

26 | Issue 33

•

New data and API infrastructure will be built by financial services firms on the right path. And not only this, but they will focus on enhancing their culture to ensure that decisions are driven by underlying data and insight at all levels.

•

AI and ML will be built at scale as trust in data and algorithms increases.

•

All data will be vetted for potential insights and incremental uplift. This includes selecting an alternative data ecosphere and identifying areas for data instrumentation.

•

Personalization at scale will happen. However, all this can only happen if proper governance and control frameworks are put in place to ensure adherence to data privacy and enhanced cyber security. We will continue to see huge investments in these two areas.

Reimagining Financial Services

This is more a wish than a prediction. But as the trends above take shape – more customer centricity, platform enablement and dataful products and services – institutions will have a unique ability to go beyond their traditional space to open up new opportunities for customers. We have already seen banks expand their portfolios of banking products with Goldman and now JPMorgan launching new digital retail banks. However, the opportunity is there to go further as we have seen in Asia, where banks like SCB have ventured into food delivery and travel services. •

Banking/Insurance as a Service options will be examined more closely, as institutions look at new channels to distribute their products and services. We have already seen this happening through HSBC’s recent tie up with Oracle’s NetSuite.

BANKING

•

Non-financial services will begin to crop up to capture mindshare and wallet share via partnerships with ecosystems and other key players.

•

More collaboration between incumbents and fintechs/ Big Techs to drive innovation across the ecosystem. The large incumbents now see the advantages of partnering with more innovative, tech savvycompanies to provide more differentiated services. This will become more prevalent in the coming year.

Sudeepto Mukherjee Financial Services Lead at Publicis Sapient, reveals insights from the Publicis Sapient 2021 Guide to Next report and points to the five themes that will dominate transformation in the year ahead.

All in all, 2022 will be a hugely transformative time for Financial Institutions. The recovery from the pandemic with renewed customer demand and high expectations will create a unique, once in a generation opportunity for financial institutions to reimagine their purpose and the services that they provide to their customers.

Issue 33 | 27

TECHNOLOGY

What is blockchain and how can it be used in the fashion industry?

Blockchain is a new type of technology that is now ubiquitous thanks in part to crypto currencies like BitCoin and the increasingly common news stories around NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

production, product composition and environment-related certificates) and make accessible to consumers via QR code. Proof of creation and tackling counterfeit

Blockchain is a database and a means of sharing information across lots of different computers, rather than in one centralised place. This means that it provides a greater degree of security than ordinary, decentralised databases or communication chains. Cryptography authenticates parties’ identities and creates immutable hashes of each ledger record, the current page of records and the binding that links each block to the earlier ones in the database. Blockchain’s use in demonstrating digital provenance has emerged to help fashion brands counter the threats of counterfeiting, to demonstrate their sustainable and ethical credentials, and to enable brands differentiate in a competitive market through marketing and brand development. It was reported earlier this year that the UK Fashion and Textile Association has partnered with IBM and retailers including H&M, COS, Next and New Look to pilot a supply chain traceability solution for the UK fashion industry. The platform will utilise IBM’s blockchain technology to share information about clothing products (place and date of

28 | Issue 33

Blockchain is currently used within fashion and retail sectors in tracking the movement of physical and digital goods to ensure authenticity. In a physical supply chain, blockchains can be used to verify physical tags on garments. Usually this may be via QR codes, near-field communication chips (NFCs) and radiofrequency identification chips (RFID chips), which can be accessed on a mobile phone and payment methods such as ApplePay. While for many years holograms and QR codes have been used, they have been subject to extensive copying. However, through the use of blockchain technology it is much easier to identify counterfeit goods because they will automatically check against the centralised database, providing a fuller picture of the garments authenticity. The additional benefit of this is that blockchain can be directly connected to anti-counterfeiting organisations like brand protection teams or law enforcement agencies. From a consumer perspective, you can in

theory use the technology to protect purchases made via online sales platforms, such as eBay, reducing the risks of products being counterfeited, particularly luxury or limited, highend pieces. The technology is two-fold in helping identify any counterfeiting within the supply chain, and if copying or counterfeiting has occurred, a brand can use blockchain as “paper trail” evidence to distinguish their goods and their origin from that of the counterfeit to protect their reputation. Supply chain monitoring Blockchain connects the apparel supply chain with a real-time flow of data, creating an immutable ledger. The way in which blockchain tracks a product enables transparency in seeing individuals who work on the product right up to it reaching the high street and into the hands of the consumer. A key advantage of tracking is that brands can monitor product volumes, whether any product goes missing and at what stage of the chain this has occurred. This may be attributed to distributors selling some of the goods elsewhere and subsequently breaching distribution agreements. In having access to such data, brands and retailers will be able to streamline their supply chain and improve its efficiency.

TECHNOLOGY

In addition, the new technology makes it easy to read exactly what materials are included in a product which can in turn be used for recycling purposes, and it can provide brands with important insights such as whether the product was resold online or ended up in a second hand or charity shop. Sustainability and social impact The lifecycle of a single garment alone produces a significant environmental and social footprint – such a cycle includes the sourcing of material, production, shipping, retailing and marketing. Such an extensive lifecycle has caused the environmental quality of a product to be unobservable to both the fashion retailer and the consumer. Blockchain technology tackles this issue through its tracking mechanism and ability to provide retailers with ethical credentials. Fashion retailers being able to demonstrate their sustainability, environmental accountability and the action they are taking to help the planet has become increasingly important over the last decade or so. Consumers want to know where the goods they’re buying come from, particularly in an industry that has received widespread criticism over unsafe workspaces, low wages and labour abuses. Brands such as H&M have responded to this change in consumer behaviour by releasing sustainable collections. H&M’s innovative collection, “Conscious Exclusive” has been culminated to showcase the brand’s sustainable range in which all said products contain sustainable material. Consumers are able to identify these products by the attached green tags which indicate either at least 50% sustain raw materials or 20% recycled cotton have been used in the production of the garment.

Whilst such innovation is a step towards making the retail sector more sustainable, consumers may be sceptical of such advertising and may question its validity, is it really what it says? Blockchain technology encourages transparency within this industry and provides retailers with the confidence to market products as sustainable and reassure customers about the provenance of their goods. In a similar fashion to supply chain monitoring, greater traceability through blockchain may mitigate the risk of murky and inefficient supply chains and enable retailers to identify suppliers that do not support sustainable and ethical practices. With enhanced confidence in the origin and composition of their products, brands can also utilise this information to further develop their brand image in this area, improve communication surrounding their support of ethical practices and build consumer facing narratives that demonstrate their sustainability. This in turn will boost their reputation. Verifying trade marks Brand and trade mark protection has started to see benefits from blockchain technology by the reduction of counterfeit goods and increasing the efficiency of trade mark registration. Blockchain can offer a level of comfort in relation to the authenticity to luxury brand trade mark owners. Counterfeits can be tackled through QR codes. When a consumer purchases the product, they can use the QR code to access its certificate online that has been cryptographically signed by the brand, as well as all those involved across the supply chain, verifying the authenticity of the product. Counterfeits can therefore be easily identified by the lack of verification through blockchain. In addition, outfits buying, and reselling luxury goods will be equipped with

certainty that the goods they are buying are legitimate, as well as providing that comfort to their customer. The user of a trade mark must be able to demonstrate actual use of the mark – whether that be as evidence in the application process or to show its distinctiveness. By recording information such as the dates of use and frequency of use on a blockchain, a brand can easily demonstrate its genuine use per territory, it can be recorded with the UKIPO (as well as any other relevant trade mark office) and be available for everyone to see. In addition, having the ability to check a registered trade mark for any likelihood of confusion will be made more efficient and reliable. Smart contracts A smart contract is a self-executing agreement, such as a trade mark licensing agreement, that is written in computer code and signed by the parties using cryptographic signatures. It can be verified and enforced automatically under eventdriven conditions that are set in advance. As it is self-executing, it does not need third party involvement or external oversight. A smart contract can automatically monitor and calculate each time a royalty payment is due in accordance with the terms of the contract and automatically make a payment to a predetermined wallet owned by a trade mark owner. This therefore provides a stress-free and easily enforceable trade mark licensing agreement. The blockchain stored contracts can help build a stronger relationship between a retailer and the supplier through real-time communication and increased visibility into the supply chain.

Issue 33 | 29

TECHNOLOGY

The future of blockchain and its challenges Though blockchain will bring some benefits in making the fashion industry more sustainable and transparent, adding chips into all products is not the most sustainable of practices, and recording all of the ledgers in a safe environment will require extensive data storage, therefore energy use will be high. There are also practical issues to consider such as QR codes on regularly washed clothes wearing away over time, a feature like this may be best suited on handbags and other similar products. Monitoring and regulation of a blockchain will be essential for the technology to be effective. Although blockchain will enable retailers to ensure any information has not been altered, it does not have the capacity to check the integrity and validity of the information that is recorded in the first place. This means that if a party along the supply chain inputs false information it will remain in the digital file. Only a small group of businesses have adopted the technology, so it is yet to be the standardised approach. In implementing the blockchain technology, fashion retailers may have to increase the price of their products, or alternatively reducing the price for the actual chips as they currently add a significant amount to the cost of goods – therefore for smaller value items brands may be reluctant to adopt the chip technology.

30 | Issue 33

TECHNOLOGY

James Corlett Partner Beyond Corporate Law

Molly Hackett Paralegal Beyond Corporate Law

Issue 33 | 31

BUSINESS

Preparing For The Future With Climate Intelligence

The curtains have closed on COP26 and despite the jury still being out as to whether the Summit was a success, climate action is driving regulatory change with very real implications for businesses. In the near future, UK and US companies will be required to disclose their climate risk. Following the latest release of Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, mandatory reporting is now being steadily rolled out across the UK and will be fully in place by 2025. In the US, President Biden released an Executive Order “to advance consistent, clear, intelligible, comparable, and accurate disclosure of climate-related financial risk”. Companies in both the UK and US need to take action now to get ahead of mandatory disclosure coming into force.

but the majority still need to invest in talent and software to fulfill these requirements. Sixty three percent of companies claim they are planning to disclose their climate risk within the next 12 months, but many will need to invest in new solutions to meet new regulations. Companies that are already voluntarily reporting are taking action to embed climate risk strategies into decisionmaking across their organizations. However, 42% lack the actionable climate insights necessary to report on their climate risk. Even when they have access to data, companies are finding translating it into meaningful insights a challenge because climate data is often complex and fragmented. This is why companies are seeking software and tools to help them implement their climate disclosure.

How prepared are organisations? A recent report from Climate Intelligence company Cervest surveyed 800 UK and US business decision makers on their climate strategies. They found a significant gap between company awareness and company preparedness for climate risk reporting. Ninety percent of companies are aware of the pending disclosure requirements,

32 | Issue 33

It is clear that Climate Intelligence is in demand, yet only 37% of organisations have plans in place to adapt with climate change. Without the necessary insight to make plans to build resilience, companies cannot hope to make accurate disclosure on their climate related financial risk. Even with the best intentions, lack of clarity on climate risk could lead to underreporting or wrongly attributing carbon emissions.

Getting ahead on climate disclosure could be a competitive advantage There are clear and tangible benefits to getting ahead on disclosure and building the capacity . Climate risk is financial risk. The survey revealed that 83% believe disclosure will have a positive financial impact on their organization. For instance, access to climate insights allows businesses to disclose their climate risk to meet regulations and avoid possible fines, and it will also allow businesses to put climate at the core of every decision. From taking actions that protect assets against increasingly volatile weather events, to finding opportunities for future investment, Climate Intelligence is crucial for future business operations. Those planning to invest in the insights, software and training necessary to become climate literate stand to gain a significant competitive advantage within their industry sector. With frameworks like the TCFD still evolving, what is really needed is standardization on climate risk. To make disclosure reporting valuable, climate intelligence must be derived from a single, standardized source of truth. Universal disclosure standards would ensure accountability, transparency and trustworthiness

BUSINESS

across industries, and allow for cross-industry comparisons. We also need standardization in place to resolve disclosure conundrums facing organisations with multinational assets, or those who work across multiple industries. Net Zero is essential but insufficient While COP26 progress on Net Zero may not have met expectations, it’s clear that organisations are not waiting for policy to set ambitious climate goals. The survey found the vast majority (88%) of respondents are setting Paris-aligned emission targets (Net Zero by 2050). However, in focussing on Net Zero, companies need to be careful not to overlook adaptation. Decarbonization is essential, but it’s insufficient. Companies need adaptation strategies in place to build climate resilience and be prepared to face the already locked-in effects of our changing climate. Overall, Cervest's survey results highlight that integrating physical risk and adaptation into their climate risk strategies will strengthen organisational climate resilience and enable more coherent disclosure reporting.

It’s clear that businesses are motivated to remove barriers to accurate climaterelated financial disclosure. With an increasingly volatile climate, a greater frequency of extreme weather events, and mandatory disclosure rapidly approaching, it comes as no surprise that companies are pursuing a number of different activities to improve their climate literacy and build capacity for climate intelligent decision-making. The ability to accurately quantify climate risk and carbon footprint presents a complex accounting challenge for many companies, requiring significant upskilling, monitoring and resourcing. Yet, as more forward-looking companies take a climate intelligent approach to disclosing their climate risk, others will follow, leading to a global network of climate intelligent organisations that will drive climate change transformation in a more positive direction and at a greater scale.

Iggy Bassi CEO & founder Cervest

Issue 33 | 33

INTERVIEW

Ludovic Garnier Group Chief Financial Officer Thai Union Group PCL

34 | Issue 33

INTERVIEW

Blue Finance and Evolving Consumer Behaviours Founded in 1977, Thai Union Group is a leading producer of seafood-based food products. Though based in Thailand, it serves a global customer base and has multiple plant facilities across Europe, as well as the USA, the Seychelles, Vietnam and more. Its ambitions in sustainability and innovation are supported by an awardwinning reputation, which includes the 2017 SEAL Business Sustainability Award, the 2020 SDG Impact Award at the Responsible Business Awards, the 2021 Global Banking & Finance Awards® as “Leading Company in Building Community Resilience in Thailand” and the Stock Exchange of Thailand's Best Sustainability Excellence Award 2021. Wanda Rich, editor of Global Banking & Finance Review, learned more about the organisation’s ongoing growth efforts, and the factors driving its success, when she interviewed Mr.Ludovic Garnier, Group Chief Financial Officer of Thai Union Group PCL. They began by discussing the measures put in place to address the effects still being felt by COVID-19. Evidently, a large part of becoming established as a world leader is how disruption and operational risk are managed during times of difficulty – not least a global pandemic. “Thai Union’s top priority is ensuring the ongoing health, safety and wellbeing of all its employees,

partners, suppliers, customers and local communities,” Ludovic said. “We are following all measures required by the government and local authorities. What is important is that all our factories are open and operational. While Thai Union, like many other companies, is affected by the pandemic, we do not at this point see any significant impact on our operations. We continue to be able to take and fulfil customer orders without delay in most of our businesses.” Though operations for employees and production needed to be adapted, Ludovic explained how the organisation was able to keep the health and safety of its employees a top priority. “During the pandemic, employees at many of our offices have worked from home,” he said. “Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, we have put comprehensive health and safety measures in place across all our sites, factories and offices globally, to ensure that we have been able to supply our products in full confidence of their quality, as well as maintain the safety of employees. “On the operation side, naturally, during any period of closure we would be looking to increase production across our global supply chain to compensate. We therefore do not expect to see a significant longterm impact.”

Issue 33 | 35

INTERVIEW

Wanda asked him to offer some insight into Thai Union’s 2025 Strategy, which has been developed under the theme of ‘Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans.’ “We have built this strategy on fundamental long-term trends, such as consumers increasingly looking for healthy and sustainable food choices as well as more convenience when it comes to shopping and preparing food. Our roadmap to 2025 will continue to strengthen our core business while building new valueenhancing businesses. “For our core business, we are investing in automation and technology to future-proof our operations, as well as into innovation to develop new products for our global consumers,” Ludovic continued. “We invested in a state-of-the-art factory for our Frozen Culinary business, which will combine all our ready-toeat production under one roof with increased production capacity and efficiency. We also plan to launch the ‘Factory of the Future’ pilot project for our ambient tuna factory, which will explore next-generation technologies for fish processing.”

36 | Issue 33

Select areas of investment - for example, Germany-based Rügen Fisch earlier this year - have strengthened Thai Union’s position in the branded ambient seafood space in Europe. “We also set up an alternative protein business to work with our other business units, developing high-quality alternative protein products to complement our existing seafood offering,” he told Wanda. “In addition, we are investing in building new areas of business for Thai Union including our Ingredients business’s tuna oil extraction plant in Thailand and a refinery in Germany, as well as a tuna bone powder production facility at our factory in the South of Thailand. In 2021 we are also investing in a new factory in Thailand to produce protein hydrolysates and collagen peptides for Thai Union Ingredients. We set up a new subsidiary, Thai Union Lifescience, focusing on supplements and healthcare products for retail customers.

“We also continue to invest in food tech start-ups in the areas of alternative protein, functional nutrition and value-chain technology via our corporate venture capital fund. So far we have invested in alternative protein start-ups like BlueNalu, Flying Spark, Aleph Farms and Orgafeed, as well as functional nutrition businesses like Alchemy and ViAqua Therapeutics.” Sustainability is firmly positioned at the core of Thai Union’s business, and Ludovic was keen to share some of the initiatives he is most proud of. “Thai Union introduced its sustainability strategy SeaChange® in 2015, and it continues to drive change across the global seafood industry with the focus around legal labour, responsible sourcing and responsible operations while working closely with the communities where we operate,” he explained. “Thai Union has been listed on the Food Products Industry Index of the DJSI for eight consecutive years and was ranked number one in the world in 2018 and 2019. It was also recently named in the FTSE4Good Emerging Index for the fifth straight year, and has been ranked number one for the second consecutive time on the Seafood Stewardship Index (SSI), which assesses the contribution of the world’s 30 largest seafood companies to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).”

INTERVIEW

Thai Union has also been paving the way in Thailand for ‘blue finance,’ financing that incorporates sustainability targets to benefit the oceans. “In February this year, Thai Union launched its inaugural sustainability-linked loan (SLL) to the equivalent of THB 12 billion, which was followed in July by the successful pricing of its THB 5 billion, 7-year sustainabilitylinked bond (SLB) for institutional investors – the first SLB in Thailand,” Ludovic said. “In November, the company successfully issued 5-year and 10-year tranche SLBs totalling THB 6 billion to diversify the institutional investor base. These are significant steps forward for blue finance, where interest rates are linked to key performance indicators and sustainability performance targets. Thai Union sets the target to convert traditional finance to blue finance for 50% of its long-term financing portfolio by 2022, and aims to increase it to 75% by 2025.” The organisation’s global portfolio includes some of the world’s favourite consumer brands. When it comes to the challenges and opportunities presented by the different markets in terms of product creation, Thai Union’s ‘Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans’ strategy remains key. “The 2025 Strategy has been built based on fundamental long-term consumer trends in food,” Ludovic said. “Globally, we see consumers increasingly looking at food as a way to manage their health in the long term. As such, consumers pay more attention to making healthy food choices for themselves and their families. In addition, sustainability becomes ever more important to consumers who are looking for sustainable sources and sustainably packaged products.”

He went on to note the behavioural changes in consumers that play a significant role in Thai Union’s decision making. “The pandemic made people stay and cook at home more than before. Therefore, consumers are looking for convenient, easy-to-prepare, nutritional options for themselves as well as their pets. It is noteworthy that Thai Union is one of the leading pet food producers and exporters in Thailand and Asia. Also, consumers are changing how they shop: online shopping and food delivery has increased globally at an unprecedented pace, and ensuring our products are available in these growing channels is a key priority for our businesses. These are both challenges and opportunities which we are aware of when it comes to product creation.” Finally, Wanda asked Ludovic about what’s coming next for them. “Thai Union is in a strong position financially, and we are committed to investing in the future of our core business of ambient and frozen seafood, high-growth businesses of PetCare, feed, and culinary, as well as in new areas of business in alignment with our 2025 strategy to enable ‘Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans.’”

Issue 33 | 37

BUSINESS

New Imperative for Information Management -- The Convergence of Privacy, Records Management, Data Classification and Data Destruction Over the past few years, privacy regulation has brought into keen focus the need for organisations to provide greater care for customer information. This includes formalisation of customers “rights” to know and control how their personal information is used. Also, it has formalised the obligations of the collectors of personal information to provide safeguards and greater disclosure on personal information usage. While changes in how customers and regulators view data privacy may have been a catalyst, several other data management questions are now coming to the forefront: •

How long should customer data and business records be retained?

•

What are the risks associated with over-retention?

•

Does data encryption address some or all of these risks?

•

What are the appropriate triggers for destruction?

•

Should all data and business records be classified?

•

What classification taxonomies should be applied?

38 | Issue 33

The almost “free” cost of data storage, combined with the proliferation of digital communication, has led to a lackadaisical attitude to organisations’ data management policies and is now introducing real legal / business risk that many organisations are in no position to identify or measure. There is a fear of deleting data, in the faint hope that it might instead be utilised in some beneficial manner in the future – without any realistic and tangible plan to do so. It is now “make or break”. Organisations needs to adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach – addressing policy, risk management and technical architecture – across the disciplines of privacy, records management, data classification and data destruction. Organisations that continue to address these as siloed disciplines are destined for a costly, ineffective and potentially conflicting set of policies and management practices. In this case, compliance can never be achieved – and the true risks will not be mitigated, as Eric Mueller, Managing Director, D2 Legal Technology, explores.

Organisational Asset – or Liability? Until recently, an organisation’s records management policy and obligations were often limited to ensuring that business records were placed in a box and sent to an offsite facility to be retained for a prescribed period of time before being destroyed. For example, some banking regulations require that customer transaction records are stored for seven years following an account closing date. Today, however, large organisations are creating business records at a dizzying velocity. A decade or two ago, data storage was an expensive resource, necessitating that applications and databases employed data hygiene practices – regularly purging obsolete data and records to free up data storage space. Over time, technology advances have fundamentally altered the economics of data storage. New data storage technologies have driven the cost per unit of storage to approaching zero. This has resulted in organisations adopting “keep all data and records for all time” philosophies. This practice ensured record retention regulatory requirements were met (because everything was kept) and provided rich data lakes to be mined for customer insights. While maybe not explicitly stated, data hygiene fell to the bottom of the priority list (and stayed there).

BUSINESS

Yet, ask your general counsel and compliance departments on their view on business practices that result in keeping data and business records longer than required. I’m sure you will hear that, instead of it being the purported organisational asset, it is an unbounded liability. In the case of any litigation, any and all information is discoverable. Overretained data / information increases litigation expense and exposure. This is an avoidable risk when true data hygiene practices are implemented and followed. You will likely also learn that the highest risks are not in your structured systems and records but are contained within everyday electronic communications: the countless emails, chats, instant messages and PowerPoint documents. If someone thought that it was a good idea to record Zoom meetings during Covid, these video files too need to be placed in the high-risk category.

regulations, like storm clouds, are prolificating around the globe (e.g., Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI), Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)). The risks of non-compliance with these regulations are real – regulators are now able to levy substantial fines. Additionally, a data breach that discloses reckless or negligent care and safeguards of personal information can result in devastating headline risk with the swift ramifications of loss of shareholder value, market share, and customer trust.

Why Data Over-retention Prevails

Organisations that meet GDPR and CCPA requirements may have capabilities to destroy certain customer records – but it is almost assured that organisations are still over-retaining vast amounts of information, including customer information. Most organisations are not even in a position to identify and measure the size of this risk.

Data Privacy regulations are forcing organisations to revisit data destruction policies and approaches. GDPR and CCPA compliance are but the tip of the iceberg. Similar

Further complicating this is the interwoven architecture of our business information. This architecture developed haphazardly over decades to address a patchwork

of process and information flow efficiencies. It has resulted in a spider web of information that no one in the organisation can fully explain or untangle. Chief Data Officers (CDOs) have been charged with sorting this out. However, most CDO organisations are still in their nascent stage, having been formed within the past five years and having made de-minimis progress in rationalising the entirety of an organisation’s information architecture. When confronted with this highly interdependent and networked information architecture, deleting or destroying any single data element can unleash a chain reaction of unintended consequences. Therefore, most organisations have concluded that is safer to delete nothing. This is the perfect storm in which we find ourselves. Regulators are likely to provide a temporary pass to organisations that can demonstrate care for the most sensitive data. But organisations need to find a path to a more sustainable information architecture and data hygiene practices that meet the needs of privacy, records management (retention) and data destruction requirements.

Issue 33 | 39

BUSINESS

Data Encryption – a temporary mitigate, not a lasting solution Many organisations are relying on data encryption to protect their data and have wrongly concluded that data destruction to reduce over-retention is not a priority worth the cost and effort. This is a false security measure. Hackers are actively harvesting and storing encrypted data with the view towards the future use of “postquantum” compute power that will allow them to crack even the most sophisticated encryption keys. Organisations must take the view that no data is safe and truly secure -- it is just a matter of time. The mandate must be to actively destroy data (particularly PII related data) once it’s no longer serving a legitimate business use. Valuable Insights Organisations that have launched programs to attack these problems have met with both successes and failures. For organisations struggling to make progress, there are valuable insights that can be learned from those that have had to retrench from overly ambitious programs: 1. Convergence: Recognise that data privacy, records management and data destruction are three tightly linked disciplines. While each has separate regulations and stakeholders, it is sub-optimal to pursue siloed policies, governance and technical solutions. The requirements and solutions for these three disciplines overlap and are intertwined. Therefore, it is best to address them collectively.

40 | Issue 33

HEADING

2. Align Strategy, Policy and Organisation Responsibilities: A coherent strategy is to develop an achievable information management strategy that is aligned to a prioritised set of risk mitigation objectives and that is supported by policies (that reflect the same set of risk mitigation objectives. Lastly, the organisation must support the information strategy by establishing accountable organisations to management and implement the strategy; top-down support for the strategy; and budget to implement any necessary investments in technology or remediation. Until this foundation is established, real progress can’t be made.

4. Success requires a disciplined approach:

A common pitfall to avoid is that policy is established with regard for what is achievable and without recognition that all risks are not equal. When this occurs, organisations fail to mobilise resources and spread their effort too thinly – focusing on the easy / quick-wins vs. addressing the areas of greatest risk. 3. Risk Definition – a good starting point is to assess information risks faced by your organisation. For each risk identified, further analysis should outline the source of the risk; the probability of the risk; the probability associated with the risk; and the consequences of that risk. This framework can then be used to inform the organisation, set priorities, and should be reflected in both the information management strategy and policies.

•

Data is pervasive: determine all data locations that need to be managed. Establish data owners. Apply the risk framework. Set accountabilities for policy compliance.

•

Create an inventory and metrics to measure data. Assess risks by data type and storage location.

•

Focus on making pragmatic decisions and pragmatic approaches. Don’t over commit the organization.

•

Surprisingly, unstructured data is far easier to address than structured data. Given its high risk to the organisation, it is a good place to start.

5. Be prepared - at how few people in the organisation will understand the true challenges associated with deleting / destroying data in structured systems. Conclusion In conclusion, information management for any organisation should be at the forefront and top of the agenda as failure to effectively manage data collection, management, retention, and deletion could expose the organisation to a multitude of risks and possible action both from the data subjects as well as the regulators. Eric Mueller Senior Advisor & Strategic Netting Lead D2LT

Issue 33 | 41

TECHNOLOGY

42 | Issue 33

TECHNOLOGY

The future of human flight: The tech that’s taking us to new heights Since our earliest days, humans have been enviously captivated by the freedom of birds. Unlike our gravity-bound existence, these winged creatures can travel the earth in a way that’s carefree and different. In an attempt to emulate their ability to take flight, humanity has long been pushing itself to achieve things that have never been seen or done before. This inspiration and desire for freedom has sparked experimentation and innovation over centuries, from Icarus and his feathers to Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, to modern day base jumpers and even astronauts, who can fly higher and further than any bird ever could. With this in mind, what does the future of human flight look like and what are the key technologies helping to achieve this next stage of innovation?

Space tourism Technological developments are constantly challenging what's possible and creating new opportunities – and space travel is no exception. Until now, leaving Earth has only been open to astronauts such as Tim Peake, who was selected from over 8,000 other hopefuls to train for the position that he is now famous for.

These professionals train and prepare for years, learning about space technology and science while gaining the skills that will keep them safe and allow the mission to be a success. However, the potential for people who haven’t done this training to experience space flight is no longer a dream. While not as crowded as the earthly aviation space, several players from the aerospace industry, including SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are already making waves in this area. As you can imagine, however, it’s an expensive venture, with tickets costing up to $500,000 for a single trip. Despite this, according to recent news, Virgin Galactic has already sold 700 tickets for its suborbital spaceplane, highlighting the desire of those who can afford it to touch the stars. While the technology now exists to allow people to travel into space, we’re not quite at the stage where everyone can holiday on the moon rather than in Marbella, but with technology advancing all the time, who knows what the future might hold.

Personal flight Since the early days of science fiction, villains and heroes alike have been using futuristic jet packs to save the day, avoid capture and soar like a bird. With characters such as Iron Man bringing this to life on the big screen, the fascination with personal flight has only accelerated.

Issue 33 | 43

TECHNOLOGY

Richard Browning of Gravity Industries is one man who has brought his dream of personal flight to life, having started his journey towards creating a jet suit in 2016 While the creation of the jet suit took countless hours of sketching, designing and testing, Browning states that his key mantra is that innovation is all about failure. So, while there have been challenges along the way, the final idea combines physics and cutting-edge technology to allow individual human flight. Again, these devices have not yet made it onto the shelves, but anyone can train to use one. In fact, some members of the public even got a chance to fly at this year’s Future Lab at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. While the pandemic has delayed the plan, Gravity Industries is preparing to launch an international eRace, which will allow tech and esports to converge and effectively create the Formula One of the skies. As exciting as this sounds, it’s not just about having fun or even just using the suits to nip to the shops. The technology is entirely adaptable for various situations and holds a huge amount of potential, including in search and rescue and by the military. In areas that are inaccessible or dangerous, the jet suits could be one technological solution to a real-world issue.

Flying cars If you picture the future, you may well imagine a fast-paced, buzzing city where vehicles are entirely driverless and flying cars whizz between gigantic skyscrapers. Whether it’s The Jetsons, The Fifth Element or even the classic Back to the Future, this is the image that is portrayed in films and books. So, how realistic is this dream of the future?

44 | Issue 33

Despite it being one of the most ubiquitous visions of the future across pop culture, flying cars are not a reality…yet. One of the many challenges is how to power a flying car and keep it in the air for a substantial amount of time without the battery draining before you can get a significant distance. This is one area where the tech community is banding together to create solutions, which will make the future that we’ve seen in books and on small and big screens alike a reality. Another issue is regulation. However, one company that has overcome this is Pal-V – the brand has created the first European road-approved, and recently EASA-(European Union Aviation Safety Agency) approved, commercially available true flying car – or personal air-land vehicle. Already several orders have been made. So, keep an eye on the sky! Human flight has come a long way in recent years and technological innovation is helping to drive this expansive industry forward even more. In the coming years, we can expect to see even greater developments as more and more companies enter the scene. The next logical advancement within this space is the role that sustainability will take in the future iterations of these technologies. For example, many aviation companies are already investigating and investing in various alternatives to fossil jet fuel in the form of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from anything from cooking oil to waste oil from plants. This move has been taken in a bid to cut carbon emissions and make air travel greener, and it’s likely that those creating flying cars will be compelled to take similar measures as the industry evolves.

Stuart Parker Head of Future Lab Goodwood Group

Similarly, advancements in battery powered flight are causing the industry to re-evaluate the role that electric planes can play in the future of transport. Just last year, the biggest commercial plane to take off and fly powered by electricity alone made a momentous flight. While we’re unlikely to see the entire industry swap to electric any time soon, the groundwork for the future of flight is already being made. This year’s Future Lab event at the Goodwood Festival of Speed even saw the launch of an electric jet suit from Gravity Industries which uses fans instead of fuel to get the person off the ground. While still in the early stages, an electric setup could create a more sustainable alternative to the impressive tech ¬– allowing all of the benefits that this innovation can bring without the carbon footprint. So, with 2022 just around the corner, the potential for newer, greener, and more improved technologies in this space is more exciting than ever. The next great frontier in the history of human flight is closer than we think.

We would like to thank our investors and stakeholders for the trust they have shown in STAG

BEST NEW PRIVATE EQUITY MANAGER IN PORTUGAL THE NEXT 100 GLOBAL COMPANIES – PRIVATE EQUITY

Find out more

advice@stagfundmanagement.com

Global Banking & Finance Awards The Next 100 Global Awards 2021

Megabank CR2 The Stock Exchange of Thailand Al-Bahriah Insurance & Reinsurance S.A.L. CITITRUST HOLDINGS PLC. NJMPF Sanasa Life Insurance Company PLC Crown Agents Bank Delta Capital Partners AEVI Stanbic Bank Botswana Al-Ahly Financial Investment Management AMEN BANK Amlak Finance (Egypt) Areeba SAL ASL Securities Co., Ltd Banco de Fomento Internacional S.A. Bank al Jazira Capman Inc. BIBIT BIS Çözüm Bilgisayar ve Entegrasyon Hiz. ve Tic. A.Ş. Bite Investments Black Sea Trade and Development Bank BPC Banking Technologies

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Digital Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Digital Wallet The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Stock Exchange The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Hull Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Holding Group

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Fund Administration Company

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Life Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Forex Bank The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Private Equity Deal House The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Payment Solution Provider The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Group The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Finance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Mortgage Finance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Private Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Robo Advisory Platform The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking & Finance Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Investment Technology Platform

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Development Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Technology Solution Provider

Global Banking & Finance Awards

Top Next 100 Global Awards 2021

Capital Alliance Partners Limited Capital Securities Concord Asset Management Concord International Investments Derayah Ecobank Malawi Limited MIG Insurance LLC Ecobank Sierra Leone EcoFinance (CreditPrime) Ellinas Finance Public Company Ltd Eurofast International Ltd FAGURA Finacle Digital Banking Solution Suite Financial Software and Systems Pvt Ltd Asset Plus Fund First Bank of Nigeria Ltd Fossar Markets Freedom Finance Insurance jsc FutureVault GBE brokers Ltd. Georgian Leasing Company LLC Guaranty Trust Bank Gambia Limited CBL Asset Management Muscat Finance Halk Invest Halkbank AD Skopje Hayman Capital Ibdaa ICEA Life Assurance Company Limited Ilani Concepts IM Gestão de Ativos ING Bank (Philippines) Investment Company LMS Islamic Bank of Thailand Islamic Finance House İstanbul Portföy JUMP Technology Khan Bank KPMG (Sri Lanka) KT Portfolio Asset Management Company Land Bank of the Philippines Lao ASEAN Leasing Public Company Ljubljanska borza, d. d., Ljubljana LOLC Cambodia LOLC Finance PLC

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Investment Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Private Equity Company The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Corporate Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Retail Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Financial Institution – Corporate Finance and Factoring The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Professional Services The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – P2P The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Technology

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Payments Technology Provider

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Group The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Group The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Group The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Microfinance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Life Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Retail Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Islamic Retail Bank The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Islamic NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Retail Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Professional Services The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Islamic Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Agribusiness Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Stock Exchange The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Finance Company for Credit Cards

Global Banking & Finance Awards

Top Next 100 Global Awards 2021

Misr Insurance Company Muangthai Capital Public Company Limited Mubasher Financial Services (DIFC) Ltd Netcapital Financial Corporation Oromia Bank S.C. Pacifico Seguros Path Solutions Peoples Leasing & Finance PLC Propy Pt. Mega Asset Management RCBC DiskarTech Rosabon Financial Services Sacombank Lao co.,ltd Saudi Telecom Company – STC AlManara Insurance Company SICO BSC (c) SICO BSC (c) Sidra Capital SquaredFinancial Stag Fund Management Sunibel Corporate Services Ltd Swiss Rock Asset Management AG Takaful Oman Insurance Company s.a.o.g TDB Capital THE ARCHIPELAGO GROUP The Barbados Trust Fund Limited Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia Ubhar Capital SAOC Unimoni Exchange (Qatar) UNIVER Capital Investment Company Yuanta Vietnam Securities

The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – International Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Islamic Banking Technology The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – PropTech The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Digital Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Equipment Leasing The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Retail Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Telecommunications The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Banking Group The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Investment Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Private Equity Manager The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Corporate Services The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Asset Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Insurance The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – NBFI The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Corporate Banking The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Remittance Service The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Investment Management The Next 100 Global Awards 2021 – Brokerage

Global Banking & Finance Awards

Top Next 100 Global Awards 2021

TECHNOLOGY

A Look into 2022: A world triumphed by cybercrime?

Just when we thought the rate and intensity of cybercrime could not get any worse, threat actors have proven us wrong once again. This year has been nothing short of a spectacle when it comes to attacks… we have witnessed some of the most significant supply chain and ransomware hits to date, with the likes of Kaseya, SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline among those on the firing line. Phishing attacks have multiplied, and ransom demands have surged. Cybercriminals are not holding back, and the bad news is, they are not anticipated to in the years to come. End of the World at the Hands of Cybercriminals Underpinning the success of cybercriminals is their persistence and unfettered creativity, both characteristics which will continue to serve them well moving forwards. Indeed, by combining botnet services such as DDoS-as-a-service with Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), cyber gangs are going to up the ante, as well as their capabilities, in the already brutal realm of cybercrime. In other words, these gangs are

50 | Issue 33

moving away from being specialists of individual tactics, and are adopting a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ approach. Every potential victim represents a pot of gold and their objective is simply to maximise financial value extraction. For ransomware attempts, this means moving beyond just encryption. They could start with BEC compromise, then password exfiltration, crypto-mining, data exfiltration, identity theft, targets on supply chain partners, before finally detonating encryption malware. The trick will be in conducting smaller strikes, that are less likely to be noticed and stopped, before moving on to higher risk schemes until all avenues are explored. A Target on Your Crypto Wallet Cryptocurrency will also play a more prominent role both as a tool to facilitate illicit payments and as a target. In line with American robber Willie Sutton’s infamous quote, threat actors “rob banks because that’s where the money is”. Already today, we are seeing an escalation in the attacks against cryptocurrencies, whether against individuals and their personal wallets, or exchanges and

service providers in the chain. As you can imagine then, as cryptocurrency is increasingly adopted amongst the wider public, we will likely experience a spike in the volume of these hacking attempts. In the majority of cases, the hackers will look to exploit weaknesses such as poorly designed or implemented multi-factor authentication, and human emotions via social engineering. Enough is Enough for Cyber Insurers As these criminal efforts grow rampant and prove rewarding for the executers, cyber insurers will almost certainly consider new product lines that do not include underwriting against breaches. Recognising the risk and its cost, insurance companies will demand that organisations fork out a much higher premium in return for a lower, more restricted pay-out in the unfortunate event of a breach. As such, businesses can no longer hide behind insurance when things go wrong. Rather, they will need to seek a means of taking control of the situation themselves, by embracing measures and tools that will help them to prevent and combat security threats.

TECHNOLOGY

Is this the end? Up to this point, the forecast for the year ahead appears remarkably bleak but it is not all doom and gloom. In fact, if anything, recent events should act as a catalyst to encourage a shift in mindset and inspire a collaborative approach between security vendors, businesses governments as well as the general public. 2022 will be the year that we acknowledge that prevention is better than intervention. Slowly but surely, organisations are implementing security awareness and training programs for their users allowing a shift to a stronger security culture, whereby employees keep security top of mind and make smarter security decisions. Governments too are stepping up with policies, guidance and law enforcement to reign in the terror wreaked by criminals behind screens. For instance, the UK recently released a blueprint for tackling cyber threats, and the US have established the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee made up of leading cybersecurity experts to inform the country’s next steps in this arena. With any luck, these efforts will only strengthen and progress in the near future.

It is clear that, as a collective, we are not prepared to stand idly by either, and one of the tools from the ‘unofficial toolbox’ that we will see is ‘hacking back’. This is especially true when it comes to raiding crypto accounts used to collect funds from cybercrime victims. Victims will no longer watch their crypto wallets run dry but will actively go back after the funds they’ve lost. In the case of nation-states or large, well-equipped enterprises, we may even see them go after the cyber criminals themselves, using social engineering or technical vulnerabilities to take their revenge. And so the saga goes…

Javvad Malik lead security awareness advocate KnowBe4

How it all plays out is not yet written in stone, but if we’re rooting for the good guys to win, we need to work together and make cybersecurity a top priority on our agenda.

Issue 33 | 51

TECHNOLOGY

Regulatory Reporting in the Digital Age

Introduction & Context In an attempt to make our Banking and financial services Industry more stable and transparent, several regulations have been mandated with their own demanding reporting needs. Some of the regulatory reporting has come a long way from being quarterly reports to monthly and even daily for some of the regulations. Also, the enterprise-wide scope and nature of regulatory reporting cutting multiple lines of businesses have only added to the enormity of an already overwhelming activity for the regulatory reporting teams. Though Banks and financial Institutions have a rich array of third-party reporting solutions available to them to be leveraged for their reporting needs, there are still a tremendous number of manual and tactical processes, which are performed as a prelude to and post generation of the reports. It almost appears to be a herculean task to get the regulatory reports out on time with little or no scope for errors, to circumvent possibilities of a reputational and credibility loss for the Institutions.

52 | Issue 33

TECHNOLOGY

Potential USE cases for Digital Adoption in the Regulatory Reporting Process 1. Regulatory Interpretation – Interpretation of regulatory requirements and reporting guidelines is a very domain intensive and intellectually engaging task with financial Institutions spending a lot of time, effort and resources to ensure they are not being pulled up for noncompliance or MRAs (Matters requiring attention), post their regulatory submissions. Though automation of regulatory interpretation features high on the business wishlist, it still has a long way to go before it becomes a reality. With current advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML), semi automation or accelerated regulatory interpretation is what financial institutions could practically aim for, in their pursuit to address this need. The recommended approach would be for banks and financial institutions to pilot with regulations specific domains of banking of finance, and extensively train the solution by using digital analytics techniques

such as advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP). For instance, one could start with the sub domain on mortgage banking, which could ensure that the training and orientation is practically manageable, and a level of predictable outcome could be achieved. The approach if found successful and effective, can then be extended to other domains within banking and finance. Boiling the ocean with a generic training of all banking and finance regulations is not only long drawn but is highly unlikely to result into a solution with a practical business utility. 2. Regulatory Data exploration & analytics - Analyzing the data information needs of regulatory schedules and templates can be timeconsuming and challenging process. Most of these would be available in the banking relational data store, but there could be a few that may need exploration on a Data lake or upstream systems. Banks currently do engage their business data analysts to do this, but this can be an intensely painful exercise, which could be more effective with some acceleration.

The recommendation here would be to leverage a Cognitive Data extraction tool that can read and analyze the metadata of data attributes in the upstream systems and recommend the likely mapping of the source element to the target fields of the Inbound Data model of the regulatory reporting solution. Though this process cannot be fully automated at the outset, the machine learning algorithm over a period with feedback and validation will gain maturity in terms of accuracy by self-learning and can bring in a greater degree of acceleration to this process over a period. 3. Data Preparation & Adjustments – Even with the advancements in IT and application technology, in most organizations we still have some of the non-systemized data inputs going into the final reports due to limitations of the business processes. Most of the non-automated tactical feeds are adjustments figures, which are sent to regulatory teams through spreadsheets. Though over the years the controls established on these processes have matured, these non-automated feeds are still prevalent and are extremely time consuming to process.

Issue 33 | 53

TECHNOLOGY

A Robotics Process Automation (RPA) Bot can be a very good digital lever that can perform these repetitive tasks, which are low on exceptions and variations and bring in efficiencies on speed and accuracy. This will considerably fasten the process of data prep and adjustments and provision greater time to the regulatory team for analysis of the Reports. RPA adoption will not only accelerate the process but also will be in greater levels of accuracy and traceability into it.

5. Regulatory Reporting Infrastructure – Cost of compliance has been an ever-increasing problem for the regulatory institutions. Third party solutions come with their own licensing costs, and the cost of managing the associated infrastructure like servers and data marts for Integration. This furthers the problems of regulatory compliance not only being demanding on the timelines but also increasing the overall cost of the implementation and ongoing regulatory compliance.

4. Variance Analysis – Variance analysis is an important process of regulatory reporting to ensure that there are no major variances in reporting from one quarter to another and even if there are variations, the financial Institution is aware and can attribute it to a known business factor. Even though the process of variance analysis by itself is not a very time consuming, it needs to be very performed diligently with little or no scope for errors.

The recommended approach is for financial institutions to evaluate and select regulatory reporting solutions, which are hosted on the cloud, along with the upstream data integration and analytical engines, which can cut down the cost of implementation and ongoing adherence to the regulatory compliance. Depending on the sensitivity of the data, a public, private or hybrid cloud can used for hosting the regulatory reporting infrastructure.

Hence, a recommended digital solution could be leveraging a Business Chatbot, which can be, trained for the key risk and regulatory data elements and plugged to the reporting results Datamart. These can extensively slice and dice data across time horizons and across entities and geographies seamlessly with voice and text commands. This will not only ensure an accelerated variance analysis but can also ensure that the variance is analyzed across multiple dimensions and granularity by business users from an analyst, all the way up to the senior management level.

6. Management and Supervisory Reviews – Business users in regulatory reporting teams are required to create management summary reports, both for review by internal management team and for the review by the regulators. This is currently a manually intensive and time-consuming process, which comes towards the end of an already exhausting reporting cycle further compounding the problem. Most of these reports contains summary of the key variances, the reasons for the variances, dashboards of capital and exposure across various dimensions.

A recommended remedy for management and supervisory review reports would be a cognitive Natural Language Generation (NLG) solution based on narrative science, which can read, analyze and narrate the variations in business metrics. Users would need to create the standard narration templates as a one-time exercise for most likely or frequent sentences to summarize problems, the bot is then subsequently expected to pull out specific data points and matrices with variations and pick out the templatized sentences most appropriate for a given data movement. Though this cannot be leveraged to churn out an entire management summary report, it is likely to accelerate the overall creation of such a report to a large extent. Conclusion The Digital and cognitive Solutions recommended above for their potential leverage in the regulatory reporting process is to enable greater time for the Regulatory reporting team on business and regulatory analysis as against being inundated with the operational aspects. Regulatory reporting is a highly skilled and responsible business function of a financial Institution and it is essential to ensure that there is adequate amount of digital automation that could be provisioned, to aid and assist the regulatory reporting teams to interpret, analyze and report the regulatory requirements in a timely and effective manner.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are authors own and do not represent the opinions of any entity/employer whatsoever with which they have been, now, or will be affiliated.

54 | Issue 33

TECHNOLOGY

Deependra Kushwaha Head of US Basel III Reporting for a Global Bank Deependra Kushwaha is the Head of US Basel III Reporting for a Global Bank. He has more than 17 years of experience in Banking and Finance Services Industry working on a critical role with some of the biggest financial institutions across the globe (US, Europe, Asia pacific and India). He has led multiple credit risk and regulatory capital related engagements and proven track record of success in working cross functional teams including the risk, finance, regulatory reporting and IT functions.

Manoj Reddy Head of BFSI Risk & Compliance & LIBOR Transition Practice TCS North America Manoj Reddy is the Head of BFSI Risk & Treasury Practice at TATA Consultancy Services with an experience of more than 18 years in the areas of financial services, IT, and business consulting. Reddy has led several risk & regulatory consulting and implementation engagements for financial firms globally. He has provided both Regulatory and Strategic Business solution to his customers over the last decade primarily in CCAR, Basel, Liquidity Risk and Enterprise Risk management and is currently leading TCS efforts in North America with respect to providing Business & technology solutions to BFSI customers in the Treasury & Risk Management space.

Issue 33 | 55

INTERVIEW

How Sendly Is Making Money Transfers Easier for Mongolians, Both at Home and Overseas Sendly Money Transfer prides itself in offering safe and cost-effective online remittance to Mongolia, and its services continue to expand. It won the Global Banking & Finance Review 2021 award for Fastest Growing Fintech Company in Central Asia. Wanda Rich, Editor of Global Banking & Finance Review, recently interviewed Sendly’s Remittance Director Nyamjargal Batdorj to find out some of the reasons behind the organisation’s growth, which include fast and convenient operation, bilingual services and round-the-clock customer support.

Can you tell us about your company Sendly? Our company, Sendly NBFI LLC, is a Mongolian fintech remittance firm that was established in 2015 by founder Naranbat Battulga, who is very young but also has tremendous experience of working in the banking and financial sectors. He came from the Ministry of Finance and became CFO and Vice Director at State Bank, one of the largest banks in Mongolia. He left his job and started the Mongolian Fintech group LLC umbrella company, together with his friend

56 | Issue 33

Tsolmon Munkhtur, to build financial payment systems that will create greater financial inclusiveness for Mongolians living abroad. The group has 11 daughter companies. Among them is High Payment Solutions LLC (Hipay), which provides the first ever consolidated payment gateway services to e-commerce businesses in Mongolia. Hipay and Sendly have been the fastest growing companies in Mongolia.

company. Now our services are also available in Australia and Japan. We established two subsidiaries abroad, in the UK and Korea, where our services will be available soon. We are very excited right now because we are working hard to offer our remittance application to our customers in Europe in 2022. As a company, we now have 50 young Mongolians working on the project. What kind of services do you provide?

Sendly was established to make it possible for Mongolians living abroad to be able to transfer money back home safely and conveniently. For this purpose, we have developed our own mobile phone application in Mongolian and English. It’s one of the first of its kind in Mongolia, where before we only had access to services like Western Union and MoneyGram. It’s a very convenient application, made for Mongolians and providing full support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in Mongolian and English. Our first market was America. We partnered with several local companies and started providing remittance service through our Sendly application to 31 US states from May 2020. Since then, our markets have grown and so has our

We started out providing remittance services, but what we offer our customers has expanded. We are partnering with housing developers and real estate agencies so that Mongolians living abroad can more easily buy houses and apartments in Mongolia. We are also working with the Mongolian State Social Insurance General Office, to allow Mongolians to make their voluntary social insurance contributions directly through the Sendly application, so that they can qualify for their state pension when they return to Mongolia. We are now working on making it possible for Mongolians abroad to shop online in Mongolia and buy products for their loved ones, and will soon be launching a mortgage loan service for Mongolian expats in the US.

INTERVIEW

aged above 15 have a bank account, so we work with all banks in Mongolia and people can send money directly to any account in Mongolia through our application. We provide 24-hour, 7-day support in Mongolian and English, and we are always trying to make it easier for Mongolians abroad to participate in the Mongolian economy. That was not easy before.

We are constantly evolving to meet the needs and wants of our customers. Recently, there has been a huge interest from Mongolians abroad to invest in Mongolian businesses through stocks and bonds, and we are happy to say that this option will soon be available to our customers in the Sendly application. What has led to this quick growth? Our remittance service has grown very fast, especially in the last couple of years. Just in the last 12 months, our user numbers doubled and the total volume of transactions tripled to 7.1 million USD in the US alone. I think the reason behind our growth in general is that our service was much needed in the market. Everything we did and have built so far was with our Mongolian customers in mind. We made a remittance mobile application for Mongolians abroad, in Mongolian as well as English. 92% of Mongolians

There were no remittance companies doing this at that time. Back then, there were about 200 million pounds in remittances received annually in Mongolia, and people sent them via: cash collection, through giants such as Western Union and MoneyGram; bank transfers, which are very expensive for smaller transactions, or informal channels from person to person. So our service is a big improvement for many people. What makes Mongolia attractive? Why is it an important market for remittances? Mongolia is a country with 3.5 million people spread over an immense area. Although there’s so few of us, we have a highly skilled population. Mongolians are literate, many are fluent in English and they excel in areas of maths, science and information technology.

Issue 33 | 57

INTERVIEW

I think perhaps that Mongolia is more open and democratic than other central Asian countries. We tend to see a lot of Mongolians open to living, studying and working abroad, but also coming back and staying connected. Many Mongolian expats don’t just send money back to their families, but also build up some savings that they want to bring to Mongolia when they move back. Since a few years back, our economy has also grown exponentially thanks to our rich natural resources, and interest in Mongolia grew from outside with international companies establishing offices here. So, migration of people moving into and out of Mongolia is growing both ways. Have you faced any challenges or growing pains along the way? Because we are a new company in the market and come from a small country that not many people know, it has always been a challenge to prove ourselves, show that we are experienced and show that we have the capability and resources to provide our service. From opening a business account in the UK to establishing partnerships with big players in the remittance industry, we must constantly prove that we are legit.

58 | Issue 33

Another challenge that we face is changing the behaviour of people who are used to sending money through Hawala (person to person, informal systems), to show them that it’s better to go through a legitimate, safe money remittance channel. Because of the COVID pandemic and lockdown, people now prefer to use digital remittance, so we think that this will be slightly easier now when we enter new markets. Where do you plan to go from here? We are expanding our service to the UK, the EU and South Korea, and are aiming to expand to even more countries soon. In the long term, we want to replicate our success and what we have learned so far and apply it to other sparsely populated and underserved countries in Central Asia and Africa, to bring our services to expats of those countries living around the world.

INTERVIEW

Nyamjargal Batdorj Remittance Director Sendly

Issue 33 | 59

BUSINESS

ESG – A driver for transformational change Interest in sustainability has been growing for decades and terms, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and more recently Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) issues, have been gaining momentum over the past couple of years within the business community. Today ESG issues are considered mainstream concerns due to a combination of factors and the realisation that a strong ESG proposition improves business performance and adds long-term value. Why ESG has gained so much traction in recent years? There are several factors that have contributed to the rise of ESG issues at the forefront of the corporate agenda and the combination of all of these that has led to this cultural change.

60 | Issue 33

The value system has been gradually shifting as people are more conscious of the impact of their activities and are embracing sustainability, both as consumers and as employees. As a result, they expect companies to implement strong ESG standards and develop a more balanced approach between profitability and their environmental and social impact. Companies also need to respond by aligning their values to those of their employees as they depend on attracting and retaining talent. This shift is also evident through the emergence of new economic models, such as stakeholder capitalism, circular economy, impact economy and doughnut economics, that are becoming prevalent on a global scale.

There is growing pressure from investors demanding more transparency and this is evidenced through the increase of shareholder activism aimed at achieving a sustainable corporate purpose. Corporate purpose sets the foundation of how a company operates and engages with its stakeholders. Pressure is also evidenced by policy makers and regulatory bodies insisting on greater accountability and the development of a more robust regulatory framework that effectively addresses ESG concerns. Also, technological innovation is allowing companies to capture data and provides the ability to translate qualitative information into quantitative data. Therefore, companies can implement ESG considerations, measure their impact and integrate such data into their decision-making process.

BUSINESS

The pace of these changes has accelerated over the past two years due to the climate emergency crisis and the pandemic crisis. These global crises have added more pressure to companies to address environmental and social issues and increase their transparency and accountability. A combination of all these factors has led the business community to move forward with this transformative change. There is now extensive evidence that companies genuinely committing to sustainability by integrating ESG considerations within their business strategy are better prepared to face risks, enhance their corporate governance, safeguard their reputation, increase their profitability and have a positive environmental and social impact. This offers an opportunity for certain companies to become a leading force and an innovator within the sector in which they operate. The evolution of ESG Now that the ‘why’ question has been addressed, it’s important to highlight how ESG issues have gradually gained more significance over the years in order to understand their current positioning within the corporate structure. Four decades ago, most companies were referencing their activities in relation to environmental and social issues under the banner of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR initially was allocated under the Public Relations (PR) and Communications department because it was perceived

as a PR exercise aimed at raising a company’s profile around its volunteering activities to support environmental and social causes. Therefore, at that point in time, it was more about communicating to external stakeholders the company’s support of certain good causes that did not necessarily define the core values of the company. With the rise of environmental activism and the growth of civil society throughout the 1990s, environmental and social issues were beginning to be perceived from a compliance perspective. Companies were beginning to consider them as a risk which means that concerns around ESG issues were allocated under the Risk Management and Compliance function. In some cases, companies also felt that the link between ESG and security was becoming increasingly relevant and started engaging their security teams to ensure the resilience and efficiency of the company. By the early 2000s, when the term ESG was coined, it was becoming evident that companies needed to start incorporating ESG concerns in a more effective way within their strategy and operational activities. Over a period of 15 years a gradual change has been emerging in terms of the allocation of ESG concerns. There is a clear move from ESG being a box ticking exercise and often perceived as an optional concern rather than an integral concern for companies, to gain strategic importance.

This change is driven by the realisation that the successful integration of ESG issues within the core of the business strategy of the company provides the company with a competitive advantage and potentially leads to economic growth. However, the majority of companies are still struggling to incorporate ESG concerns throughout their strategy at the level that ESG becomes the prominent driver for transformational change that accelerates growth, innovation and ensures positive impact on the wider environmental and social landscape. ESG Integration vs ESG Implementation As mentioned above, various factors, such as the climate emergency, the pandemic crisis and the emergence of stakeholder capitalism, have created a level of urgency that has accelerated the shift towards a value-driven market. This means that the business community needs to transform quickly in order to keep up with the changing nature of society. However, there are some pitfalls that companies are faced with by presuming that ESG integration and ESG implementation are one and the same. The difference between integration and implementation is dramatic, and often not fully appreciated. There is the misconception that by simply adopting a set of ESG practices and establishing an ESG reporting framework that this is sufficient for any company to achieve an ESGdriven approach.

Issue 33 | 61

BUSINESS

Nevertheless, it is the realisation that only when a company fully aligns its corporate purpose with ESG considerations that it can achieve a leadership role within its industry. ESG drivers are based on integrity and a set of values that need to be evident at all levels of management and throughout its workforce. Integrity as a driver reinforces the fact that ESG considerations should be embedded in the strategy of the company and represent its corporate purpose. This is the way that transformational change towards a more value-driven system can materialise. And it is this value-driven system that will establish a more balanced approach between profitability, social purpose, good reputation and longevity. In an effort to maximise the positive impact of engaging ESG issues, what often occurs within the corporate community is a case of ‘run before you can walk’ approach. This means that there is a growing emphasis on establishing implementation tools, such as ESG reporting and implementation of ESG ratings, when there is not a clear strategy on how these tools can help materialise the company’s strategic objectives.

62 | Issue 33

Often this is driven by the pressure to meet certain regulatory requirements leading companies to a reactionary approach to address this growing pressure and keep up with the changing regulatory landscape. Inevitably, the implementation of ESG ratings and reporting tools leads to yet another add-on to the overall process of the company, without actually addressing the real problem. If it is not embedded within the core of the strategic goals of the company, it will not provide the positive outcomes that are now associated with ESG considerations. It is also important to realise that ESG integration should not be considered a burden for any company fuelled by the fear that there are so many additional systems and processes to be added. It’s impossible to do everything within the ESG space, but it is about being strategic about choosing the ones that are relevant to each company and are aligned with its core business strategy.

The best approach is to ‘choose a few and do them well’ instead of trying to tackle every single issue that falls under the three pillars of ESG. By being selective in what ESG issues companies wish to address and prioritise, they are able to add value in connection to those specific issues. The mentality of ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option to ensure great economic performance, robust corporate governance, longevity, positive reputation and ensure positive environmental and social impact. What is becoming obvious for the business community is that by revisiting their strategic objectives to encompass an ESG perspective, allows them to develop a more competitive advantage within their specific sector. At the same time, it ensures the promotion of a positive environmental and social impact, an improved employment impact and a stronger relationship with all stakeholders. ------------Daphne Biliouri-Grant ESG Senior Advisor Sibylline Ltd

Brought to you by Amret

Best Financial Institution for

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Empowering Women in Business

Cambodia 2021

TH YEAR

GLOBAL BANKING & FINANCE AWARDS

AMRET MICROFINANCE INSTITUTION GLOBAL BANKING &

VOTED BEST FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FOR EMPOWERING WOMEN IN BUSINESS CAMBODIA 2021 BY GLOBAL BANKING & FINANCE REVIEW

Fishing for Success: A Marine Fishery Entrepreneur in Koh Kong

Entrepreneur. vessel, which led me to the path of entrepreneurship. With my husband commis-

Q1: Tell us about what you do as a marine fishery entrepreneur Currently, I own two medium-sized

particular emphasis on the freshness and quality of my products. My business grew

designed to harvest shrimps and crabs. Along with 20 contracted commercial distribute more than one ton of fresh seafood every day to the domestic market. I sell a mix of crabs, shrimps, squids, and all kinds of domestic marine products to customers all over the country, ranging from local traders, middlemen, retail stores, restaurants, and even commercial processors who import marine products from neighboring countries. Q2: What factors contributed to the success of your business? Variety, availability, and quality of my products! Everything comes from the local water — all fresh and new, all the time, in the best possible state.

word-of-mouth, to the point where I could not meet the orders. I purchased

An early morning scene at the local seafood market in Koh Kong province

quality, my husband and his crews would set out to sea every morning to retrieve fresh new catches from our vessels as well as those we contract with. As soon as they diately package them and deliver them to our clients across the country. All that remains would be sold at a retail price to the local traders, and later on at a discounted rate if they aren’t sold out before noon. We want everything fresh and new, so we don’t stock the products for the next day.

patience and perseverance. My journey to become an entrepreneur began more than two decades ago when I was just a catches to support my family. Later on, I started to trade crabs and sea snails for extra income, which eventually provided me the funds to invest in my future business venture years later.

A unique loan made just right for Women Entrepreneurs looking to start or expand their business

Q3: Could you give us a short overview of how you became an entrepreneur? It’s a long process that takes a lot of

Preferred Interest Rate

Free Breast Cancer & Health Check Up

Retail Discount Amret Partners

Free Life Insurance Coverage $10,000

when the pandemic hit the Kingdom. Hopefully, things will get better next year so that I can follow through with the plan to expand my business. Q4: What is your advice for young women who wish to be successful in business? Business success doesn’t come overnight. It all comes down to you and what you

in 2015, during which a majority of were out of action due to the govern-

a time during the dry season and up to six months during the wet season, but we don’t wait for their return. To ensure that the products are of the best possible

ensure that the supply was readily available every day to support the customers. At one point, the average daily orders reached over two tons, but it

vessels were available at the cut-price, so I took this golden opportunity to purchase my first commercial fishing

repeated every day, which requires a lot of perseverance and patience. Make the most of what you have and always strive for being better with each passing day. And always be on the lookout for opportunities. Success will come after you!

TECHNOLOGY

STRATEGIES FOR RESOLVING THE CYBERSECURITY TALENT GAP

Cybercrime is on the increase. In the first half of 2021, 635 Suspicious Activity Reports relating to ransomware were notified to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network bureau by financial institutions in the US. This compared with 487 for the whole of 2020. And the total value of ransomware-related transactions over the same period was $590 million (median average payment $102,273), compared with $416 million for all of 2020. This is not just a problem for financial services in the US, either, as the recent State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2021 report, by British security software and hardware company Sophos, shows. Its independent survey of 550 IT decision makers in financial services highlights the extent and impact of ransomware attacks on mid-sized finance organizations worldwide during 2020. Overall, 34% of the financial services organizations surveyed were hit by ransomware in 2020, with the attackers succeeded in encrypting the organisation's data in just over half of those cases.

64 | Issue 33

The cybersecurity workforce gap Clearly, financial services firms are among the most popular targets for ransomware attacks. As a result, and given their importance in the global economy, it is vital that they are able to recruit and retain, the necessary expertise to meet their cybersecurity needs. However, a major challenge for financial services sector is the shortage of cyber security professionals as highlighted in a recent major workforce study by IT security non-profit (ISC)² which states that in 2020 there was a global cybersecurity workforce gap of 2.7 million employees. And, twothirds (60%) of participants worked for organizations experiencing staffing shortages that placed their organisation at risk. There were some 500,000 open cyber security jobs in the US alone this autumn, for example. Some strategies for attracting cybersecurity talent While there is no simple solution to this shortage of specialist skills, here are some examples of strategies that can help firms solve

their cybersecurity hiring issues and better protect themselves from costly cyber threats: Hiring outside the box. Look beyond the obvious sources of cyber talent. Candidates who have exposure to cyber, such as IT or Cloud SaaS, should be considered from outside the immediate industry. Or individuals with a non-traditional education in cyber, such as CISSP (Certified Information Security Systems Professional) and ISACA certifications that are holistic and helpful for senior leadership and management positions. Equally, it is possible to hire on attitude and culture from nontechnical functions such as marketing and finance, then train necessary skills. In the (ISC)² workforce study, for example, participants identified 'strong problem-solving abilities' (38%) and 'curiosity and eagerness to learn' (32%) as some of the most important skills for new entrants. On the move? Another tactic is to identify reluctant relocaters. For example, individuals asked to relocate from the City to Europe post-Brexit may be more open to opportunities in the cyber industry. Equally, individuals

TECHNOLOGY

who are post-IPO lockup and looking for their next career challenge may be good candidates. While M&A activity generally, such as the ongoing IHS Markit-S&P Global merger, is also a potential source of recruits. Adequate compensation. Talent retention is essential in such a highly competitive area. For a start, firms should ensure executive compensation plans are in line with the market and, if not, consider revising. It may be necessary to introduce new components, such as LTI’s or additional equity for top performers, to increase engagement and mitigate employee churn. As a guideline, the (ISC)² workforce report revealed an average salary before taxes of US $90,900 for cybersecurity professionals globally in 2021, up from US $69,000 in 2019. A flexible approach. Financial compensation is only part of the picture. Firms may also need to reevaluate and revise company perks in order to create a secure and attractive environment for cybersecurity professionals. A good example is the demand for more flexible working conditions which was identified in the (ISC)² study as the second most

important factor when it comes to investing in people and closing the talent gap. With some financial services majors spearheading a return to the office, it may create an opportunity for hiring companies offering employees the option of hybrid-working. Use diversity to increase the talent pool. Finally, organizations should put in place diversity and inclusion policies to help address gaps and attract talent. This was another key takeaway from the (ISC)² study which also noted that cybersecurity professionals are not only aware of how DEI can contribute to solving the skills gap, but they also expect their employers to act on issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Vanya Ivbule Vice President Kingsley Gate Partners

Vanya Ivbule is a Vice President with Kingsley Gate Partners, a global retained executive search firm, and heads up the EMEA Cyber Security Practice in London. Vanya specialises in supporting PE backed portfolio companies on go to market strategy, scaling and transformation as they prepare for acquisition or IPO.

Issue 33 | 65

FINANCE

Allied infrastructure and collaboration will be increasingly critical as payments become invisible

Capgemini’s Top Trends in Payments 2022 sheds light on the growing importance of personal identity and transaction authentication in the Payments 4.X era, an experiencedriven environment where payments for consumer lifestyle purchases are invisible, frictionless, and enable functions that boost customer experience (CX). As a result, the report notes that Payment Service Providers (PSPs) will seamlessly handle retail payment transactions at the back-end. Therefore, in 2022 and beyond, digital ID infrastructure will be essential, particularly as non-cash payments flourish and the payments instrument mix increasingly shifts to digital. With an eye on CX, financial institutions will collaborate with FinTechs/PayTechs, third parties, and other payments ecosystem partners to offer retail consumers frictionless service. As some services are standardized and available via white-label products, customer data will become a prized asset and success factor. However, before data-

66 | Issue 33

sharing among ecosystem partners earns broad acceptance, underlying safeguards must be enhanced and maintained. Therefore, expect cybersecurity to continue to be a competitive differentiator. Data digitalization and Application Programming Interface (API) monetization will encourage participation in multiple ecosystems in the Payments 4.X era. Creating win-win value exchanges through collaboration is critical as network effects, such as increased participants improving product and service value, become high-impact success drivers. Therefore, future-focused PSPs will invest in allied infrastructure to support burgeoning non-cash transaction volumes. Moreover, we can expect these providers to increasingly share information about cyberattacks and software vulnerabilities with their partners as they build tools and offer incentives to heighten awareness about security among vendors, clients, and consumers.

FINANCE

Robust digital ID infrastructure is a Payments 4.X cornerstone

Digital identity ecosystems are trending. Across the globe, industry associations and stakeholders are formulating uniform standards and partnerships. For example, the World Economic Forum curates a shared Platform for Good Digital Identity to bring together inclusive, trustworthy, safe, and sustainable identity solutions.

Source: Capgemini Financial Services Analysis, 2021. Digital ID emerges as a vital enabler for safe and inclusive growth Providing a frictionless experience for customers will be a key performance indicator (KPI) in the contactless future. Yet, fragmented and unwieldy authentication processes are in dire need of an overhaul. And the situation becomes more complex as the industry’s robustness attracts new players hoping to grab a lucrative slice of the Payments pie.

Digital identity trust frameworks (led by governments working with the private sector) are now emerging in Canada, the EU, the Smart Africa Alliance, Australia, and New Zealand. They are even growing in popularity amongst vertical market sectors, encompassing data responsibility, cyber security, interoperability, inclusion, governance, redress, and liability. •

For example, in 2021, Eftpos (a privately-run Australian debit card payment system) became the first private sector digital identity exchange accredited by Australia’s government, allowing the network’s use in online transactions needing digital ID verification. Eftpos launched ConnectID to enable users to authenticate their identity with merchants, hotels, hospitals, insurers, and government agencies by linking to a verified digital ID.

•

Ten Spanish banks, including Santander, Caixa, and Generali, are developing Dalion − a blockchainbased self-managed digital identity solution. The partners completed the concept test and the second phase of the project in summer 2021.

Both customers and businesses are demanding safeguards to protect against payment fraud and identity theft. What’s missing? As highlighted in our trends book, a robust digital ID framework for fool-proof remote identification and authentication. As part of our 2021 World Payments Report, 30% of the Voice of the Customer survey participants said they experienced friction during the check-out process − online and in-store. And CX challenges may continue as the global volume of identity verification checks exceeds 92 billion in 2026, up from 45 billion in 2021, according to a recent study. The European Banking Authority stated that the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) under Payment Services Directive Two (PSD2), scheduled for implementation in March 2022, relies upon digital identity as the second level of authentication.

Issue 33 | 67

FINANCE

Identity has become a competitive battleground. And as the digital identity market flourishes, banks are enabled to regulate data use, establish digital Know Your Customer (eKYC) functions, and boost consumer confidence. Trust is critical for PSPs seeking to lead in the Payments 4.X era as the focus shifts from payments as a product to payments as a customer reach and engagement tool.

In a bid to future proof, payments firms are bulking up to offer one-stop shopping for end-to-end services and a wide variety of competitive value propositions – and incumbents are taking notice. •

Cybersecurity is critical as open ecosystem partners share data As more and more consumers embrace new payments systems in the wake of the pandemic, cybersecurity becomes even more essential. According to industry estimates, account takeover fraud rose from 34% in 2019 to 54% in 2020 – a clear call for a sharp focus on cybersecurity. As a result, banks and FinTechs are reinvesting in automation and advanced analytics to build consumer confidence for online payments. •

Payments platform Stripe launched a self-service identity verification system for online businesses that leverages computer vision and AI to match official IDs from more than 30 countries.

Beefed up by industry consolidation, PayTechs and PSPs are scaling − and payments incumbents feel the competitive heat The payments industry has undergone significant Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) activity over the past decade. This consolidation trend is visible across all players ranging from FinTech and FinTech mergers to PSP and FinTech acquisitions. New-age players that entered the market with specialized or niche offerings find M&As to be an effective way to grow across the value chain.

68 | Issue 33

US technology services provider Global Payments is expanding its capabilities by acquiring Software-as-aService (SaaS) firm MineralTree, which automates procurement processes (invoice capture, coding, and approval) and enables virtual cards and integrated payments across vertical markets.

Multi-dimensional disruption was already altering the face of the Payments before the pandemic. Now, the industry is racing toward an open-finance future where payments are transparent. While a focus on frictionless experience is paramount, industry frontrunners must stay alert to the importance of supporting infrastructure. Of course, collaborating at scale will expedite capabilities to succeed.

We expect consolidations to be a near- to short-term trend as firms offset negative returns from unprofitable segments or markets. •

Netherlands-based PayU acquired India’s BillDesk for nearly USD5billion to become one of the leading online payment providers globally by volume, processing about 4 billion transactions annually.

Nearly 72% of banks consider BigTechs as competitive threats because of their deep pockets, platform-based capabilities, and customer outreach. With robust ecosystems, BigTechs muscled their way into small and medium-sized businesses in recent years and are now well-positioned to tap B2B payments opportunities. But, here’s the paradox – 31% of the executives we polled said they favored collaborating with technology and e-commerce giants to improve distribution. •

For example, Goldman Sachs is integrating data shared by third-party Amazon sellers into its digital underwriting decision platform to provide inventory and operational financing that support the growth of businesses.

Jeroen Hölscher Global Cards & Payments Practice lead Capgemini Financial Services

Elias Ghanem Global Head of Market Intelligence Capgemini Financial Services

FINANCE

Issue 33 | 00

TECHNOLOGY

Why contract lifecycle management (CLM) should be a focus for finance organisations in 2022

Managing Risk and Compliance

The Banking and Finance industry are embracing digital transformation, as anyone with a banking app on their phone well knows. Yet digital transformation in the finance industry goes much deeper than mobile customer experiences. Emerging technologies are transforming even the most stagnant business processes—first among them contract lifecycle management (CLM). For years, as the world around them digitised, contracts continued to be managed manually, stifling innovation, and creating risk. Thankfully, advances in AI and automation are now empowering finance organisations to address these foundational documents and achieve true digital transformation by putting digital contracts at the top of the 2022 agenda. For example, technology like Natural Language Processing (NLP) has led to tech giants like Amazon launching Amazon Comprehend to help businesses automate workflows and speed up processes, indicating the importance of prioritising contract management to avoid getting left behind. As we move into a new year and organisations continue to adapt to operating in today’s Covid reality, business is moving faster than ever, and proper management of contracts is crucial. CLM systems improve business processes by allowing users to automate the entire contract lifecycle—from drafting to signature routing—and also connect contract data to other systems for effective postexecution management. CLM systems make contracts searchable and easily amendable, which, in scenarios where large financial organisations are faced with analysing thousands or even tens of thousands of contracts, can be not only a huge time saver, but a cost-saver too.

70 | Issue 33

When it comes to a bank’s internal processes, few are as important as the management of contracts, particularly when it comes to compliance and risk management – one of the biggest challenges for banks and financial organisations. Risk is inherently part of business operations and can have a devastating impact on brand reputation, financial loss and customer trust if not managed properly. Full contract visibility and automated processes enable organisations to quickly and compliantly onboard vendors and customers in line with region-specific regulations. Having this kind of control and visibility is especially valuable for the banking industry, where, along with the accelerated pace, organisations face extremely strict regulatory environments and compliance monitoring. Risk and compliance are continuous considerations that run through every business transaction but with CLM a bank can ensure that all agreements contain the latest, approved versions of clauses. Using a robust, comprehensive clause and template library, legal teams can track all non-standard or deviated clauses; and trigger reviews of the agreement due to changed language. All of this ensures greater compliance with internal and regulatory rules. This is likely to become even more important in 2022 as new Brexit and environmental regulations come in. For example, it is expected regulations like the EBA Action Plan on Sustainable Finance will come into force during the next 2 years, meaning financial institutions will be expected to integrate ESG risks into their business. Fortunately, CLM enables companies to orchestrate ESG programs via the binding business agreements that define how they operate. Whether it’s cascading sustainability mandates down the supply chain, or scaling ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) compliance globally, CLM can operate as a system of intelligence and impact that delivers a comprehensive layer of orchestration to even the most ambitious ESG efforts.

TECHNOLOGY

Speeding up processes CLM can help to speed up onboarding and improve relationships. The onboarding of vendors, channels and customers can often be complex and fragmented if not standardised, which can hinder compliance with KY regulations, the mandatory process of identifying and verifying the client's identity when opening an account. Contract automation can greatly accelerate contract turnaround time, even when contracts are non-standard or involve negotiations. According to one global analyst firm, by 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) will bring 30% more efficiency to the contract negotiation and document completion process in organisations that deploy leading contract life-cycle management solutions. As AI technology becomes more readily available, developments like visualisation, natural language processing and artificial intelligence will allow easier interaction, better contract execution, and increased business value. In one recent example, a high-street bank’s legal team were looking for a robust CLM platform that could not only manage umbrella and derivatives agreements, but seamlessly integrate with the bank’s existing enterprise systems. They needed a system that would make it easier to manage both its contractual obligations and reduce risk. The installation of a CLM system integrated with specialist procurement tools, process utility programmes and a word processing programme already in use by the bank, combined with already enabling self-service capabilities and integrating a contractual workflow, meant the procurement team were free to focus on higher value tasks. It also streamlined the contracting processes throughout the organisation –across markets, corporate, retail, buy-side and sell-side use cases.

Beyond procurement, a CLM system that is able to address challenges with banking trading teams via a single platform takes contract management to a new level. A CLM system that can assist with buy-side, sell-side and legal is a huge benefit, but the bank also benefited from a contract intelligence platform that addressed the ability to deal with ISDA's Derivatives and other trading agreements, creating opportunities for trading teams. As most banks will have some sort of trading entity this will allow greater visibility and improve process management. Visibility and data analytics Despite the fact that they impact business until they expire, contracts are typically stored in a repository and forgotten after they are executed. It is therefore easy for commitments and obligations to be missed. Banks and financial organisations could be missing out on potential cost-savings and revenuegenerating opportunities, or worse, make themselves vulnerable to non-compliance sanctions or breach of contract. A contract lifecycle management system not only offers this visibility, so it is easy to see track obligations and commitments in real-time, but organisations can improve the actual performance of contracts by pulling deep insights into contract performance based on asset class, counterparty, risk or credit score and service type. In 2022, CLM is a key business trend that should be a focus for finance organisations to make sure that they are optimising business operations and ensuring protection against risk. For those with digital transformation goals, CLM will be a key component the value of which shouldn’t be underestimated.

Simon Patteson VP UKI & The Nordics Icertis

Issue 33 | 71

COVER STORY

The Delta Effect: Delta, Spearheading Innovation-Led Growth and Sustainable Profits in the Caribbean

Delta Capital Partners (Delta) is a Jamaica-based Private Equity (PE) group, launched in July 2020 with a vision to become the premier PE group in the Caribbean region. It invests in high-impact companies wherever they exist, but its core partnerships and opportunities are in the Caribbean region where its reach and network are unmatched. Global Banking & Finance Review recently spoke with a number of senior members of the Delta team, including Executive Chairman and Founder Zachary Harding, to learn more about the value proposition it offers to businesses and investors. “Delta’s goal is to create unique and lasting partnerships that solve problems and create sustainable, multi-dimensional value for Caribbean people,” Zachary began. “We are strategically oriented toward high-growth and high-impact sectors such as Digital Healthcare and Wellness, eCommerce, and Digital Payment Facilitation. As we forge new paths, we are constructing an uncommon approach to offmarket investments by focusing on innovation-led growth underpinned

72 | Issue 33

by technology. Delta has an affinity for disruption and digitisation as well as diversified investment strategies, and we foster a distinctive culture of openness and collaboration. “We are driving the future of alternative asset management in the Caribbean, and we are driven by the very realistic prospect of transforming the lives of 42 million Caribbean citizens through placement of capital in unique, high-impact, private opportunities. For our stakeholders, both locally and globally, we offer entry to the Caribbean market - one of the most creative, innovative, and historically lucrative geographies you can cover. We have ready access to the right people, and policies that navigate the cultural nuances while getting dynamic deals done.” Zachary went on to outline some of the targeted strategies that Delta has employed in order to deliver on its vision. “First, there’s deal generation. Our deep and dynamic global reach has afforded us the opportunity to curate a distinctive, off-market pipeline of robust deals. Our thinking is not limited by asset class, industry, security type or

geography. In fact, we continue to grow this channel through strategic collaboration with bestin-class partners in the private, non-governmental and intergovernmental spaces. “Then we have fundraising/ origination. Delta raises funds through innovative, emergingmarket fundraising/co-fundraising vehicles that are used as proprietary investments. Additionally, we facilitate financing for clients and third-party investees in the Caribbean region, and for Caribbean people worldwide.” As the Caribbean region is beginning to emerge, Delta is gearing up for that shift by focusing on strategic partnerships. “We search the globe for high-impact operating solutions with enormous appeal to our targeted sectors,” Zachary explained. “Our co-branded Delta products therefore address critical unmet needs and improve the quality of life and livelihoods of Caribbean people. We introduce growth opportunities for the unbanked and under-banked - Gen X, Y and Z - to Jamaican and other Caribbean spaces.

COVER STORY

Zachary Harding Executive Chairman and Founder Delta Capital Partners

“By way of example, we partner with several international tech-driven medical and financial services entitites to bring their products and services to market in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. We also have examples of innovative Jamaican and other regional companies in our portfolio that we are working with to break into international markets.” He also described the strategic management services available to support developing businesses. “In addition to providing access to various forms of new capital, we seek to nurture unicorns, the rare highvalue opportunities. We work with the CEOs of our portfolio companies and their senior teams to strengthen their operations, improve governance structures and frameworks, strengthen financial management, deepen strategic thinking and enable them to scale up.”

Ivan Carter, Delta’s Group Chief Executive Officer, filled us in on the organisation’s business model and the advantages it offers. “Our target IRR is 20%, and we invest private capital to develop a differentiated portfolio that will provide our investors with responsible above-market returns,” he said. “We select profit-proven, growthoriented businesses that are structured to drive transformation, increase efficiencies, uncover synergies and provide cost-effective solutions. To mitigate risk, our investments portfolio is diversified across geographies, industries, and varying maturities of the portfolio companies. “Our objective is to increase the value of our portfolio companies, so we look at their management as deeply as we look at their business models, financials and operations. We invest for the long term with talented and innovative management teams.”

Ivan Carter Group Chief Executive Officer and Partner Delta Capital Partners

Issue 33 | 73

COVER STORY

Anthony Dunn Chief Investment Officer and Partner Delta Capital Partners

74 | Issue 33

Delta employs a fully integrated approach to private market investment to provide strong deal flow supported by enhanced due diligence and execution capabilities. “We have created a diverse corporate structure to allow for focused management and flexible investment opportunities,” Ivan revealed. “The General Partners (GP) management company is incorporated in Jamaica. The umbrella investment holding company is incorporated in St Lucia. Interests in portfolio companies are held through eight limited partner (LP) funds, domiciled in St. Lucia and the USA. Interests may be held at 100% (or greater than 50%) for subsidiaries, greater than 20% for associated companies, or less than 20% for portfolio investments.

We also spoke with Anthony Dunn, Delta’s Chief Investment Officer, to ask for some insights into the organisation’s investment philosophy. “The foundation of Delta’s investment philosophy is a research and data-driven approach to investment selection,” he replied. “We utilise a scientific matrix that allows us to analyse the most compelling opportunities in specific sectors/geographies, that are positioned to generate strong profits and free cashflows. Attributes that drive our philosophy include highimpact and synergistic projects, high management competency, alignment with ESG goals, ability to scale, and measured risk, as well as our targeted IRR.

“The funds are diverse pools of capital invested across strategically targeted sectors that support a range of complementary products and services,” he continued. “Investors can participate as LPs at various levels - for example, the global holding company, downstream holding companies, or directly at the portfolio company level. We are also open to facilitating the specific requirements of certain investors via special purpose vehicles (SPVs).”

“We have taken a tactical approach to establish a market presence through our FinTech and Health & Wellness verticals, and those verticals are led by team members with specific expertise in those areas.”

The eight verticals operated by Delta cover several industries, with investments or pipeline deals in the verticals of Health & Wellness, FinTech, Financial Services, Hospitality, Industrials, Media & Entertainment, Real Estate and Delta USA.

We also asked Anthony how Delta’s investment advisors help to guide investors in achieving their financial goals. “We have a high-skilled and experienced investment team that works intimately with investors to discern their investment profile, risk appetite and other critical indicators,” he replied. “Our advisors support investors not just by crunching numbers, but by pairing research with their personal knowledge of the players involved to identify and manage risk.

“Delta utilises the European 80/20 LP fund structure,” Ivan added. “We seek to hold our investments, on average, for a period of five to seven years. Investors benefit primarily from dividend distributions, realised capital gains, and interest on fixed/quasifixed vehicles.”

“We employ our full institutional knowledge to identify and leverage opportunities. Of course, we put our full weight behind optimising portfolio yields, and make appropriate use of the relevant corporate vehicles and investment structures to aid in the process.”

COVER STORY

Ambassador Dr Neil Parsan, the CEO of Delta Health & Wellness, was also available to answer our questions on what the organisation is doing to raise public health in the Caribbean. Dr Parsan expounded on a number of strategies in this regard and was delighted to highlight a new solution that will soon be brought to market-providing treatment without medication. The solution aims to reverse Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and obesity,” Neil reported. “Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, continue to be a critical public health challenge in Jamaica and the Caribbean, with a 42% increase in the prevalence of diabetes in Jamaica over the last 20 years, as per Jamaica’s Ministry of Health & Wellness in 2020. Currently, the common treatment for Type 2 diabetes is intended to maintain blood glucose through multiple medications including insulin. This solution changes the approach to treating diabetes and obesity.” N e i l p o in t e d o u t that the p rog r a mme , o p e r ati onal i n the U K , Br a z ilia n , a n d Mal aysi an m a r ke t s , b r in g s t ogether l eadi ng m e d ic a l e x p e r t s and researchers w i th s p e c ialis t d octors, nurses, d i e t ic ia n s a n d p sychol ogi sts i n t o a p ro t o c o l t hat reverses Ty pe 2 d iab e t e s and obesi ty. “A ft e r c o llat in g a comprehensi ve m e d ic a l h is t o r y incl udi ng nutri ti on, e xe rc is e , an d s le ep patterns t o u n d e r s t an d a n i ndi vi dual ’s m e t a b o lic h e a lt h , a customi sed p rog r a mme is d e si gned that show s t h e in d iv id u al h o w to l ower thei r i n su lin re s is t a n c e, and track s thei r p rog re s s ag a in s t key markers for m e t a b o lic h e a lt h i ncl udi ng bl ood g l uc o s e , c h o le s t erol , body w ei ght, BMI, b lo o d p re s s ure and l i ver tests. U t i lis in g n u t r it io n and l i festyl e c han g e s , s mar t t echnol ogy and f a ce - t o - f ac e in t eracti on, thi s exper t m e d ic a l t e a m g u i des i ndi vi dual s to

take co ntrol of the ir he a lth while hel pi ng the m to stay m otiva te d with a heal thy m indse t. “In partnership with the operating company, this solution will be rolled out in Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados initially via a telehealth platform in Q1 of 2022.” “As a medical professional and a diplomatic representative for my region, I’ve seen the best and worst of medical innovation in both the developing and developed world. As CEO of Delta Health, I have therefore put my training as well as my global institutional knowledge behind some truly dynamic products with high-impact goals”, said Dr Parsan. Lesli Prendergast, the Chief Operating Officer of Delta FinTech, detailed the FinTech Payments platform that Delta is building out in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. “We are adamant that the Caribbean will not be left behind in the digital economy, so we aim to bring things up to speed,” Lesli said of their plans to keep the region current with the developed world. “Our vision is to be the first virtual bank in the region. To that end, we are pursuing strategies that create a superior cashless, paperless experience that will bring true inclusion to all levels of community, in ways that are culturally relevant and practical. We will also be introducing digital and cryptocurrencies on blockchain technology. “Our ecosystem, which is powered through strong partnerships and cloud-based technologies, offers a suite of leading-edge payments products in both the issuing and acquiring spaces. These solutions are presented to the market under the DeltaPaay brand.”

Ambassador Dr Neil Parsan CEO Delta Health & Wellness

Lesli Prendergast Chief Operating Officer Delta FinTech

Issue 33 | 75

COVER STORY

This portfolio of investments presents a symbiotic ecosystem of opportunities. “We are fuelling impact by building out a fully integrated value chain of businesses and brands,” Lesli went on. “So, while each deal stands on its own individual merit, the outputs of our partner and proprietary companies are inputs to each other. In a way, we are modelling the circular economy, and in the process, creating sustainable profits throughout the Caribbean region.”

Nicki Franklin Grant Head of Projects & Logistics Delta Capital Partners

Delta’s Head of Projects & Logistics, Nicki Franklin Grant discussed how a more personal approach takes the level of support they offer beyond simple management consulting. “We are an execution-oriented team, so we believe in follow-through. We set and communicate our end goals to all involved and ensure that we stay on track with our incremental targets,” Nicki said. “We are flexible, agile, quick and decisive, because we aren’t just partners - we are owners. “As equity owners in our portfolio companies, we know that their success is our success, so we take a hands-on approach. We analyse the business models, internal capabilities, strategies, supply chains and financial structures of our portfolio companies so that we can fuel growth. I like to say that we are anti-gap, so where we see a weakness or room for improvement, we tackle it.

Janelle Brown Chief of Staff in the Office of the Executive Chairman Delta Capital Partners

76 | Issue 33

“If that means leveraging our networks to find new management talent or corporate partnerships, we find them,” Nicki added. “If it means getting through the red tape, we make sure they have all the paperwork, licenses and endorsements needed. If it means beefing up their marketing strategy, we put a team on it. We ambush your headache and put things in place to keep our investments sustainable and high yielding.”

Delta Capital Partners has experienced significant growth since its establishment. Janelle Brown, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Executive Chairman, attributes this to its cadre of skilled professionals who think innovatively, as well as, its governance practices. “We have a truly gifted team of multi-faceted experts that is deliberately diverse in age, gender and race,” she told us. “This allows us a wider perspective and an intersectional understanding of the opportunities in the modern world. We aim for sustainable profits and that means creating partnerships and synergies to build out what we like to call an investment ecosystem. "We engage with companies that will add value to our existing portfolio and increase both efficiencies and profits. To date, our growth has come from – and, we believe, will continue to come from – our ability to carefully select unique, hard-to-imitate opportunities, our ability to raise solid capital, and leveraging both technology and strategic partnerships to increase our capacity.” We returned to Executive Chairman Zachary Harding to find out what Delta’s key priorities are for the coming year. “The beauty of investing in the Caribbean is that we are a group of small nations that gives you a collective market of 42 million, comparable in size with many developed countries,” he reiterated. “The additional advantage of this is that all the countries are independent. While this may add some complexity, it also allows for speed and flexibility. Right now, the Caribbean is in the throes of a modern industrial revolution, and this type of growth and development is any investor’s dream. Politically, we are evolving. Jamaica recently saw a dramatic improvement in its debt-to-GDP ratio as well as notable stabilisation of its macroeconomic factors, and Barbados became a republic while still remaining a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. There is a palpable shift toward stability.”

COVER STORY

Delta’s focus on high-impact investments is what will help to move these economies from developing to developed, Zachary believes. “We are throwing our efforts into socially sustainable, environmentally conscious disruptive industries,” he said. “This is part of how we curate a portfolio of unique, hard-to-imitate deals that give our investors the edge. Our key priorities for 2022 include building a Caribbean-wide Payments Platform as the foundation to a Digital Bank, launching a Caribbean-wide Health & Wellness Digital Platform, establishing a Caribbean-wide real estate fund, acquiring a large financial services entity, and finally, having no less than US$100 million in AUM. “Our main goal is to be the premier PE Group of the Caribbean region.” Group CEO Ivan Carter provided some final words on what makes Delta stand out and why it will have a global impact. “We are being bold in writing our own story. Every business model that is studied and taught in academia started with one entity doing it first, and then others following suit and refining it. We continue to learn and adapt best practices, but we add our own Caribbean flavour and innovate to make them stronger and more relevant to today’s investors. “We are creating our own model, and charting our own course, which one day we believe others will study,” he added. “We have several powerful tools in our arsenal which we are confident will allow us to scale, win and have global impact. These include the quality and depth of our human capital, our culture and operating ethos, the types of industries we are pursuing, our approach to reaping synergies, our linkages, and our global reach.” The Next Caribbean Unicorn….Soon Come!

Issue 33 | 77

BUSINESS

Measurable steps towards sustainability in procurement Propelled by a global pandemic and the imminent threat of climate change, sustainability has become a major focus for governments, businesses, individuals, and procurement and is set to continue to increase its prominence on boardroom agendas. Following the United Nations’ 26th annual climate change conference (COP26), it was proposed that by 2023, most large companies will be required to lay out detailed public plans for how they intend to move towards a low-carbon future, in line with the UK’s 2050 net-zero target. Nested amongst all aspects of business, procurement is fast gaining recognition as one of the most impactful functions. Organisations are, for the most part, a product of what they buy: a collection of goods and services supply chain decisions. As such, procurement teams are uniquely positioned – and have the skill-sets – to help redefine and improve organisations’ sustainability through their procurement decisions and processes.

78 | Issue 33

Enterprise leaders are acknowledging that by helping to decarbonise supply chains and encourage sustainable sourcing, procurement – when utilised effectively – is essential to achieve real environmental change. However, there is a classic adage about performance improvement that goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Although sustainability is front-of-mind for businesses, many are struggling to define how to turn an aspiration of more sustainable procurement into practical, tangible, action plans and results. Establishing the right KPIs is crucial for sustainable procurement, not only allowing organisations to identify baselines and priority improvement areas, but to communicate impacts and trade-offs of critical sourcing decisions. Defining sustainability KPIs: The principles When making conscious decisions about which aspects of sustainability are a priority for your business – either to build transparency or to

drive tangible improvements over time – it is important to remember the key principles of effective KPI design and deployment. Sustainability KPIs should be: •

Specific and measurable – KPI values should be clearly measured and specific to a supplier or category. Where there is a performance ambition but no data, new processes and data flags must be implemented to establish a baseline.

•

Outcome-based –They should measure a change in results, not just activities being completed from a task list.

•

Aligned to top-down business objectives – KPIs should be easily translated between categoryspecific performance and overall business target.

With these principles in mind and a prioritised focus on the sustainability areas that matter to your business, a suite of KPIs can be developed to effectively drive improvements.

BUSINESS

What does sustainability mean for your organisation?

adherence to codes of conduct and wider government or professional body regulations.

The first step to establishing sustainability KPIs is to define what sustainability means, as this can vary greatly in scope and focus across industries and organisations. Even businesses with worldclass procurement functions and a focus on sustainability look almost exclusively to supplier labour practices and natural resources supply. While these are two important areas, there are other factors underpinning a sustainable supply chain.

When looking at fair and ethical labour, for instance, it is important to engage trade unions recognised by the supplier, or the number of industrial disputes within the last 12 months. For diversity and equality, you can also look at category diverse spend – how much money your company is spending with diverse suppliers – and supplier diversity reporting on gender and racial parity. •

It can help to leverage a Triple Bottom Line of three dimensions – people, planet, and profit – to prioritise key focus areas for your industry or specific categories. •

PEOPLE (social sustainability) – ensuring that labour practices are ethical, safe, and fair.

Businesses often look to mitigate reputational risks by avoiding suppliers who utilise unethical business practices, such as forced or child labour, modern slavery, and unsafe production environments. By demanding transparency in the procurement process, they can ensure their social sustainability. There is typically a request for visibility of outsourced labour, offshore production, and complex supplier tiering and distribution. KPIs for social sustainability focus on driving transparency of fair treatment and equality for all labour throughout your supply chain. These can include diversity reporting on gender and racial parity, compliance with labour management or health and safety policies and may be limited to tier one suppliers or mandated through multiple tiers of a complex provision. What might social sustainability KPIS look like in practice? Evaluation of social sustainability is often conducted through independent third-party audit firms, supporting either supplier selfevaluations or full facility onsite audits. While KPIs can be implemented for ongoing monitoring and management, practices are most frequently evaluated through assessment of suppliers’

PLANET (environmental sustainability) – focussing on supply, distribution, consumption, production, and disposal of physical goods to mitigate the negative impact on the environment.

KPIs for environmental sustainability must be designed to ensure responsible supply, distribution, consumption, production and disposal of key materials and energy resources. For example, in the case of supply – does a product come from a renewable, no-conflict, sustainable source? Distribution – what is the carbon footprint associated with shipping products to you, or from you to your customers? Production – are sustainable sources of energy and water being used? Are you limiting use and eliminating waste of energy and water? Disposal – how much are you sending to landfill? Recycle/reclaim? Aftermarket sales? What might environmental sustainability KPIs look like in practice? These KPIs must be tailored to specific categories, suppliers, and products to be effective. While frequently focussed on direct materials, these can apply to indirect categories such as fleet, waste management, travel, IT, and office supplies. Examples within distribution include measuring the CO2 footprint of your fleet, suppliers’ logistics and delivery to your customers. When examining consumption, you can look at the percentage of products purchased with virgin plastic content or recycled content. Likewise, you can measure the percentage of products purchased from aftermarket sales.

Issue 33 | 79

BUSINESS

•

PROFIT (financial sustainability) – often interchanged with supply chain resilience, this involves ensuring a business’ profitability remains well-protected even in the event of disruption or market change.

In the wake of major global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or natural disasters, priorities around supply security and price stability are at the forefront of decision making. Additional to this are more holistic category management reviews around the business’ competitive differentiators and ability to serve ever-changing customer requirements, as consumers increasingly seek sustainable options. Your KPIs for financial sustainability should include supply and distribution risks, aimed at increasing transparency through your supply chain and lower tier suppliers by identifying unstable or high-risk suppliers and regions.

What might financial sustainability KPIs look like in practice? Supply risk must be evaluated at supplier level and focussed on the segmentation of suppliers that represent high commercial value and high potential risk. You can look at the number of approved suppliers by location of the source, level and locations of dedicated inventory, lead times per product, and the financial history of the supplier. To establish price stability, both commodity index and currency tracking can provide clarity, and, for profitability, percentage revenue from sustainable products sold is a good metric to measure against.

Sustainability, in all its forms, is a growing priority for organisations. Establishing awareness is the first step to full-scale deployment of improvement programmes and performance targets. No matter where a business is on its journey to a more sustainable procurement and supply chain function, there are substantial benefits to be had from making conscious, deliberate choices. Having the right KPIs allows your organisation to deliver measurable, tangible sustainability results – where they matter.

There’s no right or wrong set of sustainability KPIs for procurement and supply chain, as needs and priorities will vary across industries and businesses. If the principles of effective KPI design are adhered to, and they are developed to drive transparency and action across each step of the value chain, a variety of performance metrics can be suitable to drive improvements.

Edward Cox Principal Efficio

80 | Issue 33

BANKING

The Biggest Trends in Banking and Risk Management for 2022 Perhaps unsurprisingly, the fallout from the pandemic will continue to present the biggest known risks to lenders for the coming year. Specifically, real losses that have impacted the last year or so will come to light, as well as a call to action to review approaches to loss reporting from the volatility seen in bank provisions. With inflation on the rise globally, there is likely to be a shift in the rebalancing of the economy next year, and now that government supports have largely ended, we should expect to obtain more clarity on the impact of Brexit. Looking at the banking market, competition, climate change risks and technological change will intensify further, and the right conditions will present opportunities for consolidation. Probably one of the biggest trends for 2022 is the regulatory agenda, which will continue to demand focus and investment.

82 | Issue 33

Effects of the pandemic: Effects from the pandemic • Losses emerge • IFRS 9 Macro-economic and business environment • Inflation and growth • Brexit UK Banking market • Mergers & Acquisitions • Innovation Regulatory agenda • Basel capital • Climate change • Consumer duty • Operational resilience

Once the dust settles, losses will begin to emerge According to UK finance industry reporting, mortgage arrears have nudged down in the third quarter this year and the BoE (Bank of England) Credit Conditions survey supports similar stability across other lending to individuals. The ONS reports that unemployment is slightly lower than the previous period. A year ago, the expectation was that very little arrears or job losses would be an issue at the time because of the various interventions and supports. However, now that most of that support has been withdrawn for a period, it is perhaps more surprising and unanticipated.

BANKING

It may appear, that in respect of actual lending losses, banks and customers have weathered the crisis relatively unscathed. Yet whilst the scale, duration and effectiveness of the support for businesses has been quite remarkable, we can expect a gradual build-up of customers in financial difficulty later in the year, which will ultimately see a prolonged period of higher losses. This view seems to be the broad consensus amongst banks too, as the threemonth outlook in the BoE survey continues to be pessimistic.

Another key factor is the slow unwind of the suspension of legal processes around repossession and evictions, compounded with significant changes in working patterns. These are likely to be a continuing risk for property investors and lenders, particularly within the commercial sector, and could become an economy-wide problem if a glut of vacancies drives property indices lower and hence, drives a re-assessment of covenants and provisioning.

Having used its best judgement, this points to the whole industry introducing a massive amount of volatility that may not have been needed. As a result, it has been suggested that current approaches to meet the standard need revision as it appears that models are useful until they are not. This does not inspire confidence and integrity in this critical accounting estimate. We should expect 2022 (and 2023) to bring renewed activity from banks in terms of revising their models and methods.

IFRS 9 2.0

Macro-economic and business environment:

Drivers of future losses may not be obvious at this point. A potential source of vulnerability for the UK is the ripple effect from government backed lending (COVID loan schemes). How SMEs perform in repaying these loans, will reveal the true state of the UK economy’s engine room. The Government has provided guarantees against nearly £80bn of lending to businesses. Early projections suggested half of this would not be repaid. More recent estimates point to a third. The Credit Conditions survey reports that SME defaults were higher than expected from the last quarter. Whilst it is down to the Government to estimate its liability, the consequences of a high number of failed companies has real potential to seep into the wider economy.

The International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9), adopted in 2018, which covers reporting of impairment losses, has not fared well during this crisis. Models that had only recently been developed and implemented to comply with the new standard, were being used to estimate the effects of an event of extreme change that had never happened before. The first half of 2020 saw banks report significant losses (by raising provisions in compliance with the standard), only to start releasing them in the second half through to the half-year 2021, as the outlook became less pessimistic. With initial arrears and default outcomes now suggesting customers have fared better than expected, we should expect further releases in reporting over the coming period.

Rising inflation brings risk to asset prices and lending growth With employment continuing to rise as furlough ended, the current risk to the UK economy comes from inflation. The rise from 0.6% at the end of last year to the current 4.2% is largely driven by higher domestic energy bills and fuel prices. The rate is set to peak at around 5% and even if this proves transitory – a wage-prices spiral is a tail risk because it represents a sizeable hit to living standards; and all before tax rises in April. The good news on unemployment means the BoE can start to raise interest rates from the ‘emergency’ levels put in place at the start of the pandemic. As well as raising debtservice costs modestly, rate rises could lead to a reassessment of asset prices, particularly in residential property where recent growth is hard to explain in terms of the fundamentals.

Issue 33 | 83

BANKING

A clearer picture of post-Brexit UK While 2021 was officially the first year for the UK being outside of the EU, without full transitional measures in place it has been difficult to comprehend the real impacts. Given the scale of government support to business during the pandemic, changes in spending patterns and less movement in general, the full impact of Brexit is only just emerging. Some businesses may not prove viable given the increased paperwork involved and the strain on supply chains. The final Brexit relationship also remains unsettled, and the UK has threatened to use Article 16 because of the trade frictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, implicit in the current agreement. Discussions about issues like product standards, rules of origin and the Irish border are a process that will continue. There remains some temporary measures accommodating transition in Financial Services in 2021. In respect of banking, we will carefully watch the extent to which the PRA, FCA and Treasury with new powers to set the rules, remain aligned or diverge with the EU. Banking market:

Their need is to achieve scale to reduce costs, improve revenues and make tangible inroads against the incumbents’ long-held positions. Several aspects will hamper the potential for any deals right now – including the uncertainty over interest rates creating a divergence in valuations between buyer and seller. Many of the mid-sized lenders are also recovering from both provision impacts (the extent to which they can release these) and legacy idiosyncrasies, are further separating views from the two camps. If these obstacles are overcome, we may see 2022 bring a round of merger activity. New lenders will continue to innovate, and some will achieve sustainability More broadly, lenders continue to pursue digitisation and adoption of technologies that enable them to reshape their business models and cost base. Scale remains a strategic imperative for many lenders, however, it is hard to achieve this safely when going head-to-head with behemoths. Growth requires businesses to innovate. Next year, we will see a ramping up in lending sourced through vehicles like forward flow agreements and partnerships, bringing together different lenders who are good at different elements of the value-chain.

Mergers and acquisitions With many more banks in the market, the need to scale those businesses remains high. Medium sized lenders find themselves in no-mans-land; not big enough to compete with the biggest incumbents, but too big to survive on niche lending. Recent reporting suggests that there are keen interests in merging or acquisitions in this mid-tier of established lenders.

84 | Issue 33

Coming out of the fog of the last few years, we will likely see one or two of the newest lenders reach adolescence and fulfil their potential in 2022. Starling has been reported as emerging well from the pandemic, having participated in the COVIDgovernment schemes that will offer a ready-made customer base to nurture and the acquisition of Fleet Mortgages, showing a clear intention

to enter the mortgage sector in addition to current SME and consumer segments. CEO and founder Anne Boden has said that the bank is on track to full-year profitability. We expect more new lenders to reach this milestone in 2022, given the clear expectations of the PRA for nonsystemic banks. Other new lenders continue to look to innovation to acquire customers. Over the last few years, consumer point of sale lending with buy-nowpay-later (BNPL) payment options have grown rapidly amongst nonbanks. Today, fintech banks see these opportunities too, because it fits nicely with their advance technology capabilities, customer base and customer-centric focus. However, innovation is sometimes a doubleedged sword. Whilst 2022 will likely see continued growth in this segment of lending, it has also been identified by government and regulators. Consultation led by Treasury and the FCA will bring BNPL and shortterm lending into greater focus. This type of credit arrangement has been around for a long time but has been excluded from consumer credit laws and regulations. Its no-interestbearing nature, and relatively small scale, meant it was not viewed in the same way as other credit. That said, specialist BNPL firms have been so successful and made credit so easy to access that this poses real harm to some customers. This has more potential to effect non-bank lenders more so than banks as any new rules are likely to require improvements to customer information, checks on affordability and helping those in financial difficulty; things that banks should already be doing.

MEGABANK 31 YEARS ON THE FINANCIAL MARKET OF UKRAINE

BANKING

Regulatory agenda: Basel 3 In 2022, we will see the implementation of the new IRB Basel rules for the calculation and calibration of risk weights for bank capital come into play. The new rules try to address the failings of what was in place before the financial crisis, which in some ways has contributed to it. The requirements are much more prescriptive, onerous and conservative. In credit risk, banks that were already IRB based on the current rules, had to re-submit their applications for reporting to commence in 2022. However, feedback from the regulator on the first submissions for mortgage assets class models has shown a gap in expectations between banks and regulator. Along with specific changes in mortgage risk weight rules, higher capital reported against mortgage lending in 2022 is anticipated. Financial risks of climate change Throughout 2021, banks have started thinking more seriously about climate change. The ECB and BoE have undertaken industry stress testing exercises across financial services firms to assess the potential impact on their financial state from physical and transition changes. The challenges soon become obvious when projecting out forecasts over fifty years. International efforts to introduce improvements in company disclosures are also creating greater awareness. Producing wellconsidered climate disclosures provides a basis for comparing company exposures and progress toward net zero emission. For banks in particular, this provides an impetus for them to make clear their own strategy and policy for lending and investment. With the IPCC having issued its latest report, giving a

86 | Issue 33

more pessimistic view on the physical science impacts of climate change, this will see greater urgency across nations and companies. During 2022, banks will also take learnings from the initial stress exercises and look at embedding climate change initiatives as part of their core strategy and risk management. Consumer duty The FCA is keen to see a higher standard of protection for consumers by firms competing for their business. The intention is for firms to be clear on the outcomes consumers should expect, how they will achieve this and know they can ensure they are doing this effectively. The FCA wants firms to take all reasonable steps to avoid harm, enable good outcomes and act in good faith. The FCA says it continues to see harm done to consumers and wants to see agreed principles that shape the standard of conduct that will permeate the culture and behaviour of firms in the right way. It sees this as a framework for the development of retail markets. The FCA is soon to publish the response from industry on the initial consultation and issue a second round. In 2022, they will refine the policy with a final set of rules and guidance. Some lenders see the FCA as already having the necessary powers and rules in place to achieve the desired outcomes. What this means for firms is quite fundamental and we should expect this to be a big topic of discussion and action in 2022.

operate these safely, and all by the end of the first quarter of 2022. From then, firms will commence reporting and implementation, including scenario stress testing. The regulations amount to playbook for every lender to manage their material businesses through crisis. Implementation work will go on for three years before final adoption. There is acknowledgement that solutions will need to be proportional to the nature and scale of a business, however, it is firmly on the radar of lenders and will require continued effort to embed as well as review and feedback. There is a lot to consider in light of the trends and risks we expect to see in 2022. As the pandemic has highlighted, it is impossible to predict which risks and events will occur. There are also other risks not explored here, such as the cessation of LIBOR or postulating ‘what-if’ vaccine efficacy fails and we have further variants and waves of the virus type scenarios. We hope it resonates that in 2022, as with most years, it is the effective management of risk that remains core to successful banking.

Operational resilience In terms of regulatory change, another key area is meeting the requirements around operational resilience. This requires firms to have identified their primary business services, mapped activities required to provide those services and set tolerance limits to

Philip Dransfield Partner at credit risk analytics firm 4most

WE'VE GONE MOBILE!

YOU CAN NOW READ US ANYTIME OR ANYWHERE ON OUR NEW APP. download our App for the latest digital magazine for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store

We are doing big things...

Are you subscribed?

BUSINESS

Why financial organisations need to put sustainability at the top of their workplace agenda COP26 has bought to light the need for organisations across the world to take urgent responsibility for climate change and the pledge towards achieving net zero. Speaking at the COP26 climate summit, Chancellor Rishi Sunak claimed the UK was leading the world in becoming the "first-ever net zero aligned global financial centre". Adding to this, the UK has become the first G20 country to make recommendations by the global Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) mandatory, meaning that by April 2022, around 1,300 of the country’s largest businesses will have to disclosure their exposure to climate risks.

1. Consider the impact The starting point is to look at a product’s lifecycle assessment. This method measures impact through the raw materials used, production, the use of the product and then end of life. From these assessments, businesses can get a clear measurement of carbon emission, water, and a range of other impact metrics. Raw materials and production are the two key stages with the biggest impact to look out for – and they are also the stages that manufacturers have the most control over. But design responsibility for products doesn’t end at the point of sale: it’s equally as important to consider end of life plans too. 2. Reap the rewards of innovation

But becoming net zero and moving to a more sustainable future goes further than just choosing the right financial investments and complying with climate risk disclosure regulations. An intrinsic part of this responsibility is also about considering their workplace sustainability strategy. These means making fundamental changes now, in order to protect the planet for the future. But how do you ensure your business is making the right choices?

88 | Issue 33

Many manufacturers are being innovative and looking at ways to reduce the impact of their products by making them last longer. For many, this means increasing the sharing, leasing, reusing, and recycling of existing materials. Businesses are also trying to include more recycled materials in the production of their furniture – including ‘ocean-bound plastic’.

According to the Next Wave initiative, a group of industry leaders collaborating on its use, Ocean-bound plastic is “mismanaged waste”, i.e. plastic that has not yet found its way into the ocean, but found within 50 kilometres of a coastline. It’s estimated that 80% of the ocean’s plastic contamination originated from land. This plastic is then washed, sanitised, and processed into raw material flakes or pellets which are then used to make new products. Taking this approach eliminates coastal plastic, helps the planet and reduces waste for local people. It also fosters employment by integrating local workers into the supply chain, doing good for communities while reducing the environmental impact of any product made making the social impact measurable. Manufacturers are really thinking about the lifecycle of the product now, making disposing of the product after use much more straight forward too, with products stripped down into recyclable and reusable parts.

BUSINESS

3. Measuring ROI There is a greater recognition that sustainability is equally as important as other measures such as cost, time, and durability. While most organisations want to do the right thing, many struggle to measure the impact of their sustainability decisions. When looking at the impact of waste or electricity usage, its relatively easy to quantify the impact on the business. The same can be said about reducing the level of potentially climate harmful investments, as this can be illustrated through fund performance, for example. But when choosing more sustainable products, it is not so easy to measure the impact, in terms of sales, or exposure. Another way to measure ROI of sustainability choices, and potentially the most important measure of all is the impact on employees. The workplace and the design of the office has a huge impact on employee wellbeing, so providing an environment that is safe and representative of the company’s wider sustainability goals is always going to be a good thing. This is important in attracting and retaining talent and helping productivity.

From a design point of view, substituting problematic materials can be tricky, but manufacturers and designers are busy innovating to bring sustainable products to the fore. Taking the first step Over the last few years, organisations have become much more aware of the impact of their actions and are doing all they can to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable future. And while choosing the right products for the office is just one small part of a wider sustainability initiative, it is a huge and positive step forwards. It’s vital that sustainability metrics are judged just as importantly as commercial rent costs, sundries requirements and other measures of a successful office space. Frameworks like USGBC’s LEED, or BREEAM can provide excellent models to evaluate the sustainability of your building project. Alternatively, adopting criteria or standards such as the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme to screen products and suppliers can help to drive good outcomes.

Oliver Cripps Sustainability Manager Herman Miller

These considerations need to move beyond values and into action, and are just as important whether a financial institution is halfway through an office lease, or if they’re moving to a new premises. Choosing the right materials, considering renewable energy and energy storage are just some steps businesses can take now, and with the right reuse and recycle programmes in place, organisations can ensure that their existing office assets don’t go to waste.

Issue 33 | 89

FINANCE

Can blue financing help save our waters? For millennia the oceans have provided humanity with a source of food and wonder. Humankind has sailed its seas and benefited from it to the point where the global ocean economy now estimated to be USD 1.5 trillion, which if it was a country, would be the 7th largest in terms of GDP. Yet the world’s oceans are in trouble. Overfishing has led UNESCO to estimate that 13% of the global fish stock have ‘collapsed’. Combined with the World Bank’s estimate that over 90% of all fisheries are considered to be overexploited or overfished, there are serious reasons to be concerned about the future of life in our oceans. If significant action is not taken by the year 2050, it is expected that 80% of all oceans will be disrupted by climate change. This damage to our oceans and its biological life has a dual impact:

Acidification. The ocean is referred to as a carbon sink, meaning that it acts as a natural reservoir to absorb and store the carbon dioxide (CO2) that we emit, causing ocean acidification. It is estimated that the oceans have historically absorbed 25% of all human-caused CO2 emissions.

90 | Issue 33

This acidification is what has led to mass coral reef bleaching, and threatens both plankton and ocean shell creatures, causing an existential threat to the ocean’s food chain.

Warming waters. It is not just CO2 that the oceans have been absorbing. Global research has additionally shown that the oceans are absorbing over 90% of the excess heat caused by global warming. These warming waters are in turn changing the movement of fish stocks, as fish stocks are moving towards the poles in pursuit of cooler waters. Additionally, as the ocean’s fish stocks rapidly decline, the ocean’s plastic stock is flourishing. Ocean plastic waste has exploded in the last 30 years, and according to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, by 2025 there will be one metric tonne of plastic for every three metric tonnes of fish in the oceans, and by 2050 we can expect these numbers to be equal. This will threaten the Icelandic fishing industry where plastic will increasingly find its way into the ocean’s food chain.

The Blue Economy The world must change its course and steer towards a sustainable “Blue Economy” in which resources the oceans provide are utilised sustainably and with the goal of preserving the ocean’s ecosystems.

The Blue Economy seeks to provide a continuation of the economic value provided to us by the ocean through the ecological protection of the ecosystems that provide this value. By maintaining and recovering fish stocks, having governance in place that understands and protects important ecosystems, and respecting the integrity of these ecosystems, the blue economy can continue to provide the employment, income, and food security that it has supplied for millennia. The World Wildlife Fund announced the principles of a sustainable blue economy, in which the socialeconomic benefits that the oceans provide can be sustained, those marine ecosystems are restored, protected, and maintained, and that this blue economy becomes more efficient and circular.

FINANCE

Blue bonds & blue financing Blue bonds are a new member of the labelled bond family, which hereto have included green bonds, social bonds, and sustainable bonds. Each intended to fund environmentally beneficial projects, social impact projects, and a combination of the two. Blue bonds and other blue financing, however, are intended to fund projects and activities which are beneficial to our oceans. The Republic of Seychelles launched the first “Blue Bond” in 2018. Assisted by the World Bank, Seychelles raised USD 15 m from international investors to support the expansion of protected marine areas and to develop their blue economy. Brim, an Icelandic seafood company, then issued a blue (and a green) bond in 2021 with the help of my team at CIRCULAR/KPMG. Brim is potentially the first seafood company globally to issue a blue bond. It intends to fund blue projects such as refurbishments and near offshore equipment, solutions to fully utilize all by products from fish processing, R&D in clean fishing vessels, reduction, control, and response management of marine pollution.

Blue financing, including bonds, can help support a sustainable blue economy by funding activities that contribute to one of the core environmental objectives defined by the European Union: sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources. As long as those activities do not lead to a lock-in of assets that undermine long-term environmental goals, considering the economic life of those assets, along with having a substantial positive environmental impact on the basis of life-cycle considerations.

Iceland as a leader Given Iceland’s long history of fishing, the country may be in a key position to influence the development of the blue financing space with implication on a global scale. Iceland can contribute from its long history and expertise to help develop guidelines, taxonomies, and itself become a leader in terms of blue financing of the fishing industry. As Brim did illustrate in its issuance, this is the perfect moment for Iceland to set sail for bluer waters, for a healthier, more sustainable ocean and economy.

Bjarni Herrera Head of Sustainability KPMG Iceland (former CEO and Co-Founder of CIRCULAR Solutions, acquired by KPMG Iceland in 2020).

Issue 33 | 91

INTERVIEW

How digital identity will shape a more inclusive and sustainable global economy with Stephan Wolf, CEO at GLEIF We spoke to Stephan Wolf, CEO at GLEIF, to discuss the potential for digital identity to revolutionize trade finance and to catch up on a recent initiative in the Global LEI System designed to promote greater financial inclusion in developing economies. For readers not familiar with GLEIF, could you provide a short overview of what GLEIF is? The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) was established by the G20 and the Financial Stability Board in June 2014 as a non-forprofit organization. It was founded to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) to increase transparency and support regulatory supervision, specifically in capital markets. The LEI is now widely mandated for this purpose, by regulators in over 200 jurisdictions around the world, with the scope of the system now being extended to engage with other market sectors. GLEIF’s role today is to ensure the operational integrity of the Global LEI System. It continuously increases both the information available within, and the quality of, the LEI data pool. GLEIF aims to make public access to LEI information easier and to support the development of new, innovative use cases.

92 | Issue 33

Could you explain briefly what an LEI is? The LEI is an alpha-numeric code that links to high quality business card information describing the legal entity. Each LEI belongs to a system in which the identity of a legally registered organization, or ‘legal entity’, can be verified quickly and efficiently by anyone, anywhere. It can be thought of as a globally recognized digital ID card for businesses. There are currently 2 million LEIs in circulation, each one containing information about an entity’s ownership structure, enabling questions of identity (‘who is who’) and ownership (‘who owns who’) to be answered unambiguously. What should be a priority for the finance industry in 2022? Principally, the global finance industry must support the growth of a sustainable, climate-conscious economy in 2022. Financial institutions must also look to open up access to trade finance to create more inclusive trade networks around the world.

A 2017 report from the International Finance Corporation contends that 65 million firms around the world have an unmet annual financing need of $5.2 trillion. Given that small to mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) make up around 90 per cent of businesses worldwide , this trade finance gap disproportionally affects SMEs. Some 45% of SMEs in developing economies are struggling to access the funds needed to grow and expand. Those in finance need to help bridge this gap. What trade finance challenges are SMEs facing globally? Despite the critical role SMEs play in the developing economies, many lack the robust business credentials and, as a result, their access to trade finance is either severely limited or denied altogether. Increasingly stringent regulatory requirements are compounding the problem, particularly in the areas of Know Your Customer (KYC) and AntiMoney Laundering (AML), both of which have emerged as new and growing challenges for banks seeking to lend to SMEs. On the African

INTERVIEW

continent, for example, less than one per cent of banks between 2013-14 cited regulatory compliance as the primary reason for rejecting trade finance applications. Between 2015 and 2019, however, as compliance requirements have increased, this figure has grown to circa 16 per cent. LEIs can help banks to overcome this compliance burden. They are a recognized form of business ID which banks can use to support the identification process. How is GLEIF supporting SMEs to overcome these challenges and create a more sustainable and inclusive financial system? In August 2021, GLEIF launched an international flagship project designed to expand financial inclusion among SMEs in developing economies, and especially on the African continent, by getting LEIs into the hands of businesses that need them. SMEs across Africa contribute significantly to job

creation and economic growth, yet their financial inclusion rates remain low. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean SMEs contribute more than 60% of the country’s GDP, yet only 3.8% of the banking sector’s loans and advances are extended to these businesses. As part of the initiative, Zimbabwe’s NMB Bank Limited has taken on a new role in the Global LEI System known as a the Validation Agent - the first in Africa - which is now enabling it to obtain LEIs for its SME clients. Participating SMEs are already beginning to realize the benefits of LEI adoption, negotiating better overseas credit terms and gaining access to escrow and guarantee facilities which bolster their ability to negotiate and trade in larger volumes, more frequently, and with less cost. NMB has also noted that the LEI holds the potential to reduce compliance bottlenecks SMEs experience when executing international transactions.

Issue 33 | 93

INTERVIEW What benefits does the Validation Agent status bring to banks in developing economies? By becoming Validation Agents, financial institutions can offer an entirely new service to their clients, helping them to save time and resources when partaking in international transactions and opening up opportunities to access greater trade finance. Although the full benefits of the LEI are fully realized in the long term, NMB has already begun to note initial benefits for its day-today business operations, establishing itself as the ‘first mover’ in the region, and taking advantage of its ability to onboard clients quickly and efficiently. From a regulatory perspective, banks who adopt the role of Validation Agent must undergo a rigorous training program to adhere to GLEIF’s regulatory standards. This provides an opportunity for the bank to ensure its due diligence procedures are watertight.

94 | Issue 33

What economic benefits can be realized in both developed and developing economies by embracing the LEI as a universal system of business identity? Equipping legal entities worldwide with globally recognized identities will enable greater participation in domestic and international markets. This increases flows of inbound capital that stimulate economic development. By giving developingmarket SMEs access to global trade, a vast number of new products and services become available to the world, enabling broader and more competitive supply chains for businesses worldwide. Additionally, using one global identifier, the LEI, will help bring transparency to these enriched supply chain relationships, ensuring greater trust for all participants.

How else is the LEI supporting the creation of a more inclusive and sustainable economy? In addition to the launch of the digital identity initiative for developing economies, GLEIF also recently partnered with OS-Climate and Amazon to facilitate financial sustainability. The partnership enables real-time LEI data to be made publicly available in the cloud, via the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) data catalog. By making this data readily available alongside other key climate-related data sets, such as carbon emissions and climate projections, investors are empowered to make more environmentally-friendly financial and investment decisions.

INTERVIEW What is needed from the international financial community to realise the full potential of the LEI? As LEI adoption increases across all fronts, so does the world’s confidence to trade with businesses that collectively drive their economies. Looking for new, innovative ways to encourage global stakeholders to leverage the LEI is the key to increasing the flows of international, inbound capital and investments that enables faster, sustainable economic development. As the financial community continues to support the pursuit of broad LEI adoption, its full potential will be unlocked. For example, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) XBRL taxonomy was recently publsished and recommended the use of the LEI in ESG reporting. This gives financial institutions and governments a structure for ESG reporting and the option to integrate the LEI in a standardized and globally recognized manner. Aside from GLEIF’s efforts to support financial inclusion, what is next for the foundation in 2022? A key priority for GLEIF moving into 2022 is the development of the vLEI (verifiable LEI), an extension of the Global LEI System to create a fully digitized LEI service that can enable instant and automated identity verification between counterparties operating across all industry sectors, globally. Currently, the vLEI beta software is completing its initial sandbox stage as part of the crossindustry development program to create its technical architecture. Imagine being able to automatically establish digitized trust between organizations, without the need for human intervention. The possibilities here are almost limitless. Once complete, the vLEI has the potential to become one of the most valuable digital credentials in the world; it will be the hallmark of authenticity for all legal entities everywhere.

Stephan Wolf CEO GLEIF Stephan Wolf is the CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF). Between January 2017 and June 2020, Mr. Wolf was Co-convener of the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 68 FinTech Technical Advisory Group (ISO TC 68 FinTech TAG). In January 2017, Mr. Wolf was named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Identity by One World Identity. He has extensive experience in establishing data operations and global implementation strategy. He has led the advancement of key business and product development strategies throughout his career. Mr. Wolf co-founded IS Innovative Software GmbH in 1989 and served first as its managing director. He was later named spokesman of the executive board of its successor IS.Teledata AG. This company ultimately became part of Interactive Data Corporation where Mr. Wolf held the role of CTO. Mr. Wolf holds a university degree in business administration from J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main.

Issue 33 | 95

BUSINESS

The financial services market needs to crack down on fraudulent lead gen advertising – but will new regulations on lead generators be enough?

2021 has seen fresh rules introduced to improve the regulation and integrity of financial services advertising, but many misleading adverts continue to slip through the cracks – with ads fraudulently impersonating household brands still displayed prominently on Google. It is clear there is far more for regulatory bodies and the financial services industry to do, argues Alain Desmier, Managing Director of Contact State. He assesses the impact of new regulations on lead buyers and sellers, and discusses how the financial services industry can pivot towards more transparent consumer data exchange with lead certification. 30 August marked a major change to how many UK financial adverts are handled. Google introduced new verification requirements for lead generators to comply with before being permitted to advertise financial services. Lead gen firms must either receive Direct Authorisation from the FCA, be flagged as an Appointed Representative or Introducer Appointed Representative by the business looking to buy leads, or be vouched for by them.

96 | Issue 33

Many of these options make the lead buyer increasingly liable for any ad violations, and no firm wants to be publicly sanctioned by the FCA – something that could impact brand reputation, consumer confidence and the bottom line. The new rules should be a catalyst for lead buyers to conduct a thorough review of their lead gen operations and suppliers. Well-intentioned action – but does verification go far enough? While action from digital ad hosts is a welcome first step, it is not a comprehensive solution to fraud. For lead buyers paying a fixed cost per lead – and unwitting consumers subjected to marketing campaigns they neither expected nor requested – more can be done by lead generators, buyers and the industry to address this threat. Lead buyers – and the broader financial services industry – should look to intensify scrutiny around lead buying partnerships and lead quality, attempting where possible to individually certify the customer journey, data handling and capture method behind each lead.

What lies ahead? Will the FCA and government stop at compelling solely Google to tighten ad rules? Unlikely. 2020 research indicates Google controls just over a fifth of the global advertising market – leaving a significant market for unscrupulous lead generation firms to continue hosting fraudulent financial adverts. For platforms such as Bing, Facebook and Yahoo, it can only be a matter of time until the net tightens further. These alternative major players in the advertising space may choose to enact similar – or stricter – registration processes, but equally likely is the introduction of legislation by the government to clamp down on digital ads, given the current focus on internet safety. The return of the brand spammers – simple tactics are slipping through the regulatory net At Contact State, we’ve already flagged the return of brand spammers to Google’s search results for leading UK financial firms, with

BUSINESS

Alain Desmier Managing Director Contact State

ads masquerading as legitimate brands. What was the elaborate method to circumvent Google’s new registration system? A single special character added to the name of a trusted brand, easily missed by the casual search user. This was a relatively simple deception, but unscrupulous lead gen firms have assembled an array of tactics to mislead the public – from impersonating trusted financial brands to promising non-existent product benefits – that can be replicated across many digital advertising platforms. Lead buyers must remain vigilant over lead provenance and quality to avoid purchasing non-compliant consumer data. Don’t be caught out – the onus is on the lead buyer Although lead gen firms bear the brunt of regulatory requirements, lead buyers are not immune and must prepare accordingly or face equally damaging sanctions. If a ‘vouched for’ lead gen firm is caught running fraudulent ads or mishandling consumer data, regulators can also clamp down on the business buying and using the leads. Looking beyond regulator scrutiny, leads are the lifeblood of sales and marketing operations, and simply pausing all lead gen activities out of caution could cause major brand damage.

To ensure business continuity and confidence in purchased lead quality, financial firms should adopt a high degree of scrutiny when dealing with FCAauthorised lead generators or vouching on behalf of such firms. This should include high levels of visibility into the lead gen process, tracking the customer journey and all relevant data exchange, and independently certifying each lead where possible to ensure full compliance. Time for the industry to step up – data certification holds the answer Fraudulent advertising tactics can also evolve as fast as the regulations can be enacted against them, whether by circumventing rules or simply expanding operations into new, less regulated markets and platforms. Financial services firms must therefore carry out due diligence on all purchased leads and lead gen partners – from vetting customer touchpoints to ensure data integrity and embracing data certification of legitimate leads, to normalising reports of noncompliant lead gen firms and misleading adverts. End-to-end transparency and data compliance must become the gold standard of financial services marketing – not simply a lead gen box-ticking exercise.

Issue 33 | 97

BUSINESS

Senior level departures – negotiating your exit Leaving your employment can be difficult at the best of times, but at a senior level in financial services the process is particularly delicate (often so difficult that it is described as akin to divorce). Not only will executives wish to negotiate the best financial package possible, they must also consider the wider industry view on their departure and of course regulatory implications, especially if they are looking to continue working in the same sector. While this can add pressure to the situation, there are a number of key considerations that are worth considering when negotiating the terms in an exit agreement, which is typically addressed in a settlement agreement between the executive and the employer. The wider landscape For senior executives, reputation is very often paramount – often more important that cash, as maintaining one’s reputation in the market is often key to securing a role in the future. That means that threats of litigation against an employer may well then sound hollow, given that cases are generally in the public eye and could be reputationally damaging to the executive, even if the executive is ultimately vindicated in court. On the other hand, an employer may themselves be keen to minimise publicity about any dispute or for a senior executive’s departure to be seen as amicable.

98 | Issue 33

Where possible, executives should ensure they have advanced sight of any public announcements regarding their departure and that they are consulted on the organisation’s communications with colleagues or key clients or stakeholders. Timing may be of the essence, especially for directors of listed companies, as board decisions must be swiftly announced in accordance with stock exchange rules. Likewise, there may need to be communications with the regulator (including possibly an exit interview or specific questions in connection with senior-level departures), and there will also need to be a well-documented handover from anyone carrying out a senior management (SMF) function. If there are issues in connection with ongoing fitness and propriety or any disciplinary matters, these may need to be recorded in any future regulatory reference. While firms cannot fetter their regulatory obligation to provide an accurate regulatory reference, it may be possible to negotiate a right to see and comment on any regulatory reference in advance of it being provided to a new employer. Executives may also wish to ensure that appropriate and mutual confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions are agreed, subject of course to appropriate regulatory carve outs. Understand the legal position Before deciding on their negotiating strategy, executives must have a clear understanding of their legal position.

This requires consideration of their position under their employment contract, the terms of any deferred compensation schemes, as well as any statutory claims. Often, individuals will have significant amounts of compensation tied up in deferred bonuses, which means that securing good leaver status is critical (which they may not be contractually entitled to). It is common for employees in financial services to be dismissed unfairly without due process but to instead be offered compensation which equals or exceeds the value of an unfair dismissal claim (compensation for which is capped). In order to exceed the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal in an Employment Tribunal, executives need to show that their dismissal was either because they were a whistleblower or was in breach of the Equality Act 2010 as a result of discrimination on the grounds of

BUSINESS

Eleanor Rowswell Partner Partner at Farrer & Co

a protected characteristic. That can be difficult to prove and will require a careful analysis of the facts. It is therefore vital executives understand their legal position before taking an aggressive legal stance, for example based on an unfair dismissal claim alone (given the limited compensation that this offers). Aggressive approaches off the bat may backfire and encourage decisionmakers to take a hardline response, when a more collaborative approach may have been more effective at the outset if the legal position is not strong. Representation In addition to the strength of their legal position, executives should also give thought to whether negotiations are better handled between lawyers, or directly between themselves and their employer.

Sometimes it can be helpful for executives to agree the terms in principle directly with their employer prior to instructing a lawyer to negotiate on their behalf, especially for those looking for an amicable exit. In other circumstances, particularly in contentious situations or where an executive has strong legal claims, it is better for a lawyer to kick off the negotiation to demonstrate effectively the strength of the legal position. Tax Executives should not always assume their employers have handled matters in the most tax-efficient manner. In cases where multiple jurisdictions are involved (for example the US) the timing of payments must be considered to ensure penalty taxes aren’t inadvertently incurred. In the UK, employees are often able to benefit from compensation of up to

£30,000 tax free, and if legal fees are covered in a statutory settlement agreement, they will also benefit from a tax exemption. Final thoughts When approaching negotiations for an exit agreement, executives should consider where they would like to be in 6-12 months’ time and how their approach to negotiations will best align with those priorities. A retiree may want to hold out longer for a better deal, but an executive hoping to work again may not have this luxury of time. There is no’ one-size fits all’ approach to exit agreements – but keeping these key considerations in mind, alongside any personal goals in the context of the wider industry, will help executives achieve the best deal for them.

Issue 33 | 99

Global Banking & Finance Awards

Award Winning Company ABSA Ziraat Bankasi A.Ş. Nam A Bank Punjab National Bank and Infosys Finacle VeriPark Radar Payments VeriPark BPC Banking Technologies VeriPark Finastra Maveric Systems Mako Financial Technologies, Inc. Shufti Pro Limited Kasikorn Line Company Limited and Infosys Finacle O-CITY DaviPlata CredoLab Pte ltd Rajeeda Holdings (Pvt) Ltd Exim Bank NOW MONEY Mobiquity and BPI Infosys Finacle VTB BANK Contour Contour Nedbank Surecomp

2021 AWARD WINNERS

Award Title Best Banking Technology Implementation Africa 2021 Best Banking Technology Implementation Turkey 2021 Best Banking Technology Implementation Vietnam 2021 Best Banking Technology Overhaul India 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider MENA 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider Philippines 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider South Africa 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider Turkey 2021 Best Banking Technology Solution Provider UK 2021 Best Banking Transformation Partner Europe 2021 Best Digital KYC/On-boarding Application Canada 2021 Best Digital KYC/Onboarding Application Europe 2021 Best Digital KYC/On-boarding Initiative Thailand 2021 Best eWallet Technology Solution Provider Ivory Coast 2021 Best Financial Inclusion Technology Solutions Provider Colombia 2021 Best Financial Inclusion Technology Solutions Provider South East Asia 2021 Best Financial Inclusion Technology Solutions Provider Sri Lanka 2021 Best Financial Inclusion Technology Solutions Provider Tanzania 2021 Best Financial Inclusion Technology Solutions Provider UAE 2021 Best Fintech Partnership Philippines 2021 Best Islamic Banking Technology Provider Middle East 2021 Best New Open Banking APIs Russia 2021 Best New Trade Finance Technology Solution Provider Asia 2021 Best New Trade Finance Technology Solution Provider Singapore 2021 Best Open Banking API’s South Africa 2021 Best Supply Chain Finance Technology Provider Asia 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Surecomp Surecomp Surecomp Surecomp Surecomp DORSUM LTD BPC Banking Technologies Austreme Denis Ivanov Julian Kingsley Opuni, Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd. Ms. Jehad Saud Al-Humaidhi, Ahli United Bank K.S.C.P Rui M. Barros, Absa Bank Moçambique Christopher Loh, uab bank Limited 2021 Ahmed Al Musalami, Sohar International Vijay Manoharan, CIMB Bank Philippines Mr. Payong Srivanich, Krungthai Bank Ahmed Abdelaal, Group Chief Executive Officer, Mashreq Bank Kent Smith, Sunwest Bank Ms Yang Yang Leong, uab bank Limited Mr. Abdullah Jaragh, Ahli United Bank K.S.C.P RCBC DiskarTech VTB BANK Grupo Aval Mr. Dimantha Seneviratne, Director/ Group Chief Executive Officer, National Development Bank PLC Vadim Kulik, JSC VTB Bank Dr Adesola Adeduntan, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd LienVietPostBank RHB Bank Berhad RHB Bank Berhad Ziraat Bankasi A.Ş. Lloyds Banking Group and Publicis Sapient Baiduri Bank Maybank Cambodia BAC Credomatic Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB) Stanbic Bank United Bank for Africa Limited Sohar International VietinBank Nedbank Mozambique RCBC DiskarTech FIRST FRIENDS CAMPUS Vallibel Finance Osotspa Public Company Limited Citi OMAN EXCHANGE L.L.C. Fosun International Limited

Award Title Best Supply Chain Finance Technology Provider Europe 2021 Best Trade Finance Technology Provider Asia 2021 Best Trade Finance Technology Provider Europe 2021 Best Trade Finance Technology Provider Latin America 2021 Best Trade Finance Technology Provider North America 2021 Best Wealth Management Software Solution Provider Europe 2021 Fastest Growing Banking Technology Solution Provider South Africa 2021 Most Innovative KYC Solution Hong Kong 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Eastern Europe 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Ghana 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Kuwait 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Mozambique 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Myanmar 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Oman 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Philippines 2021 Banking CEO of the Year Thailand 2021 Banking CEO of the Year UAE 2021 Banking CFO of the Year California 2021 Banking CFO of the Year Myanmar 2021 Banking CIO of the Year Kuwait 2021 Best Innovation Management Team Philippines 2021 Best Innovation Management Team Russia 2021 Best Management Team LatAm 2021 Financial Services Group CEO of the Year Sri Lanka 2021 Most Innovative Banking Vice President of the Year Russia 2021 Retail Banking CEO of the Year Nigeria 2021 Best Banking Product (Retirement Credit) Vietnam 2021 Best Banking Product (RHB Live FX @ Reflex) Malaysia 2021 Best Multi Currency Account Malaysia 2021 Most Innovative Banking Process (IT Demand Management) Turkey 2021 Partnership of the year: Culture Transformation UK 2021 Banking Brand of the Year Brunei 2021 Banking Brand of the Year Cambodia 2021 Banking Brand of the Year Central America 2021 Banking Group Brand of the Year Russia 2021 Banking Group Brand of the Year Awards Zambia 2021 Banking Group Brand of the Year Ghana 2021 Banking Group Brand of the Year Oman 2021 Derivatives Bank Brand of the Year Vietnam 2021 Digital Banking Brand of the Year Mozambique 2021 Digital Banking Brand of the Year Philippines 2021 Education Brand of the Year Awards Sri Lanka 2021 Financial Services Brand of the Year Sri Lanka 2021 Food & Beverage Brand of the Year Awards Thailand 2021 Foreign Banking Brand of the Year China 2021 Foreign Currency Remittance Industry Brand of the Year Oman 2021 Holding Group Brand of the Year China 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company

Award Title

Global Benefits Georgia Allianz Malaysia Berhad Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) Ceylinco Life Insurance Limited Noor Takaful Zimnat Group Krungthai-AXA Life Insurance Public Company Limited Tigo Finance Banka Kombëtare Tregtare Kosovë Sh.a. Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC Saudi Telecom Company - STC Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam JSC (BIDV) Mr. Thai Nha, Cana Securities Co., Ltd. Niklas Neubauer, GBE brokers Ltd Zachary Harding, Stocks and Securities Ltd Daniela Secara, BT Capital Partners Nedbank Vietnam Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VietABank)

Insurance Brand of the Year Georgia 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year Malaysia 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year Middle East 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year Qatar 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year Sri Lanka 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year UAE 2021 Insurance Brand of the Year Zimbabwe 2021 Life Insurance Brand of the Year Thailand 2021 NBFI Brand of the Year Macedonia 2021 Retail Banking Brand of the Year Kosovo 2021 Retail Brand of the Year Sri Lanka 2021 Telecommunications Brand of the Year Saudi Arabia 2021 Wholesale Banking Brand of the Year Vietnam 2021 Brokerage CEO of the Year Cambodia 2021 Brokerage CEO of the Year Cyprus 2021 Brokerage CEO of the Year Jamaica 2021 Security Brokerage CEO of the Year Romania 2021 Best Bank for Sustainable Development South Africa 2021 Best Bank for Sustainable Development Vietnam 2021

AfricaDev Consulting Ltd PFA Pension, Forsikringsaktieselskab Global Benefits Georgia Sunibel Corporate Services Ltd National Citizen Bank V&A Financial Solutions BAC Bahrain Bourse VietinBank Fosun International Limited CITITRUST HOLDINGS PLC. Mr. Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group PCL Melanie Pickett, Northern Trust Dr. Amir Ali Salemizadeh, JTA International Stephen Kabungo,CEO, Ilani Concepts Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) Mr. Ludovic Garnier, Thai Union Group PCL Dr. Amir Ali Salemizadeh, JTA International Stefan Hickmott, CEO, Newfields Consulting Ms. Kalvalee Thongsomaung, Thai Union Group PCL Lilit Tshughuryan, Akademikka Training Institute PLEION Corporate Finance Newfields Consulting LexisNexis® Risk Solutions LexisNexis® Risk Solutions LexisNexis® Risk Solutions LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Abans Finance PLC

Best Corporate Advisory Africa 2021 Best Insurance Company Social Media Engagement Denmark 2021 Best Insurance Company Social Media Engagement Georgia 2021 Best Offshore Corporate Advisory Mauritius 2021 Best Place to Work Vietnam 2021 Best SME Project Management Consultancy Ukraine 2021 Best Sustainable Development Company CEE 2021 Best Work Life Balance Program Bahrain 2021 Leading Contact Center Vietnam 2021 Most Innovative Holding Group China 2021 Most Innovative Holding Group Nigeria 2021 Best Group CEO in Asia 2021 Business Woman of the Year USA 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year Asia 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year Kenya 2021 Islamic Trade Finance CEO of the Year Middle East 2021 Islamic Trade Finance CEO of the Year Saudi Arabia 2021 Best New Group CFO in Thailand 2021 Business Consultancy CEO Newcomer of the Year Asia 2021 Entrepreneur Newcomer of the Year Middle East 2021 Group Head of IR Newcomer of the Year Thailand 2021 New Business Woman of the Year UAE 2021 Best New Corporate Advisory Mauritius 2021 Best New Corporate Advisory Middle East 2021 Best Anti-Fraud / Security Solutions Provider Asia Pacific 2021 Best Anti-Fraud / Security Solutions Provider Latin America 2021 Best Anti-Fraud / Security Solutions Provider United States 2021 Best Anti-Fraud / Security Solutions Provider Western Europe 2021 Best Back Office Innovation Sri Lanka 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company FutureVault KPI MTN Business Kenya Shufti Pro Limited Vneuron Risk & Compliance Unity Bank Plc Exim Bank OTP Bank Ukraine Bank Windhoek First Capital Bank Botswana QNB ALAHLI TBC Bank KCB Group Plc BFL BRED Bank HSBC Bank Golomt Bank Standard Bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation Banco Finantia JSCB Avangard Riyad Bank Nedbank Nations Trust Bank PLC Society Tunisian of Bank (STB) JSC Aloqabank Asia Commercial Bank Asian Development Bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Dubai (DIFC) Branch DFCC iConnect (DFCC BANK PLC) Santander UK PLC and Infosys Finacle VietinBank Sunwest New Account Portal (SNAP) Banco Interatlântico, S.A. Cambodian Public Bank Ping An Bank Co.Ltd. Credit Agricole Egypt Access Bank Limited PT Bank OCBC NISP PUBLIC BANK BERHAD Bank of Mauritius Asia Commercial Bank Bahrain Bourse SEDCO Holding KwaZulu-Natal Joint Municipal Pension /Provident Funds Osotspa Public Company Limited CROWE MAK ABSA Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania

Award Title Best Data Enterprise Cloud Management Company Canada 2021 Best IT Services Provider Dubai 2021 Best IT Services Provider Kenya 2021 Best New Anti Fraud / Security Solutions Provider Cyprus 2021 Most Innovative Anti-Money-Laundering Solution (Vneuron Reis™ RCS) MENA 2021 Best Agri Business Bank Nigeria 2021 Best Agri Business Bank Tanzania 2021 Best Agri Business Bank Ukraine 2021 Best Bank for Corporate Investment Management Services Namibia 2021 Best Corporate Bank Botswana 2021 Best Corporate Bank Egypt 2021 Best Corporate Bank Georgia 2021 Best Corporate Bank Kenya 2021 Best Corporate Bank Lao People’s Democratic Republic 2021 Best Corporate Bank Mauritius 2021 Best Corporate Bank Mongolia 2021 Best Corporate Bank Mozambique 2021 Best Corporate Bank Philippines 2021 Best Corporate Bank Portugal 2021 Best Corporate Bank Russia 2021 Best Corporate Bank Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Corporate Bank South Africa 2021 Best Corporate Bank Sri Lanka 2021 Best Corporate Bank Tunisia 2021 Best Corporate Bank Uzbekistan 2021 Best Corporate Bank Vietnam 2021 Best Project Finance Bank Asia Pacific 2021 Best Project Finance Bank UAE 2021 Most Innovative Corporate Banking App Sri Lanka 2021 Most Innovative Financial Solutions for Corporate Client UK 2021 Most Innovative Financial Solutions for Corporate Client Vietnam 2021 Most Innovative Financial Solutions for Entrepreneurs California 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Cabo Verde 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Cambodia 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank China 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Egypt 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Gambia 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Indonesia 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Malaysia 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Southern Africa 2021 Best Corporate Governance Bank Vietnam 2021 Best Corporate Governance Company Bahrain 2021 Best Corporate Governance Company Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Corporate Governance Company South Africa 2021 Best Corporate Governance Company Thailand 2021 Best Corporate Governance Company UAE 2021 Best CSR Bank Africa 2021 Best CSR Bank Albania 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

Crèdit Andorrà Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) National Bank Of Egypt Coop Pank AS United Bank for Africa Limited Standard Chartered Bank KCB Group Plc First Bank of Nigeria Ltd SKB Banka d.d. Ljubljana Amana Bank Exim Bank Krungthai Bank QNB Finansbank Credit Agricole Ukraine Asia Commercial Bank Fosun International Limited Smart Axiata Sanne Group Zedcrest Capital Limited

Best CSR Bank Andorra 2021 Best CSR Bank Brunei 2021 Best CSR Bank Egypt 2021 Best CSR Bank Estonia 2021 Best CSR Bank Ghana 2021 Best CSR Bank Jordan 2021 Best CSR Bank Kenya 2021 Best CSR Bank Nigeria 2021 Best CSR Bank Slovenia 2021 Best CSR Bank Sri Lanka 2021 Best CSR Bank Tanzania 2021 Best CSR Bank Thailand 2021 Best CSR Bank Turkey 2021 Best CSR Bank Ukraine 2021 Best CSR Bank Vietnam 2021 Best CSR Company Asia 2021 Best CSR Company Cambodia 2021 Best CSR Company Mauritius 2021 Best CSR Company Nigeria 2021

SEDCO Holding BALFIN Group Yuanta Financial Holdings ZB Financial Holdings Limited Saldo Positivo Smart Axiata Union Assurance PLC Thai Union Group PCL Cecabank Argenta Spaarbank Banco Interatlântico, S.A. Vattanac Bank Credit Agricole Egypt Access Bank Limited SBI (Mauritius) Bank of Beirut Ecobank Sierra Leone BRAC Uganda Bank Ltd BAOVIET LIFE Zedvance Finance Limited Fubon Insurance Global Benefits Georgia AROPE Insurance Oman Insurance Company Health360 Ancillary Services WLL ICEA Life Assurance Company Limited Sumac Microfinance Bank OK BANK, INC. MIA Plc. Microfinance Institution

Best CSR Company Saudi Arabia 2021 Best CSR Company South East Europe 2021 Best CSR Company Taiwan 2021 Best CSR Company Zimbabwe 2021 Best CSR Initiative Portugal 2021 Leading Company in Building Community Resilience Cambodia 2021 Leading Company in Building Community Resilience Sri Lanka 2021 Leading Company in Building Community Resilience Thailand 2021 Best Custodian Bank Spain 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Belgium 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Cabo Verde 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Cambodia 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Egypt 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Gambia 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Mauritius 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Oman 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Sierra Leone 2021 Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Uganda 2021 Best Life Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Vietnam 2021 Finance Company Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Nigeria 2021 General Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Taiwan 2021 Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Georgia 2021 Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness MENA 2021 Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness UAE 2021 Insurance TPA Company Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Bahrain 2021 Life Insurance Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Uganda 2021 Microfinance Bank Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Kenya 2021 MicroFinance Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Philippines 2021 NBFI Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Cambodia 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Credicorp Capital Credicorp Capital Credicorp Capital Habib Bank Habib Bank Habib Bank Habib Bank Nedbank LexisNexis Risk Solutions Concord Asset Management Piraeus Asset Management Philequity Management, Inc. VinaCapital CROWE MAK Trust Bank Limited Banco Interatlântico, S.A. Société Générale Cameroun Bank of Georgia

Award Title Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction & Happiness Sri Lanka 2021 Deal of the Year Awards Latin America / LatAm 2021 Deal of the Year Awards Peru 2021 Deal of the Year Awards South America 2021 Deal of the Year Bond Deal Pakistan 2021 (WAPDA Eurobond) Deal of the Year Equity Deal Pakistan 2021 (Shell Pakistan Ltd) Deal of the Year Project Finance Deal Pakistan 2021 (Punjab Thermal Power Private Limited)

Banca Transilvania First Forte Consultancy Orbex Orbex Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd CITITRUST HOLDINGS PLC. Ilani Concepts Banka Ekonomike OctaFX CIC Insurance Group Mandal Daatgal JSC AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance Standard Investment Bank Ltd Transcapital NBFI Mercantile Investments National Development Bank PLC TISCO Asset Management Co.,Ltd. Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz S.A. BancABC Botswana SSIF BRK FINANCIAL GROUP SALAMA Islamic Insurance Co.P.S.C United Bank for Africa BAC Credomatic QNB ALAHLI Hibret Bank Investbank Nedbank Lesotho Mashreq Bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos

Deal of the Year Syndicated Loan Pakistan 2021 (Pakistan Mobile Communications) Debt Deal of the Year South Africa 2021 “Old Mutual” Decade of Excellence Anti-Fraud / Security Solutions USA 2021 Decade of Excellence Asset Management Bulgaria 2021 Decade of Excellence Asset Management Greece 2021 Decade of Excellence Asset Management Philippines 2021 Decade of Excellence Asset Management Vietnam 2021 Decade of Excellence Audit and Tax Advisory UAE 2021 Decade of Excellence Banking Gambia 2021 Decade of Excellence Banking Group Cabo Verde 2021 Decade of Excellence Banking Group Cameroon 2021 Decade of Excellence Banking Group Georgia 2021 Decade of Excellence Banking Group Romania 2021 Decade of Excellence Business Advisory GCC 2021 Decade of Excellence Forex Brokerage EUROPE 2021 Decade of Excellence Forex Brokerage MENA 2021 Decade of Excellence General Insurance Sri Lanka 2021 Decade of Excellence Holding Group Nigeria 2021 Decade of Excellence ICT Firm Kenya Decade of Excellence in Banking Kosovo 2021 Decade of Excellence in Forex Asia 2021 Decade of Excellence Insurance Kenya 2021 Decade of Excellence Insurance Mongolia 2021 Decade of Excellence Insurance Qatar 2021 Decade of Excellence Investment Banking Kenya 2021 Decade of Excellence NBFI Mongolia 2021 Decade of Excellence NBFI Sri Lanka 2021 Decade of Excellence Project and Infrastructure Financing Sri Lanka 2021 Decade of Excellence Provident Fund Management Thailand 2021 Decade of Excellence Retail Banking Bolivia 2021 Decade of Excellence Retail Banking Botswana 2021 Decade of Excellence Security Brokerage Romania 2021 Decade of Excellence Takaful Provider UAE 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Benin 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Central America 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Egypt 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Ethiopia 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Jordan 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Lesotho 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services MENA 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Portugal 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company

Award Title

Doha Bank Equity Bank Rwanda PLC Banco Santander Nations Trust Bank PLC Exim Bank Uganda Limited Megabank National Development Bank PLC AMEN BANK Stanbic Bank Crèdit Andorrà Evocabank Standard Chartered Bank (Botswana) ACLEDA Bank Plc. Banco Santander Chile Ecobank Gambia Ltd Ecobank Ghana Limited SBI Sumishin Net Bank, Ltd. Standard Chartered Bank Banka Kombëtare Tregtare Kosovë Sh.a.

Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Qatar 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Rwanda 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Spain 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Sri Lanka 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Uganda 2021 Best Bank for Digital Banking Services Ukraine 2021 Best Bank for Digital Transformation Sri Lanka 2021 Best Bank for Digital Transformation Tunisia 2021 Best Digital Bank Zambia 2021 Best Digital Bank Andorra 2021 Best Digital Bank Armenia 2021 Best Digital Bank Botswana 2021 Best Digital Bank Cambodia 2021 Best Digital Bank Chile 2021 Best Digital Bank Gambia 2021 Best Digital Bank Ghana 2021 Best Digital Bank Japan 2021 Best Digital Bank Kenya 2021 Best Digital Bank Kosovo 2021

Al Rajhi Bank BC Moldova Agroindbank Absa Bank Moçambique Ecobank Nigeria Ltd CIMB Bank Philippines JSCB Avangard Ecobank Sierra Leone Nedbank Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Bank ABC Tunisie CR2 DFCC Virtual Wallet (DFCC BANK PLC) AMEN BANK Viet Capital Bank Banco Santander Chile PT Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Barat dan Banten Tbk CIMB Vietnam BIDV iBank Nedbank Mozambique Banco Santander FORTUNE SACCO LTD ING Bank, Philippines App DABOX Vattanac Bank BAC Credomatic Nedbank (Eswatini) Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd. Saudi National Bank Assistente Digital App Caixadirecta

Best Digital Bank KSA 2021 Best Digital Bank Moldova 2021 Best Digital Bank Mozambique 2021 Best Digital Bank Nigeria 2021 Best Digital Bank Philippines 2021 Best Digital Bank Russia 2021 Best Digital Bank Sierra Leone 2021 Best Digital Bank South Africa 2021 Best Digital Bank Taiwan 2021 Best Digital Bank Tunisia 2021 Best Digital Wallet Ethiopia 2021 Best Digital Wallet Sri Lanka 2021 Best Digital Wallet Tunisia 2021 Best New Retail Banking APP (digimi) Vietnam 2021 Fastest Growing Digital Bank Chile 2021 Fastest Growing Digital Bank Indonesia 2021 Fastest Growing Digital Bank Vietnam 2021 Most Innovative Corporate Banking App Vietnam 2021 Most Innovative Digital Branch Design Mozambique 2021 Most Innovative Digital Branch Design Spain 2021 Most Innovative Mobile Savings App Kenya 2021 Most Innovative Mobile Savings App Philippines 2021 Most Innovative Mobile Savings App Portugal 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Cambodia 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Central America 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Eswatini (Swaziland) 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Ghana 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Middle East 2021 SNB AlAhli Mobile Most Innovative Retail Banking App Portugal 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company Banco Santander United Bank For Africa Ltd (Tanzania) National Citizen Bank Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) Century Financial Consultancy LLC trading.md Learn to Trade Learn to Trade Learn to Trade Learn to Trade Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. Brunei Institute of Leadership and Islamic Finance (BILIF) Oschadbank Basisbank Sparkasse Bank Makedonija AD Skopje Ahli Bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Dubai (DIFC) Branch Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) Dara Insurance Plc. Bereket Sigorta A.Ş. KAFIL-SUGURTA LLT SIL Insurance Company Sovannaphum Life Assurance Public Limited Company Sanasa Life Insurance Company Ltd (SICL) Metropolitan Tanzania Life Assurance Company Limited Fosun Hani Securities Limited 3Way Finance Kuwait Middle East Financial Investment Company BA Securities, Inc. BT Capital Partners Smart Stock Brokers (T) Ltd QNB Finansinvest Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank Banco Internacional (Chile) Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank SDB bank TeamApt TF Financial Services Ltd Abans Finance PLC Sarvodaya Development Finance Limited Sejaya Micro Credit Limited SMART CREDIT Mohanokor Microfinance Institution Plc Odea Bank A.Ş. Adsen Moore Adsen Moore Adsen Moore TARGOBANK

Award Title Most Innovative Retail Banking App Spain 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Tanzania 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Vietnam 2021 – For the IziMobile app Savy- Most Innovative Mobile Savings App Vietnam 2021 Best Finance Education & Training UAE 2021 Best Forex Education & Training Moldova 2021 Best Forex Education & Training Provider Australia 2021 Best Forex Education & Training Provider Europe 2021 Best Forex Education & Training Provider Philippines 2021 Best Forex Education & Training Provider United Kingdom 2021 Best Insurance Education & Training (We Women Gender Sensitivity Trainings ) Philippines 2021

Best Islamic Finance Education & Training Brunei 2021 Best Online Financial Education & Training Ukraine 2021 Fastest Growing Corporate Bank Georgia 2021 Fastest Growing Corporate Bank Macedonia 2021 Fastest Growing Corporate Bank Oman 2021 Fastest Growing Corporate Bank UAE 2021 Fastest Growing Corporate Bank Vietnam 2021 Fastest Growing General Insurance Company Cambodia 2021 Fastest Growing General Insurance Company Turkey 2021 Fastest Growing General Insurance Company Uzbekistan 2021 Fastest Growing Health Insurance Provider Armenia 2021 Fastest Growing Life Insurance Company Cambodia 2021 Fastest Growing Life Insurance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Life Insurance Company Tanzania 2021 Fastest Growing Investment Bank Hong Kong 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage Egypt 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage MENA 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage Philippines 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage Romania 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage Tanzania 2021 Fastest Growing Securities Brokerage Turkey 2021 Fastest Growing MICROFINANCE Bank Nigeria 2021 Fastest Growing SME Bank Chile 2021 Fastest Growing SME Bank Nigeria 2021 Fastest Growing SME Bank Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Fintech Company Africa 2021 Fastest Growing Alternative Credit Specialist Ghana 2021 Fastest Growing Auto Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Development Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Micro Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing MicroFinance Company Moldova 2021 Fastest Growing Microfinance Provider Cambodia 2021 Fastest Growing Private Bank Turkey 2021 Fastest Growing Private Wealth Management Company Europe 2021 Fastest Growing Private Wealth Management Company Malta 2021 Fastest Growing Private Wealth Management Company UK 2021 Fastest Growing Bank for Consumer Loans Germany 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

Ping An Bank Co.Ltd. Sparkasse Bank Makedonija AD Skopje ING Bank, Philippines Amana Bank Asakabank Validus Capital Pte. Ltd Banque Misr Saudi EXIM Bank Bank Saint Petersburg Nam A Bank First Capital Bank Botswana Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) PT Bank OCBC NISP National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited Al Rajhi Bank RHB Bank Berhad Nedbank SACOMBANK Crown Agents Bank

Fastest Growing Retail Bank China 2021 Fastest Growing Retail Bank Macedonia 2021 Fastest Growing Retail Bank Philippines 2021 Fastest Growing Retail Bank Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Retail Bank Uzbekistan 2021 Fastest Growing Supply Chain Finance Provider – Non-Bank South East Asia 2021 Fastest Growing Trade Finance Bank Egypt 2021 Fastest Growing Trade Finance Bank MENA 2021 Fastest Growing Trade Finance Bank Russia 2021 Fastest Growing Trade Finance Bank Vietnam 2021 Best Forex Bank Botswana 2021 Best Forex Bank Hong Kong 2021 Best Forex Bank Indonesia 2021 Best Forex Bank Jamaica 2021 Best Forex Bank KSA 2021 Best Forex Bank Malaysia 2021 Best Forex Bank Southern Africa 2021 Best Forex Bank Vietnam 2021 Fastest Growing Forex Bank Africa 2021

Banque du Caire AGISA Capital Asset Management CJSC SICO BSC (c) Incofin Investment Management LOM Financial (Bermuda) Limited BNP Paribas Asset Management (Brazil) Compass Invest JSC China Asset Management Co., Ltd. Erste Asset Management d.o.o. BOC Asset Management Ltd Trigon Asset Management AS CI Asset Management National Investments Company EDC Investments Limited PIRAEUS ASSET MANAGEMENT China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited Icelandic Securities PT. Sucorinvest Asset Management Arca Fondi SGR S.p.A. Jysan Invest Noor Financial Investment Company K.P.S.C Incrementum AG Arche Wealth Management KB PUBLIKUM INVEST AD SKOPJE Principal Asset Management Berhad TAM Asset Management International Limited HSBC Global Asset Management Mexico GFG Groupe Financier de Gestion SAM

Fastest Growing Forex Bank Egypt 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Andorra 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Armenia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Bahrain 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Belgium 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Bermuda 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Brazil 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Bulgaria 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year China 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Croatia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Cyprus 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Eastern Europe 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Egypt 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year GCC 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Ghana 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Greece 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Hong Kong 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Iceland 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Indonesia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Italy 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Kazakhstan 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Kuwait 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Liechtenstein 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Luxembourg 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Macedonia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Malaysia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Mauritius 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Mexico 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Monaco 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company BPI Asset Management and Trust Corporation Whitestar Asset Solutions S.A. Albilad Capital Lion Global Investors Limited PT. Sucorinvest Asset Management Ceybank Asset Management Ltd Columbia Threadneedle Investments Krungsri Asset Management Co Ltd Tunisie Valeurs IS Asset Management ICU An Binh Fund Management Company (ABF) SICO BSC (c) Hemera Capital Partners Albsig Invest Sh.a Xeno Investment Ltd Principal Asset Management Berhad Profuturo KwaZulu-Natal Joint Municipal Pension /Provident Funds Ahli United Bank K.S.C.P Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC BNP Paribas Asset Management (Brazil) CI Asset Management Wafra International Investment Company Maybank Asset Management Sdn Bhd Afrinvest Asset Management Limited ATR Asset Management (ATRAM) BT Asset Management SAI Azimut Portföy An Binh Fund Management Company (ABF) servfund Sanne Group KwaZulu-Natal Joint Municipal Pension /Provident Funds Principal Asset Management Berhad Krungsri Asset Management Co Ltd Concord Asset Management BNP Paribas Asset Management (Brazil) Krungsri Asset Management Co Ltd Principal Asset Management Berhad Amonis OFP United Pension Trustees Concord International Investments Concord International Investments More Capital SAL Luiz Sorge,BNPP AM LatAm Dr. Ugo Loeser, Arca Fondi SGR S.p.A. Munirah Khairuddin, Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia, Principal Asset Management Berhad

Award Title Asset Management Company of the Year Philippines 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Portugal 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Saudi Arabia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Singapore 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year South East Asia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Sri Lanka 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Switzerland 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Thailand 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Tunisia 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Turkey 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Ukraine 2021 Asset Management Company of the Year Vietnam 2021 Best Fund Administration Company Bahrain 2021 Best New Asset Management Company Angola 2021 Best New Fund Administration Company of the Year Albania 2021 Best New Fund Administration Company Uganda 2021 Best Pension Fund Administrator Malaysia 2021 Best Pension Fund Administrator Mexico 2021 Best Pension Fund Provider South Africa 2021 Best Sukuk Issuance Kuwait 2021 Best Sukuk Issuance UAE 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Brazil 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Egypt 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Kuwait 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Malaysia 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Nigeria 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Philippines 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Romania 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Turkey 2021 Fastest Growing Fund Management Company Vietnam 2021 Fund Administration Company of the Year Egypt 2021 Fund Administration Company of the Year Mauritius 2021 Fund Administration Company of the Year South Africa 2021 Fund Distribution Network Provider of the Year Malaysia 2021 Most Innovative Investment Product (KFCORE) Thailand 2021 Most Innovative Online Asset Management Company Bulgaria 2021 Pension Fund Manager Of the Year Brazil 2021 Pension Fund Manager Of the Year Thailand 2021 Pension Fund Provider Malaysia 2021 Pension Fund Provider Of the Year Belgium 2021 Pension Fund Trustee Company of the Year Ghana 2021 Private Equity Company of the Year Egypt 2021 Private Equity Company of the Year Egypt 2021 Private Equity Company of the Year Lebanon 2021 Asset Management CEO of the Year Brazil 2021 Asset Management CEO of the Year Italy 2021 Asset Management CEO of the Year Malaysia 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

AIA Investment Management (Thailand) FFF Asset Management Ltd BeyondCapital IDALP Capital PAC Asset Management Limited Neix Albilad Capital Rasmala Investment Bank Limited Hemera Capital Partners Hemera Capital Partners Stag Fund Management Huxley Huxley Huxley Huxley Kara Trebs, Sunwest Bank gig-Jordan Freedom Finance Insurance jsc WINNER – Vienna Insurance Group

Best New Asset Management Company Thailand 2021 Best New Hedge Fund Management Company Cyprus 2021 Best New Venture Capital Firm Jordan 2021 Most Innovative New Alternative Fund Luxembourg 2021 Best Equity Fund (PACAM Equity Fund) Nigeria 2021 Best Fixed Income Execution Services Argentina 2021 Best Fund (Ensan Endowment Fund) Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Islamic Fund (Rasmala Long Income Fund) UAE 2021 Best Mutual Fund (Atlântico Liquidez)Angola 2021 Best Real Estate Fund Angola 2021 Best New Private Equity Fund Manager Portugal 2021 Best Banking & Finance Recruitment Company GCC 2021 Best Executive Search Company GCC 2021 Best IT/Technology Recruitment Agency GCC 2021 Best Recruitment Agency for Contract / Outsource Solution Staffing GCC 2021 Banking Head of HR of the Year California 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Jordan 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Kazakhstan 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Macedonia 2021

Britam Insurance (Malawi) Ltd G.F.A INSURANCE LTD Tawuniya Neova Participation Insurance Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Company CiV Life HNB Assurance Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) Sanlam AG Rwanda JSC “Insurance Company ALDAGI” AMI ASSURANCES Sanlam General Insurance Uganda Limited Fairfirst Insurance Limited Fairfirst Insurance Limited Gross Insurance LLC Botswana Insurance Company Lev Ins Insurance Company Forte Insurance (Cambodia) Plc. Suez Canal Insurance Solidarity VIS Insurance Ltd. Freedom Finance Insurance jsc Co-operative Insurance Co. Ltd Donaris Vienna Insurance Group SA Mongol Daatgal Dhofar Insurance Company SAOG UAP Insurance Rwanda Ceylinco General Insurance Ltd Alliance Insurance Corporation Limited

Best Auto Insurance Company Malawi 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Mauritius 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company Turkey 2021 Best Auto Insurance Company UAE 2021 Best Bancassurance Provider Russia 2021 Best Bancassurance Provider Sri Lanka 2021 Best Bancassurance Provider Vietnam 2021 Best Business Insurance (Commercial Lines) Provider Africa 2021 Best Business Insurance (commercial lines) Provider Georgia 2021 Best Business Insurance (commercial lines) Provider Tunisia 2021 Best Business Insurance (commercial lines) Provider Uganda 2021 Best Cyber Insurance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Best Employee Benefits Provider Sri Lanka 2021 Best General Insurance App Uzbekistan 2021 Best General Insurance Company Botswana 2021 Best General Insurance Company Bulgaria 2021 Best General Insurance Company Cambodia 2021 Best General Insurance Company Egypt 2021 Best General Insurance Company for Innovation Bahrain 2021 Best General Insurance Company for Innovation Iceland 2021 Best General Insurance Company for Innovation Kazakhstan 2021 Best General Insurance Company for Innovation Sri Lanka 2021 Best General Insurance Company Moldova 2021 Best General Insurance Company Mongolia 2021 Best General Insurance Company Oman 2021 Best General Insurance Company Rwanda 2021 Best General Insurance Company South Asia 2021 Best General Insurance Company Tanzania 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Assurances Maghrebia Sanlam General Insurance Uganda Limited Professional Insurance Corporation Zambia Plc Ulaanbaatar City Insurance Neova Participation Insurance Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Co. [AMAN] PJSC gig-Jordan Strategis Insurance Tanzania Limited Generali Thailand Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Co. [AMAN] PJSC ONE LIFE ASSURANCE LIMITED Cigna Saglik Hayat ve Emeklilik Aafiya Medical Billing Services LLC Reunion Insurance Company Limited Aar Insurance Kenya Generali Thailand Alliance Insurance Company Allianz Malaysia Berhad MOLDASIG AlKhaleej Takaful Insurance Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) Al Hilal Life B.S.C (C) Misr Emirates Takaful Life Insurance Company (METLICO) Union Assurance PLC TAL Metropolitan Life Insurance Ghana Halyk Life JSC Absa Life Assurance Kenya Limited Vanguard Life Assurance Company Limited Hong Leong Assurance Berhad National Insurance Co. Ltd Pacifico Seguros Ceylinco Life Insurance Limited Nan Shan Life Insurance Co Ltd Zurich International Life Ltd CIC AFRICA (U) LTD New Life Insurance Sanlam Life Insurance Zambia Old Mutual Zimbabwe Muang Thai Life Assurance PCL Aljazira Takaful Taawuni Co Al-Bahriah Insurance & Reinsurance S.A.L. Namforce Life Insurance Solidarity Freedom Finance Insurance jsc Tune Protect Thailand JSC “Insurance company KAFOLAT” Euler Hermes Asia Pacific

Award Title Best General Insurance Company Tunisia 2021 Best General Insurance Company Uganda 2021 Best General Insurance Company Zambia 2021 Best General Insurance Product (Comprehensive Apartment Insurance) Mongolia 2021 Best General Takaful Provider Turkey 2021 Best General Takaful Provider UAE 2021 Best Group Health Insurance Company Jordan 2021 Best Group Health Insurance Company Tanzania 2021 Best Group Health Insurance Company Thailand 2021 Best Group Health Insurance Company UAE 2021 Best Group Health Insurance Company Zambia 2021 Best Health Insurance Product (Cigna Supplementary Health Insurance) Turkey 2021 Best Health Insurance TPA Service Provider UAE 2021 Best Home Insurance Company Malawi 2021 Best Individual Health Insurance Company Kenya 2021 Best Insurance Company Claims Management Team Thailand 2021 Best Insurance Company Claims Management Team Zimbabwe 2021 Best Insurance Company Social Media Engagement Malaysia 2021 Best Insurance Underwriting Moldova 2021 Best Insurance Underwriting Qatar 2021 Best Insurance Website Qatar 2021 Best Life & Health Insurance Company Bahrain 2021 Best Life & Health Takaful Provider Egypt 2021 Best Life Insurance App Sri Lanka 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Australia 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Ghana 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Kazakhstan 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Kenya 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Malawi 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Malaysia 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Mauritius 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Peru 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Taiwan 2021 Best Life Insurance Company UAE 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Uganda 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Uzbekistan 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Zambia 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Zimbabwe 2021 Best Life Insurance Product (Elite Health, D Health) Thailand 2021 Best Life Takaful Provider Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Marine Insurance Company Lebanon 2021 Best New Life Insurance Company Namibia 2021 Best Online Insurance Company Bahrain 2021 Best Online Insurance Company Kazakhstan 2021 Best Online Insurance Company Thailand 2021 Best Reinsurance Company Uzbekistan 2021 Best Trade Credit Insurance Company Asia Pacific 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company Global Security Insurance Company Limited Royal Chartered Insurance Limited Prosur Insurance Plc Assemble Insurance Tanzania Limited Mr. Sanesh Fernando, HNB Assurance Dr. Dorothy Chapeyama, Reunion Insurance Company Limited Sunil Kohli,Dhofar Insurance Company SAOG Sara Lamsam, Muang Thai Life Assurance PCL Allianz Lifestyle Protect AXA Mansard Health Global Benefits Georgia Alliance Insurance Company Fairfirst Insurance Limited ICEA Uganda Malayan’s Vital Cover

Award Title

Union Assurance PLC Middle East Insurance Mercantile Insurance

Best Travel Insurance Company Gambia 2021 Best New Financial Guaranty Insurance Provider Indian Ocean Rim Countries 2021 Best New General Insurance Company Cambodia 2021 Best New General Insurance Provider Tanzania 2021 Head of the Year – Insurance Partnerships Business Sri Lanka 2021 Insurance CEO of the Year Malawi 2021 Insurance CEO of the Year Oman 2021 Insurance CEO of the Year Thailand 2021 Best General Insurance Product Malaysia 2021 Best Health Insurance Product (AXA Platinum Plus Cover) Nigeria 2021 Best Health Insurance Product (Global Protector Insurance Policy) Georgia 2021 Best Insurance Product UAE (Platinum Endowment Product) 2021 Best Motor Insurance Claims Process (Click2Claim) Sri Lanka 2021 Best Motor Insurance Product (Simba Motor Policy) Uganda 2021 Best Non- Life Insurance Product Philippines 2021 Best Travel Insurance Policy Philippines 2021 Most Innovative Education Insurance Plan Sri Lanka 2021 Most Innovative Life Insurance Product (DAMAN) Jordan 2021 Most Innovative Motor Insurance Product (Biker's Insurance) Philippines 2021

Think Insurtech AETINS SDN BHD Sigma Interalbanian VIG Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) Union Assurance PLC Bereket Sigorta A.Ş. Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Company BAOVIET LIFE SICO BSC (c) BGFIBank Cameroon Banco de Fomento Internacional S.A. BAC Swedbank Finland TBC Capital JSC Halyk Finance Sterling Capital Limited BTG Pactual CDH Investment Bank NBK Capital (Kuwait) BDSec JSC Banco BiG Moçambique, S.A. uab securities limited Standard Bank Namibia Coronation Merchant Bank BankDhofar Habib Bank ATON Nedbank NDB Investment Bank Limited

Best Cloud Based Insurance Solution Provider France 2021 Best Core Insurance Technology Transformation Asia Pacific 2021 Best Insurance Company Digital Transformation Albania 2021 Best Insurance Company Digital Transformation Qatar 2021 Best Insurance Company Digital Transformation Sri Lanka 2021 Best Insurance Company Digital Transformation Turkey 2021 Best Insurance Company Digital Transformation UAE 2021 Best Life Insurance Company Digital Transformation Vietnam 2021 Best Investment Bank Bahrain 2021 Best Investment Bank Cameroon 2021 Best Investment Bank Cape Verde 2021 Best Investment Bank CEE 2021 Best Investment Bank Finland 2021 Best Investment Bank Georgia 2021 Best Investment Bank Kazakhstan 2021 Best Investment Bank Kenya 2021 Best Investment Bank Latin America 2021 Best Investment Bank Malawi 2021 Best Investment Bank Middle East 2021 Best Investment Bank Mongolia 2021 Best Investment Bank Mozambique 2021 Best Investment Bank Myanmar 2021 Best Investment Bank Namibia 2021 Best Investment Bank Nigeria 2021 Best Investment Bank Oman 2021 Best Investment Bank Pakistan 2021 Best Investment Bank Russia 2021 Best Investment Bank South Africa 2021 Best Investment Bank Sri Lanka 2021

Malayan’s Travel Master policy with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Coverage

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company Carnegie Investment Bank Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank QNB Finansinvest Dragon Capital Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe Ltd Whitetip Investments AEPEY Ms. Kyawt Kay Khaing, uab securities limited Soul Partners Freedom Finance FE LLC BAOVIET Securities GemForex OctaFX Varchev Finance Ltd. Fondex GKFX GBE brokers Ltd. Al Salam for Financial Investments HotForex FBS ANADOLU YATIRIM INVEST BIDV Securities Company (BSC) BDSwiss Commercial Bank Financial Services CXM Direct CDG GLOBAL (EU) LTD RoboForex CWG Markets AGEA International AD RoboForex Portfolio Personal Inversiones (PPI) BT Capital Partners Sentieo SICO BSC (c) First Financial Brokerage House EOOD ACLEDA Securities Plc. InterCapital Securities Orion Securities UAB AmInvestment Bank Berhad BDSec JSC BT Capital Partners IFC Solid Broker Ak Yatırım Genel Müdürlüğü Mubasher Financial Services (DIFC) Ltd BTC BROKER Alp Omad Invest LLC Armenia Securities Exchange Axiory FBS Copy Trade

Award Title Best Investment Bank Sweden 2021 Best Investment Bank Taiwan 2021 Best Investment Bank Turkey 2021 Best Investment Bank Ukraine 2021 Best Investment Bank Zimbabwe 2021 Fastest Growing Investment Bank Greece 2021 Best Investment Banking CEO Myanmar 2021 Best New Investment Bank Ukraine 2021 Best New Investment Bank Uzbekistan 2021 Best Brokerage Company – Digital Transformation Vietnam 2021 Best Forex Broker East Asia 2021 Best Forex Broker Asia 2021 Best Forex Broker Bulgaria 2021 Best Forex Broker Cyprus 2021 Best Forex Broker Europe 2021 Best Forex Broker Germany 2021 Best Forex Broker Jordan 2021 Best Forex Broker Latin America 2021 Best Forex Broker Thailand 2021 Best Forex Broker Turkey 2021 Best Investment Management Company Vietnam 2021 Best Mobile Trading Platform Europe 2021 Best Mobile Trading Platform Qatar 2021 Best Multi Asset Trading Platform Asia Pacific 2021 Best Multi Asset Trading Platform Cyprus 2021 Best Multi Asset Trading Platform LatAm 2021 Best Multi Asset Trading Platform United Kingdom 2021 Best New Trading Platform Montenegro 2021 Best Prime Trading Account Asia 2021 Best Research House Argentina 2021 Best Research House Romania 2021 Best Research House USA 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Bahrain 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Bulgaria 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Cambodia 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Croatia 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Lithuania 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Malaysia 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Mongolia 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Romania 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Russia 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Turkey 2021 Best Securities Brokerage UAE 2021 Best Securities Brokerage Ukraine 2021 Best Securities Brokerage/ Best Stockbrokers Uzbekistan 2021 Best Securities Exchange South Caucasus 2021 Best Social Trading Platform Africa 2021 Best Social Trading Platform Indonesia 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited The Stock Exchange of Thailand JSC Heritage Securities SIC Brokerage Limited Depolas Investment Services Yapster e-Trade, Inc. Crested Stocks & Securities Limited “t/a” Crested Capital FBS Trader FBS Trader CWG Markets BAC Portfolio Personal Inversiones (PPI) GBE brokers Ltd. Abacus Securities Corporation FINAM Krungsri Securities CXM Direct ICU Ak Investment TradeAll

Best Stock Exchange Asia Pacific 2021 Best Stock Exchange Southeast Asia 2021 Best Stockbrokers Georgia 2021 Best Stockbrokers Ghana 2021 Best Stockbrokers Greece 2021 Best Stockbrokers Philippines 2021 Best Stockbrokers Uganda 2021 Best Trading Platform Asia 2021 Best Trading Platform Europe 2021 Best Trading Platform United Kingdom 2021 Investment Company CEO of the Year CEE 2021 Most Innovative Online Broker Argentina 2021 Most Innovative Online Broker Germany 2021 Most Innovative Online Broker Philippines 2021 Most Innovative Online Broker Russia 2021 Most Innovative Online Broker Thailand 2021 Most Innovative Trading Platform Asia Pacific 2021 Most Innovative Trading Platform Ukraine 2021 Best Mobile Trading Platform Turkey 2021

MFM Securities (Pacific) Limited EQRE.uz Freedom Finance FE LLC SmartCharts SmartCharts Ak Investment TradeAll TR SmartCharts Agricultural Bank of China Grupo Aval Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB) VPBank Osotspa Public Company Limited Thai Union Group PCL SimCorp Arab Moltaqa Investments Worldline COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Boursa Kuwait Mega Financial Holding Co. Ltd. Vingroup Joint Stock Company (Vietnam) Eqhwan Mokhzanee, AmBank Islamic Berhad Mr. Khalid Jamal Al Kayed, Bank Nizwa Dr. Abdulbasit Ahmed A.Al Shabei, QIIB Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Egypt AmBank Islamic Berhad Qatar Islamic Bank Wifak International Bank Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Egypt

Best New Forex Broker South East Asia 2021 Best New Research House Uzbekistan 2021 Best New Securities Brokerage Uzbekistan 2021 Most Innovative New Trading Platform Australia 2021 Most Innovative New Trading Platform Philippines 2021 Most Innovative New Trading Platform Turkey 2021 Most Innovative New Trading Platform UK 2021 Best Investor Relations Bank China 2021 Best Investor Relations Bank LatAm 2021 Best Investor Relations Bank Russia 2021 Best Investor Relations Bank Vietnam 2021 Best Investor Relations Comany Thailand 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Asia 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Denmark 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Egypt 2021 Best Investor Relations Company France 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Hong Kong 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Japan 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Kuwait 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Taiwan 2021 Best Investor Relations Company Vietnam 2021 Islamic Banking CEO of the Year Malaysia 2021 Islamic Banking CEO of the Year Oman 2021 Islamic Banking CEO of the Year Qatar 2021 Best Islamic Corporate Bank Egypt 2021 Best Islamic Corporate Bank Malaysia 2021 Best Islamic Corporate Bank Qatar 2021 Best Islamic Corporate Bank Tunisia 2021 Best Digital Islamic Bank Egypt 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company Qatar Islamic Bank Bank Islam Malaysia Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Egypt Islamic Bank “Zaman-Bank” JSC Jaiz Bank Plc Qatar Islamic Bank Kenya Women Microfinance Bank Plc (KWFT) Sacombank Lao co.,ltd Oman Development Bank Success Microfinance Bank VTB BANK Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) Banco Internacional (Chile) QNB ALAHLI PT Bank OCBC NISP Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd Sacombank Lao co.,ltd AmBank Group Sterling Bank Plc VTB BANK Absa Bank Seychelles Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam JSC (BIDV) VietinBank AmBank Islamic Berhad Berendina Micro Investments Co LTD Vallibel Finance UniCredit Leasing Croatia d.o.o. Al Mulla Rental & Leasing of Vehicles & Equipment Company Yapi Kredi Leasing First Forte Consultancy Mikro Kapital Company Mini Credit LLC DLM Capital Group Tradewind International Finance Limited Ellinas Finance Public Company Ltd Yapı Kredi Faktoring A.Ş Abans Finance PLC Amret Microfinance Institution National Development Bank PLC Lombard International Assurance S.A. Invescore Financial Group CITITRUST HOLDINGS PLC. National Development Bank PLC Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) Ellinas Finance Public Company Ltd Jordan Microfinance Company (Tamweelcom) Vitas s.a.l Berendina Micro Investments Co LTD

Award Title Best Islamic Digital Bank Qatar 2021 Most Innovative Islamic Retail Banking App Malaysia 2021 Best Islamic Retail Bank Egypt 2021 Best Islamic Retail Bank Kazakhstan 2021 Best Islamic Retail Bank Nigeria 2021 Best Islamic Retail Bank Qatar 2021 Best Micro Finance Bank Kenya 2021 Best Micro Finance Bank LAOS 2021 Best Micro Finance Bank Oman 2021 Best Micro Finance Bank Zimbabwe 2021 Best Online Services for Micro and SME Russia 2021 Best SME Bank Brunei 2021 Best SME Bank Chile 2021 Best SME Bank Egypt 2021 Best SME Bank Indonesia 2021 Best SME Bank Kenya 2021 Best SME Bank LAOS 2021 Best SME Bank Malaysia 2021 Best SME Bank Nigeria 2021 Best SME Bank Russia 2021 Best SME Bank Seychelles 2021 Best SME Bank South East Asia 2021 Best SME Bank Vietnam 2021 Best Islamic SME Bank Malaysia 2021 Best Agricultural Lending Company Sri Lanka 2021 Best Auto Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Best Auto Leasing Company Croatia 2021 Best Auto Leasing Company Kuwait 2021 Best Business Equipment Leasing Turkey 2021 Best Business Financial Advisory Company GCC 2021 Best Business Funding Company Moldova 2021 Best Business Funding Company Mongolia 2021 Best Development Finance Company Nigeria 2021 Best Factoring Company China 2021 Best Factoring Company Cyprus 2021 Best Factoring Company Turkey 2021 Best Financial Company Digital Transformation Sri Lanka 2021 Best Financial Institution for Empowering Women in Business Cambodia 2021 Best Financial Institution for Empowering Women in Business Sri Lanka 2021 Best Financial Services Group Europe 2021 Best Financial Services Group Mongolia 2021 Best Financial Services Group Nigeria 2021 Best Financial Services Group Sri Lanka 2021 Best Investment Promotion Authority East Africa 2021 Best Micro Finance Company Cyprus 2021 Best Micro Finance Company Jordan 2021 Best Micro Finance Company Lebanon 2021 Best Micro Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

Spoko.app Financial Investment and Consultancy Services Limited Prime Finance PLC Ellinas Finance Public Company Ltd Credit Corporation (Vanuatu) Limited Genero Capital LLC eFactor Network Sendly Money Transfer UBX Philippines Inc. Priya Khare, Regional HR Director, APAC & Mauritius , Sanne Group Mr. Chhun Sopheak, Mohanokor Microfinance Institution Plc Antonia Sabeva, Management Financial Group Mako Financial Technologies, Inc. PayMint Bite Investments TASLIF SAL OCN AVENTUS FINANCE SRL LOLC FINANCE PLC Financial Software and Systems Pvt Ltd

Best Money Transfer Poland 2021 Best Mortgage Financing Company Saint Lucia 2021 Best Property Finance Company Sri Lanka 2021 Best SME Finance Company Cyprus 2021 Best SME Finance Company Vanuatu 2021 Best SME Financial Advisory Company UAE 2021 Best Supply Chain Finance Funding Platform Mexico 2021 Fastest Growing Fintech Company Central Asia 2021 Fastest Growing Fintech Company South East Asia 2021 Head of HR of the Year Mauritius 2021 Microfinance Company CEO of the Year Cambodia 2021 Non-Banking Financial Institutional CEO of the Year Bulgaria 2021 Best New Fintech Company Canada 2021 Best New Fintech Company Egypt 2021 Best New Fintech Company UK 2021 Best New Micro Finance Company Lebanon 2021 New Online Lending Services Moldova 2021 Best New Credit Card Sri Lanka 2021 – LOLC SAVI Best Card Issuance Technology Provider South Asia 2021

Financial Software and Systems Pvt Ltd EveryPay Ltd DaviPlata SDB bank Radar Payments Acqra Arab Financial Services (AFS) BancABC Botswana AEVI ConnectPay ProgressSoft Corporation PingPong Libeo Ardshinbank RBC Kathrein Privatbank Deltec Bank & Trust Limited Caye international Bank Ping An Bank Co.Ltd. Davivienda SEB Private Banking Societe Generale Private Banking SEB Private Banking TBC Bank PT Bank OCBC NISP SEB Private Banking FFA Private Bank SEB Private Banking SEB Private Banking

Best Integrated Payments Technology Provider India 2021 Best New Payment Solution Provider Central Europe 2021 Best New Payment Solution Provider Colombia 2021 Best New Payment Solution Provider Sri Lanka 2021 Best New Payment Solutions Provider Europe 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider Asia Pacific 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider Bahrain 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider Botswana 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider Europe 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider Lithuania 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider MENA 2021 Best Payment Solution Provider USA 2021 Fastest Growing Payment Solution Provider Europe 2021 Best Private Bank Armenia 2021 Best Private Bank Asia 2021 Best Private Bank Austria 2021 Best Private Bank Caribbean 2021 Best Private Bank Central America 2021 Best Private Bank China 2021 Best Private Bank Colombia 2021 Best Private Bank Denmark 2021 Best Private Bank Europe 2021 Best Private Bank Finland 2021 Best Private Bank Georgia 2021 Best Private Bank Indonesia 2021 Best Private Bank Luxembourg 2021 Best Private Bank Middle East 2021 Best Private Bank Nordic 2021 Best Private Bank Northern Europe 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Award Winning Winning Company Company SEB Private Banking Banco Finantia JSC JSCB International Financial Club (IFC Bank) Nations Trust Bank PLC SEB Private Banking Yapi Kredi Bank Ecobank Uganda UFG Wealth Management Banque Syz Gulf International Finance Limited HSBC México QNB Finansbank Mashreq Bank PrivatBank Optiven Limited HFA Group Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation Standard Chartered Bank (Botswana) Davivienda Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) National Citizen Bank Al Baraka Islamic Bank B.S.C. (C) KCB Group Plc SDB bank Oschadbank AMEN BANK Mainstreet Microfinance Bank Qatar Islamic Bank Union Bank of the Philippines Amana Bank Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc United Bank for Africa Limited Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz S.A. Standard Chartered Bank (Botswana) Banco Interatlântico, S.A. Cambodian Public Bank QNB ALAHLI Al Rajhi Bank GCB Bank LTD PT Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Barat dan Banten Tbk Credito Emiliano spa KCB Group Plc Banka Kombëtare Tregtare Kosovë Sh.a. Halkbank AD Skopje uab bank Limited Ecobank Nigeria Ltd

Award Title Best Private Bank Norway 2021 Best Private Bank Portugal 2021 Best Private Bank Russia 2021 Best Private Bank Sri Lanka 2021 Best Private Bank Sweden 2021 Best Private Bank Turkey 2021 Best Private Bank Uganda 2021 Best Private Wealth Management Company Russia 2021 Best Private Wealth Management Company Switzerland 2021 Best Private Wealth Management Company UAE 2021 Best Private Wealth Manager Mexico 2021 Most Innovative Private Bank for Digital Client Solutions Turkey 2021 Most Innovative Private Bank for Digital Client Solutions UAE 2021 Most Innovative Private Bank for Digital Client Solutions Ukraine 2021 Best Commercial Real Estate Developer Kenya 2021 Best New Residential Real Estate Developer Africa 2021 Best Residential Real Estate Developer Vietnam 2021 Best Bank for Auto Loans Botswana 2021 Best Bank for Auto Loans Colombia 2021 Best Bank for Auto Loans Kenya 2021 Best Bank for Auto Loans Vietnam 2021 Best Bank for Digital Transformation Vietnam 2021 Best Bank for Social Media Bahrain 2021 Best Bank for Social Media Kenya 2021 Best Bank for Social Media Sri Lanka 2021 Best Bank for Social Media Ukraine 2021 Best Bank for Youth and Students Tunisia 2021 Best Bank Transformation Nigeria 2021 Best Bank Transformation Qatar 2021 Best Bank Transformation South East Asia 2021 Best Expat Banking Services Sri Lanka 2021 Best Green Bank Award Sri Lanka 2021 Best Mortgage Bank Nigeria 2021 Best Remittance Bank Ghana 2021 Best Retail Bank Bolivia 2021 Best Retail Bank Botswana 2021 Best Retail Bank Cabo Verde 2021 Best Retail Bank Cambodia 2021 Best Retail Bank Egypt 2021 Best Retail Bank GCC 2021 Best Retail Bank Ghana 2021 Best Retail Bank Indonesia 2021 Best Retail Bank Italy 2021 Best Retail Bank Kenya 2021 Best Retail Bank Kosovo 2021 Best Retail Bank Macedonia 2021 Best Retail Bank Myanmar 2021 Best Retail Bank Nigeria 2021

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Award Winning Company Award Winning Company

Award Title

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation Riyad Bank Absa Bank Seychelles NMB Bank PLC Society Tunisian of Bank (STB) OTP Bank Ukraine Botswana Savings Bank ING Bank, Philippines PVcomBank First Bank of Nigeria Ltd CapBay Stephen Kabungo,CEO, Ilani Concepts Chad Hetherington, Vice President, Global Head of Product, NICE Actimize William Rudebeck, Bite Investments Smart Axiata Safaricom Plc Dialog Axiata PLC Avelacom Moldtelecom

Best Retail Bank Philippines 2021 Best Retail Bank Saudi Arabia 2021 Best Retail Bank Seychelles 2021 Best Retail Bank Tanzania 2021 Best Retail Bank Tunisia 2021 Best Retail Bank Ukraine 2021 Best Savings Bank Botswana 2021 Best Savings Bank Philippines 2021 Best Savings Bank Vietnam 2021 Most Innovative Retail Banking App Nigeria 2021 Best Supply Chain Finance Provider Malaysia 2021 ICT Firm CEO of the Year Kenya 2021 Technology Vice President of the Year USA 2021 FinTech CEO Newcomer of the Year UK 2021 Best Telecommunication Company Cambodia 2021 Best Telecommunications Company Africa 2021 Best Telecommunications Company Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Telecommunications Company Asia 2021 Fastest Growing Telecommunications Company Moldova 2021

Yogendra Katiyar, Founder and CEO, WE NETWORK LLC The International Bank for Economic Co-operation QNB ALAHLI British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB) Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad First Capital Bank S.A. Danske Bank British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB) Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Bangkok Bank JSB UKRGASBANK Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad

Telecommunications CEO of the Year Oman 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Eastern Europe 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Egypt 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Libya 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Malaysia 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Mozambique 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Northern Europe 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Rwanda 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Taiwan 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Thailand 2021 Best Trade Finance Bank Ukraine 2021 Most Innovative Trade Finance Banking Product (Alliance BizSmart® eTrade) Malaysia 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Activities Egypt 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Activities KSA 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Activities Sri Lanka 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Activities Tunisia 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Activities Vietnam 2021 Best Bank for Treasury Services Qatar 2021 Best Cash Management Bank Greece 2021 Best Cash Management Bank Philippines 2021 Best Cash Management Bank Western Europe 2021 Fastest Growing Bank for Treasury Activities Hong Kong 2021 Fastest Growing Bank for Treasury Activities Sri Lanka 2021 Fastest Growing Cash Management Bank MENA 2021 Fastest Growing Cash Management Egypt 2021

QNB ALAHLI Al Rajhi Bank Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC North Africa International Bank Nam A Bank Ahli Bank Q.S.C. Transaction Banking, C.I.B. Piraeus Bank Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation UniCredit Group Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Hong Kong Branch (SPDBHK) Cargills Bank Ltd ARAB BANKING CORPORATION Banque Misr

Global Banking & Finance Awards

2021 Award Winners

Call For Entries INVITING BANKS

INVITING BUSINESS

INVITING

SHOWCASE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS

FINANCIAL ORGANIZATIONS

LEADERS

Submit your nomination today to awards@gbafmag.com OR Submit Online at GlobalBankingAndFinance.com

2022

TECHNOLOGY

122 | Issue 33

TECHNOLOGY

Cybersecurity trends 2022: Ransomware and supply chain attacks are major threats Since bad actors have prayed on the vulnerability of organisations moving to remote working models over the pandemic, security professionals and IT departments have worked tirelessly to overcome the challenges. Mark Ruchie, Chief Information Security Officer at Entrust, provides his view on what the important security trends affecting the banking and finance sector will be in 2022 . We’ll see a sharp rise in ransomware attacks in the workplace in 2022 which typically involves sneaking malicious code into a software update which is automatically pushed out to thousands of organisations. These incidents are a direct result of the disruption caused by the pandemic, ongoing economic and humanitarian crises and decreased trust in governments. To counteract this, security professionals will adopt a Zero-Trust approach to cybersecurity planning. The phrase, which is on everyone's lips in the security industry, is an approach where you trust nothing, verify everything related to users and devices, assume the network is hostile and only give entities the least privileged access or the minimum permissions they need to fulfill their function. This framework is predicted

to become essential in stopping identity from being exploited through various avenues in 2022, including compromised secrets, compromised data perimeters and lateral threats. IT managers will be busy enhancing their security credentials in 2022 With many companies adopting a hybrid work model, we will see an increase in the Zero-Trust approach to verify the identity of employees working from home to protect company data. Organisations are likely to invest in their IT department to develop new and more efficient ways of managing customers, employees, and devices and keeping their businesses safe from intruders. This is likely to create security risks as significant changes to an organisation usually take years to successfully and safely implement and the use of physical and digital identity proofing is likely to increase as more organisations adopt a hybrid workplace and workers and customers need to verify themselves. With cyberattacks occurring at a higher rate than ever before, enhancing Certificate Lifestyle Management capabilities will make life easier for IT managers by offering a secure, central point for IT to control certificates, encryption keys and crypto.

Issue 33 | 123

TECHNOLOGY

From attacks on infrastructure to attacks on individuals In 2022, people will be moving targets for bad actors, with IT managers seeing a move from attacks on infrastructure to attacks on individuals. While attacks on system vulnerabilities continue to be a staple of nefarious activities, there’s been a renewed focus on attacks against individual employees via mobile devices. The upturn in BYOD and IoT devices will create further headaches for IT departments in 2022. Authentication will be a huge challenge and passwords will be combined with other authentication methods like smart cards, three-factor authentication, and biometrics in order to improve security. Industry research (1) released in the Autumn of 2021 revealed an increase in identity proofing technology technology that verifies that someone is who they say they are. Most businesses began rolling out one-time password technology and in 2022

124 | Issue 33

more businesses will supplement their security efforts with biometric authentication to allow access to internal systems and mobile identity verification to provide users with a credential on their mobile phone that grants them access. Hybrid payment solutions: managing identity theft Partly out of necessity, partly convenience, digital banking adoption will continue to skyrocket giving financial institutions an unprecedented opportunity to engage with consumers more frequently and via lower-cost channels. Banks will also aim to make the customer experience on their website and app simpler and more user-friendly. Contactless payment is likely to continue to rise in popularity around the world and mobile payments will continue to grow. However, with growing concerns over identity theft and approximately 80% of mobile banking consumers being concerned about fraud, we’re seeing

consumers starting to prioritise the improved technical and functional capabilities of products and services when choosing their banks, pension providers and other financial services. At £4.5 trillion (2) this year, the global financial impact of cybercrimes is now equivalent to the world’s third-largest economy! Traditional financial firms simply won’t survive the economic and logistical upheaval caused by the global pandemic if they continue operating the way that they are. According to the Keeper’s Security UK Census Report (3), financial firms suffered an average of 60 cyberattacks over the last year which is expected to increase in 2022. As customers become more aware and technology becomes more advanced, 2022 will be the year we combat threats and outdated tech and grow our infrastructure in even more unique ways. Banks will need to ensure their digital banking services are foolproof and provide consumers with secure access to mobile banking

TECHNOLOGY

apps, portals, and kiosks with strong consumer identity proofing and authentication processes as they are onboarded. Solutions include issuing a personalised digital or physical contactless card in realtime, factoring in device integrity protection, TLS/SSL certificates and digital signing. As part of preventing fraud and identity theft, banks will need to apply behavioural metrics and analytics with continuous authentication, detect malware and trojan software, and implement automated realtime response to prevent credential stealing, impersonation and account session takeovers. Banks must also verify the authenticity of transactions across merchants, consumers, and third-party payment providers with transaction signing whilst employing encryption key management to protect consumers’ privacy and data. Bundling existing physical card issuance technologies with secure digital capabilities to offer a best-inclass hybrid issuance solution, will help in supporting the full payment customer experience. Solving complexity with simplicity: contactless and digital payment solutions Another trend we’ll see in 2022 is an attempt to make the complex world of security more simple. As a result we will see ‘packaged’ solutions aimed at simplifying security and enabling digital transformation at a faster pace as we continue to address specific issues and problems caused by the pandemic which has spurred an urgent requirement for remote, contactless and touchless services replacing manual and high-touch selfservice processes.

Proliferation of IoT devices: countering cyberattacks 2022 is the time to get serious about critical infrastructure protection. The proliferation of IoT devices and connections in-between continues at an exponential rate. Many of these devices were never architected with security in mind and this has huge implications for the electrical grid and other utilities, along with sectors like healthcare where IoT devices are being widely deployed. From a banking and payments perspective, this will have a large impact on personal banking, banking from wearable devices, the use of Bluetooth beacons in retail banking and APIs for smart speakers to enable users to carry out balance queries and payments through voice commands.

Mark Ruchie Chief Information Security Officer Entrust

With cyber attacks occurring at a higher rate than ever before and data privacy concerns going supernova, we’ll see increased government investment and attention to cybersecurity at all levels. Cybersecurity is always a hot topic, but banking, travel and health credentials will add fuel to the fire – whether for the workforce, consumer or government use cases. This is likely to drive new compliance regulations across jurisdictions to protect individual privacy.

Issue 33 | 125

TECHNOLOGY

Better technology & building trust must go hand-in-hand

By Lewis Pinner, Senior Director at NetApp of Enterprise and Globals

Online banking: what does the UK think?

Trust has always been a key player when it comes to the relationship between the financial sector and its consumers. But confidence is on the line when technology innovations are unable to live up to expectations.

When it comes to digital services, convenience has always been at the top of the list for consumers. And this is no different when it comes to online banking.

From restricted availability of data to complete outages, consumer trust is increasingly at risk when services go down. Whilst there is pressure on financial services to increase productivity and digitise services, the customer must be at the heart of these decisions to improve retention and build trust for the long-term. And this assurance couldn’t be more important following this year’s Talk Money Week event. The UK’s financial road to recovery played centre stage, with a focus on the Covid crisis’ effect on personal finances and how a staggering 9 in 10 UK adults still don’t find it easy to talk about money or even discuss it full stop. Understandably, consumers today face a lot of anxiety and stress when it comes to personal finance. So, as the financial services industry continues to innovate, it must ensure its consumers are taken along on the journey. Establishing and building on trust will be fundamental to consumers who are already concerned about their financial security – whether it’s protecting against outages or ensuring that services always meet expectations.

126 | Issue 33

In fact, our recent research found that an overwhelming majority of UK consumers (82%) now prefer to access information or services from their banking provider via their website. More than 9 out of 10 (94%) even rated online banking as the most important banking service – higher than any of the other countries surveyed. But despite this substantial preference for the convenience of online banking, trust continues to be an issue for UK consumers when it comes to financial services. We found that over half (53%) of the people surveyed felt held back from the convenience of online banking because of concerns over safety – sharing that if they knew more about the safety of online banking, they would start to use it or use it more often. With greater availability comes greater responsibility We already know that customers increasingly value instant access to their information online – from a small retail purchase to being able to check a payment went out on time.

Yet, when an outage strikes that prevents customers from accessing their financial services, this can affect customer satisfaction and trust. Even if it’s just for a few minutes, the impact can be catastrophic. The media storm that occurred following Meta’s 6-hour, business-wide outage, is a prime example. Just under a month ago we even saw Barclays’ mobile banking app become the third UK bank to suffer online issues, after Natwest and HSBC. For three hours, some 2,000 users experienced issues accessing their accounts via the Barclays app. As is now the way – a number of customers took to social media to report the outage and express frustration. When an outage happens, panic sets in. Customers question why they can no longer access their data, who has access to their information, and if services will remain inaccessible. In short, they start to lose trust in the services they rely on to be at their fingertips. How does this lack of trust manifest in consumer responses? In addition, this mistrust extends to a reluctance to use thirdparty solutions. Whilst 82% of UK consumers like the convenience of paying through a third-party provider such as PayPal or Apple Pay, 64% are afraid their personal account data may be stolen by criminals if they use third party providers.

TECHNOLOGY

Plus, people still want to talk to humans – short and simple. We found that UK consumers most value an in-person relationship with a bank, with over half still preferring to go into a bank’s branch (52%) to access information or services. By contrast, confidence in chatbot capabilities is low, with trust being the biggest barrier to consumer adoption of new technologies. Just 8.5% would prefer to use a chat tool to access information and services offered by a banking provider. What we’re seeing here is a continuous stream of outages and breaches in cybersecurity making headlines and putting a continuous strain on consumer trust when it comes to personal data and confidence in service availability. Banking services must deal with these concerns head on and providing the best service to their customers goes hand-in-hand. With this, they need to find ways to utilise a data-driven approach, allowing them to manage processes such as mitigating risk, automating payments and managing fraud. Consumers in the UK want the convenience, but the technology available must meet – even exceed– expectations to win over the trust of consumers in an increasingly digital, data-driven environment.

Lewis Pinner Senior Director at NetApp of Enterprise Globals

Issue 33 | 127

BUSINESS

Wh y ESG is no lo nge r ju st a passing tho ught f or l andlords

The notion of environmental monitoring has been on the backburner for some time. For years it has merely existed as a checklist activity to tick off without too much thought. Businesses have traditionally treated it as a gimmick USP, with no clear idea of what it is they’re trying to achieve. However, amid the current climate crisis, measuring the sustainability of a business is more vital than ever. Multinational tenants are now held accountable for their Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) compliance, and will not lease or license a property unless they can obtain the environmental data they need from the landlords, and report it accordingly. The government’s prioritisation of environmental monitoring has seen the process evolve – and now, data relating to sustainability can be converted into action. For instance; rooms now have to meet criteria to ensure they meet standards and minimum productivity thresholds in regards to temperature levels, lighting, carbon dioxide levels and in some cases, smart office spaces can now inform staff that they should leave the room if a certain carbon dioxide level is breached. It is crucial that landlords and companies are aware of the need to be proactive to differentiate themselves from other buildings and businesses, and create ESG strategies to attract tenants that place environmental issues at the forefront of their agenda.

128 | Issue 33

The impact of indoor air quality While the monitoring of air quality within the workplace is a fundamental aspect of ESG policy, CO2 levels, humidity and temperature all have an impact on productivity and health of employees. And when it comes to productivity, tenants have become far more expectant. No longer will they accept leasing an empty office space that does nothing other than provide a space for desks. Scientific evidence points to the fact that optimal performance in the office and fresh air go hand in hand. Overcrowded, poorly ventilated workspaces and long meetings in compact boardrooms equals a CO2 hotbed. High levels of CO2 result in 23% impairment in decision making, slower reaction times, loss of concentration, impaired attention spans and increased drowsiness. Poor air quality is also linked to the spread of illness, which is a major concern in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Humidity and temperature also play a part in the survival rate of viruses, with low humidity directly compromising the body’s natural defence system.

BUSINESS

The Office for National Statistics’ last pre-pandemic recording of sickness absence took place in 2018, and found that 141.4 million working days were lost because of sickness or injury in the UK. Minor illnesses such as colds and coughs accounted for 27% of these illnesses, equating to 38.5 million days. Through the monitoring of CO2, landlords and employers can provide a safer, more productive environment, with employees proven to work up to 60% faster in lower CO2 concentrations. By reacting appropriately to these levels and monitoring the air quality in general, companies can prevent sick building syndrome and enhance worker performance – and crucially, be prepared for preventing, and reacting to, another instance like the pandemic. Attracting and retaining talent Thanks to the pandemic, workers are truly starting to prioritise physical and mental wellbeing when it comes to their careers. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, workers across Europe are less satisfied than the rest of the world when it comes to environmental protections within their own country, with only 46% satisfaction compared with a global average of 62%. Employee preferences on wellbeing and sustainability are important for both talent attraction and retention. Companies must prioritise these wishes to halt resignations, and minimise the risk of losing their top talent to competitors. Organisations with high employee engagement are 22% more profitable, however only 33% of employees feel

engaged. So, not only will environmental awareness maintain a steady workforce and employee satisfaction, but also boost company performance. The role of sensors Collecting data is key to meeting room productivity scores, and sensors play a key role in collating such information. Temperature sensors, through digital signage are an effective way of prompting when meeting rooms become too stuff or the air quality isn’t high enough, or indicating that a meeting should be cancelled if carbon dioxide levels are too difficult. But it is important to note that access control systems, sensors and digital signage work better when friction is removed, and they operate alongside together sharing information and communications. These systems add more value when integrated together than when working in silo, to ensure room productivity levels are met. And of course, while the world of work is returning to some degree of normality after Covid, the shift in thinking is switching to ‘how do we keep another similar outbreak from happening again’. Population monitoring in spaces, room temperatures, access control and air quality are all aspects of maintaining a safe space, and sensors will play a key role of collecting actionable data on each measurement to maintain safety. We will see a shift towards integrated systems becoming more integrated as a standard offering from landlords next year, as they continue to seek to drive ESG compliances and innovations.

James Shannon Chief Product and Technology Officer essensys

Why ESG will no longer be a passing thought Through implementing ESG standards landlords can retain tenants, optimise staff wellbeing and productivity, and help to preserve the environment, all while being cost-effective. The market is shifting, and environmental impact are high up on the agenda of tenants. COP26’s journey towards net-zero is set to demand cooperation and a level of commitment from corporations and the public alike, and so ESG will see a further push towards becoming a key element of business models. PwC has stated that by 2025, almost 60% of mutual fund assets in Europe will be ESG related, with COP26 set to increase growth and influence of ESG investments. A shift in investor priority and emphasis on corporations to adopt sustainable and ethical business models for the transition to net-zero, only further exaggerates the need for landlords to keep up with the tenants’ ESG demands and expectations. ESG can no longer be a passing thought.

Issue 33 | 129

TECHNOLOGY

The Future Will Be Touchless: How To Prepare For The Contactless Payments Revolution •

40% of travellers choose contactless technologies as one of the top three factors influencing choice of airline, preferring contactless check-in and baggage check kiosks

Contactless benefits stakeholders across the mix Contactless is now becoming a game-changer. Each stakeholder group is benefitted:

The pandemic changed how consumers pay, and now contactless payments are set to be the predominant method of payment. David Poole, Contactless Payments Lead at Publicis Sapient puts the case for contactless payments and discusses how businesses should react and prepare Contactless payment has been around since the mid-1990s, yet it took a pandemic to take it mainstream in the US. Given the risk of COVID-19 exposure, health authorities and banks encouraged shoppers to avoid handling cards, checks and cash. Meanwhile in the UK, according to Barclaycard, the figures rose to 88% of card transactions being made via contactless payment, a 7% increase over prior year. This buying behaviour is likely to stick around after the health measure becomes less important: the truth is, contactless is faster, more convenient, and more secure than swiping. And contactless

130 | Issue 33

is impacting consumer behaviour in a way that can’t be ignored by either merchants, or the finance industry. Contactless impacts purchasing decisions In Publicis Sapient's study of consumer behaviour, the Digital Life Index, contactless technology was shown to influence purchases in travel and hospitality: •

•

78% of travellers choose contactless technologies as one of the top three factors influencing choice of hotel, preferring mobile check-incheckout, touchless room keys and paperless invoicing 55% of diners choose contactless as one of the top three factors influencing choice of restaurant, preferring mobile apps, contactless payments, self-service kiosks and curbside delivery or pick-up

•

Consumers want fewer apps to accomplish their goals. If payment is integrated into their favourite social or shopping apps, that method becomes top of their digital wallet. Contactless enables a simpler process, and consumers will come to expect it.

•

Card issuers enjoy higher interchange revenue with each contactless tap. Of note, taps with contactless debit are three to four times more frequent than credit cards.

•

Merchants gain from additional transactions with contactless spend $125-$200 more per month. They also avoid bottlenecks at checkout. No wonder that 95% of new terminals ship with contactless capabilities.

Business is gearing up The sideways Wi-Fi symbol on a payment card is the contactless indicator. According to Aite, 52% of cards include the chip and radio frequency identification (RFID) for touchless payment. The same symbol is now at 90% of merchant terminals (Source: Mastercard) indicating support of contactless. The symbol is also in transit cards like those for the London Underground and New York subway. The same terminals

TECHNOLOGY

can often accept smart phones with NFC (Near Field Communications) to access payment cards from mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Or simpler still, Quick Response (QR) codes can provide a shortcut to payment apps like AliPay. In 2020, 83% of UK consumers used contactless, which accounted for more than a quarter of all payments (Source: UK Finance). To limit the virus being transmitted via surfaces, the cap was raised from 30 GBP to 45 GBP in 2020, and again to 100 GBP in October 2021. This higher limit opens up more spend categories, like the weekly groceries or a full tank of gas. The catch is shoppers becoming tap happy and irresponsible with the ease of payment. Also, while safer than swiping, there is more risk of fraud than chip and PIN. Why does contactless technology matter to leaders in the finance industry? Consumers, merchants and issuers are demanding this feature as table stakes to be competitive. Yet more importantly, it enables contactless commerce, and the growth opportunities that come with removing impediments to transact. Not simply the friction at physical point-ofsale. It also enables contactless commerce like the Amazon Go store where shoppers just walk out with their purchases. It is also necessary for future economies built in the metaverse, where consumers will need contactless payment in a virtual world. How can leaders in finance prepare for the contactless future? Ensure your company is flexible enough to accept contactless payments, or as a processor can facilitate others using these payments. Spend limits will rise, so prepare security and fraud measures.

One of the biggest impediments to contactless is behavioural. Some consumers and merchants are reluctant to change how they pay or accept payments, and They may not be aware of the option, or misunderstand how it works or the cost and risks involved, or they're simply set in their ways and not given a compelling reason to change. This presents an opportunity to communicate the benefits and availability, to educate and to walk the resisters through and to reap the rewards in loyalty. If either a merchant, or a consumer’s first contactless experience is negative, they may be unwilling to try again. Conversely, if the experience is positive, they will likely return to the same provider. Contactless needs strong, positive marketing, and those that don’t invest in this area will pay a price. Just including the icon on cards and terminals is not sufficient. Innovate to grow

David Poole Contactless Payments Lead at digital business transformation consultancy Publicis Sapient

New applications of contactless will proliferate, so rather than following the noise (i.e., wearable payments, VR payments, pay by face, pay by voice), skate to where the puck is heading, which is a cashless future where money requires neither physical currency nor physical contact. Contactless is not yet the primary way people pay globally, yet since the pandemic introduced this new habit, limits are being removed and all stakeholders are enjoying the benefits, it is likely to quickly gather pace and spread, eventually eliminating most other forms of payment. In CSI’s recent 2021 Banking Priorities Executive Report, only 15% of executives listed contactless payments as their highest payments priority. This needs to shift. Your approach to payments needs the flexibility to be part of that future.

Issue 33 | 131

INSURANCE

Insurers are facing new pressures and demands post pandemic –

could new corporate wellbeing packages move the dial?

Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 has posed a wide-ranging series of challenges for insurers. The uptake of digital technologies by businesses during the pandemic has significantly changed the way we live, work, and engage with each other. For example, the pandemic has meant that insurers’ traditional operating models have been disrupted and their customers have been forced to move onto digital channels to contact them. In order for insurers to maintain their operations as normal, they need to prepare themselves to meet the challenges, changes and opportunities that lie ahead in the intensely digital, post-pandemic working environment. This will entail assessing the critical flashpoints and considering what longer-term changes we may see in the future, as a result. One of these is the acceleration of mental health and wellbeing packages. With prolonged lockdowns causing

132 | Issue 33

mental strain, stress and loneliness, there is a wealth of opportunities for insurers and employee benefit providers to offer mental-health packages. So how should insurers be addressing that challenge and, importantly, what does prioritising their vulnerable customers mean for them? Firstly, insurers need to understand employees’ changing behaviour better. As lockdown restrictions begin to ease and insurers look to return to business as usual, insurers need to understand and adapt to the ‘new normal’. Employees are anxious, some are struggling to cope with hits to their income, changes to their working routine and concern around health and the imminent fear of further lockdowns. In fact, nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of this cohort in Britain are so stressed they feel unable to cope (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). Statistics like this show the

extent to which mental health in the workplace is a highly needed aspect of employee benefits. And whilst the pandemic has made employers and employees alike more aware of the importance of wellbeing, the figures also indicate there is consumer appetite. As insurers place more emphasis on their wellbeing packages, outlining why the products are beneficial – the customer interest will only gain further momentum. Moreover, as consumers are set to increase their digital footprint – they’re more likely to buy digital products and services. This swing will require insurers to adjust their business models and offerings, ensuring they’re aligning to postpandemic trends and gaps in employee wellbeing. The interest in wellbeing goes beyond just keeping the employee healthy and happy, however, as these packages will have a profound impact

INSURANCE

on businesses and their growth. The LifeWorks Mental Health Index found that 59 per cent of employees have found that the culture of their organisation supports their personal wellbeing, and this group has among the highest mental-health scores. Therefore, there is a strong link between improved mental health of employees and increased productivity. The shift to remote working saw many employees working beyond their hours, struggling to know when to ‘switch off’. From a corporate perspective, employees who experience burnout, are less likely to perform against their targets. This is demonstrated by the figure that a staggering 85 per cent of workers claim that they became disengaged during the pandemic and mental health-related absenteeism rose by 10 per cent last year, costing UK companies £14bn. Unless businesses provide wellbeing support to assist colleagues in dealing with these significant changes, companies are likely to face higher employee turnover, high absenteeism, and a loss in productivity. As part of our offering at LifeWorks, we offer proactive solutions. Driven by counsellors trained in diverse areas of mental health and wellbeing, we deliver personalised resources, advisors on legal and financial issues and a digital experience capable of reaching every employee – maintaining that wellbeing is accessible for all. By providing relevant health services and a personalised benefits plan, we boost policyholder engagement and increase brand loyalty for insurers. And most importantly, we aim to simplify the complexities in supporting wellbeing.

Now that this transition has taken place, it’s time to shift the dial on wellbeing. And for many businesses, building long-term value through people can only be achieved through a genuine commitment to employee mental health and wellbeing. Covid-19 has been the wake-up call for insurers to diversify their offerings and update their models. And whilst keeping customers engaged and happy is important, making customers feel more in control of their choices can ultimately improve their health and wellbeing, reducing the number and severity of claims.

Philip Mullen Managing Director, UK & Europe Integrated Health Solutions LifeWorks

Issue 33 | 133

BUSINESS

How to implement ethical employee productivity monitoring for future business growth

By Michael Cupps, Senior Vice President, Marketing at ActiveOps, discusses the future of ethical employee management and how to keep good staff from going elsewhere. Surprisingly enough, employment productivity monitoring (EPM) was not invented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, through the pandemic, there became an increased curiosity in the line of products designed to track employee activity throughout the working day. Despite tried and tested ways of monitoring your staff, the concept of ethical EPM is relatively new. It stems from the fine line employers must walk between employee surveillance (generally accepted as poor for employee engagement and morale) and EPM, which emphasises employee wellness, performance, and employee empowerment rather than corporate oversight, and spying. The balance of building trust and employee burnout Employee productivity monitoring still appears to be a Draconian attempt to micromanage an entire workforce’s time and mouse clicks. That kind of intense monitoring for those not in the know is a practice that does not end well, for either party. In rare cases, tech-savvy team members have been known to attempt to outsmart their managers by creating their own mouse-clicking programs. Yet, where there is an environment breeding an element of distrust, even on both sides, the impact on business can be hugely damaging. In the working environment, where employees continue to work under immense stress with the ever-present threat of burnout around the corner, such inefficient practices, thankfully, are fast becoming outdated.

134 | Issue 33

BUSINESS

Michael Cupps Senior Vice President, Marketing ActiveOps In 2017, a study by Baylor University found that monitoring software correlated with greater employee tension and less job satisfaction, indicated a higher workforce turnover. This situation has only been exacerbated by the stresses of working remotely during a pandemic.

Research has found that a great majority of employees don’t mind being observed once they understand the monitoring is in place for their own use to help them stay on course, keep a tab on their working hours, and gain more autonomy about when and where they choose to work.

Ethical employee monitoring

Capturing the correct data for the right reasons

Ethical EPM, on the other hand, turns employee behaviours into a measurable source of information about employee wellbeing. It shows employees, managers, and the organisation how individuals spend their screen time and how productive they’ve been. That means that they can adapt what isn’t working to be more intentional, and not so they can punish those who aren’t working. “It’s hard to understand your performance because the measure of what good looks like can be so subjective,” says Richard Jeffery. “EPM software allows an employee to assign real metrics to what a good day looks like, and on the other hand, what a bad one looks like too. It is empowering to the employee because it gives them vital information about how they use their time. Rather, in the same way, a fitness app on a smartwatch gives back your control over your health and fitness.”

Ethical employee productivity monitoring can show managers both sides of the spectrum of employee productivity, giving team leaders a 360-degree view of the work being produced by how employees are doing. It goes beyond the idea that high productivity should be logging in seven days a week for 12 hours a day. It’s not good for the business and even less so for the employee. So, what is good data? Analytics that flag up potential employee burnout is one, which can be done in many ways. It might be as simple as evaluating an employee’s workload to ensure they’re being assigned tasks they’re trained and qualified to do. Where the data is wrong or misleading, the result can have an adverse effect.

For example, an organisation might be preparing to place an employee on a performance improvement plan (PIP) for low productivity. But using an EPM provider, they were able to see that the employee wasn’t slacking off or performing below their ability — they were simply spending so much time in the training modules learning how to do new tasks, thus taking them away from other responsibilities. Thanks to this insight, the employee’s manager could intervene, adjust the employee’s tasks, and save the relationship, save the employee’s morale and even avoid a resignation. Overall, how an organisation uses time is critical information for operations and not just for employee wellbeing. It informs so many things, primarily when the company’s pace is driven by variability of what’s coming in the door. When employees and team leaders are better informed about their workloads and how they structure their day, they can balance resources. This, in turn, maintains productivity no matter what’s coming in — which is essential in creating company-wide balance and maintaining company health.

Issue 33 | 135

PAYMENTS

Biggest trends in the payments industry for 2022

Even after nearly two years of on-andoff lockdowns, businesses are still learning how to deal with the effects of the pandemic most effectively. Fortunately, in 2022, there is a less uncertainty regarding how events in the future might unravel compared to the start of the 2020-2021 lockdowns - when businesses were having to adapt to the fluctuating rules. The coronavirus pandemic, which stopped the world in its tracks, may have had some silver lining for the payment industry. By becoming a cornerstone of the global economy, payments can catalyse economic growth, innovation and inclusion. Financial Institutions will now need to define what their role will be in this evolution. The pandemic provided a powerful incentive to create a more globalised payment network because of the inability to physically travel, which quickly and directly affected the world of finance and payments. Financial institutions will need to turn to fintechs and new technologies to stay relevant and focus on the best way to improve the customer experience and contribute to a bigger societal purpose. Fintech at the forefront of innovation There has been a vast increase in demand for skilled industry workers since the start of the pandemic, and the effects of that demand will still affect the market in 2022. A significant contributing factor to this is that people have been retraining for

136 | Issue 33

new jobs throughout the pandemic, creating a more mobile workforce. As a result of that more adept workforce, businesses will be able to offer improved services, and there will be heightened activity in the fintech sector to match the higher demand and supply of trained fintech professionals. In 2021, th e a mount of ve nture capi tal availa ble in the m a rke t i ncreased m a rke dly – a s more than $288 billion wa s inve ste d w orl dwi de in the f irst ha lf of 2 0 2 1 , up from jus t unde r $1 1 0 billion w hen comp a re d to the se c ond hal f of 202 0 , a nd the re sults of that addi ti o na l c ash f low a re tha t busi nesses will be a ble to inve st i n thei r l abour f orc e , c re a ting job vacanci es t o be f ille d, a nd improve d products and se r v ic e s of fe re d. Because of the increase in proficient workers and available money, we expect that banks are going to invest heavily in tech, talent and fintech in 2022. Digital payments and digital wallets E-wallets are easy to use, safe and have become an extension of our lives in 2021. According to a FIS report, the use of e-wallets grew globally by 7% in 2020, and it is predicted that they will account for more than half of all e-commerce payments worldwide by 2024.

In fact, recent PwC research found that 86% of respondents agreed with the prediction that traditional payments providers will collaborate with fintech and technology providers for innovation. 45% said that there will be increased investment in mobile technology beyond retail payments to support business-tobusiness (B2B) payments and the digitalisation of supply chains. They are equipped with easy registration and login, robust merchant and consumer payment processing capability, and a user-friendly dashboard. As consumers shift from cardbased to account- and QR codebased transactions, they are on their way to becoming the most popular mode of payment in 2022.

PAYMENTS

Cross-border payments. In 2022, the cross-border payments sector is predicted to reach over $156 trillion thanks to three key trends. The first trend is the increase in trade with emerging markets. As the share of international transactions involving emerging markets grows, cross-border payment solution providers are targeting their efforts on capturing these markets in particular. Growth in emerging markets is expected to be at around 11% per year, while the overall growth of crossborder trade is estimated at just 5% per year. The second trend is the changing consumer demands. Customers are now expecting banking services to be simpler, faster and more cost-efficient. Service providers that can offer the customer a faster, cheaper and more transparent experience, are likely to gain a competitive advantage over banks. The final trend is that ownership of mobile phones and thus the ability to complete e-payments has also increased. The percentage of mobile phones ownership among adults in emerging countries is at 83%, compared with just 62% in 2014. This figure is expected to increase and thus accelerate the growth of cross-border trade. A barrier to completing cross-border payments in the past has been just how prolonged the processes involved can take. While consumer cross-border transactions can take seconds, B2Bcross-border payments can take multiple days to complete. This process can cost businesses a significant amount of money, due to fees, interest and administration costs. Real-time payments (RTP) are transactions that allow businesses to send and receive payments almost instantly. This has many desirable effects, such as smoother cash flow and more accurate data management, but utilisation of this system is still low, with 73% of organisations saying that they do not use RTP at all. However, as companies find out about RTP, the benefits become obvious, as 76% of organisations believe that RTP will provide them with a competitive advantage. This lack of awareness is one reason for the low adoption of RTP, but as it becomes more widely known, expect businesses to quickly embrace it.

Issue 33 | 137

PAYMENTS

A s mo re d o me s t i c busi nesses adopt RTP sol u tions, we c a n a l s o e x p e c t c ro ss-border payments to ri se, as they e x te nd that c ap ab ilit y in t e r n ati onal l y. The need for fintech partnerships As the industry expands and becomes more diversified, there will be an additional need for partnerships and collaboration to take advantage of the new opportunities that arise. One direction we’ll be seeing them in will be in the form of open banking. Traditional firms are beginning to see open banking as something handier due to the opportunities that partnerships can trigger. The rise of partnerships within the finance sector was already taking place long before the pandemic as well. Currently, over 30 partner banks represent hundreds of fintech relationships and financial services. We think firms who adopt open banking early and manage to secure partnerships will see themselves realising big financial gains. 2022 will likely be the year that open finance starts reshaping financial services, and the year that banks wise up to the opportunities that open finance represents. With regulators in the EU and UK proposing measures to widen data sharing principles across a broader set of financial products, 2022 will see numerous banks experimenting and evolving their business models toward a model that accounts for freer flowing data.

138 | Issue 33

Dima Kats Clear Junction

Get Any Work Done Online!

https://gawdo.com/