The global pandemic has brought to light the need for automation to cope with the demands of the new world. Firms have been hitting the reset button replacing manual processes with digital alternatives to enable the delivery of uninterrupted critical services from anywhere.
In the concluding part of an exclusive one-on-one with 陈 Boon-Hiong, 导演, 证券市场发展全球主管 & 宣传, 证券服务, 企业银行(CB), 德意志银行新加坡分公司, 和奈杰尔·诺, 副主任, 业务发展-东南亚, 存, the discussion focused on the effect of the pandemic on automation and digitalization.
Gnoh从行业的角度来看, is there a need for capital market firms to reimagine or enhance their existing operations model to kick-start business growth, 帖子-COVID19? Is now the right time to identify gaps in processes and leverage automation to fill the gaps or should firms adopt a wait-and-see approach?
陈: Prior to COVID-19 capital market firms in the industry were at different stages on the journey towards greater digitalization and innovation to drive growth and achieve operational efficiency. In today’s challenging regulatory compliance environment, leveraging automation to meet the onslaught of compliance demands is a necessity. 越来越多地, firms are seeing the benefits that can be gained from distributed ledger technology (DLT), 人工智能, 应用程序编程接口和云. Despite an uncertain future, the momentum to innovate and reinvent will not be lost. What can change is prioritization as the industry slips into a more resource-constrained environment.
管理投资和成本, firms will need to strategically determine where focus is needed and prioritize projects that fit new business needs in the next normal. Firms should also look at collaborating with external parties to optimize investments spend on streamlining and automating business processes. This is where financial market infrastructures (FMIs) are here play a leading role in providing services for the needs of the community which can reduce duplicated costly efforts at the firm level. The need to rely on FMIs is even more critical during a crisis where firms need to grapple with faster turnaround times and cost pressures. 举个例子, Hong Kong Exchanges and 清算’s proposed HKEX Synapse is a blockchain-based platform that is integrated with 存’s 机构贸易处理 suite of services to enable global investors to automate and expedite the trade confirmation and settlement process. As HKEX Synapse could foster higher level of standardized data definitions and streamline 帖子-trade processes for Northbound Stock Connect trading, it can remove needs for individual firms to develop certain bespoke solutions to save costs and reduce operational risks.
Gnoh从德意志银行的角度来看, how do you prioritize innovative projects during this challenging period? 以客户为中心是流程的一部分吗?
陈: The criteria that we use to prioritize innovative projects are driven primarily by clients’ needs and market development. 在今天的背景下, helping clients to manage 帖子-trade risk remains a top priority for us (in 证券服务) and this concern is reflected in our product focus. 例如, we seek to deliver accurate and relevant information in real-time to multi-parties to facilitate trade settlement and manage 帖子-trade risks within the shortest possible timeframe. The 10-15 minutes in time saving is especially critical during market volatility where the operations teams would have to cope with unexpected spikes in trade volumes and increased time pressure.
In the longer term, we are looking at incorporating DLT as part of our solution. 与此同时, we have also internally experimented with DLT to identify potential implications on workflows, 新的价值创造和规则.
虽然技术正在以惊人的速度变化, 德意志银行, we are primarily anchored to how best change can benefit our clients and markets.
Gnoh: In my conversations with our clients in Singapore, 马来西亚, 泰国和印度尼西亚, 一个常见的说法是, “我们是一家投资公司, 技术不是我们的强项。”. Given your experience and exposure in the industry, what is your advice for firms that will be commencing on an innovation path?
陈: Fortunately for the financial services industry, 大多数(如果不是全部的话)公司都处于某种初始阶段, 早期, middle or late – stage of the innovation undertaking. A prescription for optimizing investment dollar during and after COVID-19 is to look to key industry players such as FMIs to collaborate to realize efficiency gains and economies of scale unachievable by an individual firm. Valued for their central role in the 帖子-trade community and regular industry collaborative efforts like T+2 migrations, fmi提供了降低成本的机会, 分享专业知识和见解, and integrating siloed systems and solutions within the financial services ecosystem with new technological capabilities. 与业界和社会各界共同努力, working with FMIs and regulators would be instrumental in advancing a smooth path to cost-effective automation and innovation.