Singapore

And Wells Fargo’s consumer complaints dropped in 2017.

Productivity in all three banks has improved in 3Q17.

All three banks registered absolute growth in 9M17.

Some countries have already started negotiating to meet the deadline.

He will succeed Patrick Dewilde who will retire in March 2018 after 34 years of service. Stuart has been with Citi for more than 13 years and has extensive global experience in managing complex businesses. He has spent the last eight years as global head of commodities based in London, responsible for Citi’s activities in physical and financial commodity products serving the firm’s global client base. During this time, he helped to grow and develop the franchise into an industry leader. With the support and partnership of the Asia operating committee and the markets and securities services management team, Stuart will continue to build on Citi’s efforts to be the best partner to clients in the region. Stuart will work closely with Patrick over the next few months to ensure a seamless transition before he assumes his new responsibilities on March 1, 2018. During this time, Citi will run a process to select Stuart’s successor as global head of commodities.  

It can compute, analyse, and provide information and consultation. OCBC Bank is the first bank in Singapore to launch an online advisory service called OCBC OneAdvisor Home that brings together everything that both first-time home buyers as well as seasoned investors would need – from property listings, policy details, rules and regulations, to comprehensive affordability advice. The OCBC OneAdvisor Home affordability tool computes the price range affordability for the buyer, including down-payment, stamp duty, minimum cash payment as well as legal and agent fees. Plans are also underway to allow for home buyers to get to know OCBC’s mortgage specialists without having to first meet them face-to-face. Akin to popular e-commerce and travel apps, this game-changing new feature allows home buyers to see the past ratings and testimonials given by their mortgage specialists’ former clients. In the coming months, OCBC OneAdvisor Home will allow home buyers to submit necessary documents through the website for a secure Credit Bureau check. In addition, home sellers will be able to get an indicative value of their properties from an accredited valuer. Services like the application for a renovation loan will also be added in the future.  

Banks need to narrow the distance with customers, to offer them an array of contact points, and to better understand their behavior and needs. New banking models start with establishing frictionless relationships with customers.

The four new appointments are: Cameron Senior as head of wealth & international, Fion Khoh as head of network, Christine Lim as head of direct sales, and Lina Chan as head of multi-channel optimisation. These newly created roles were announced as HSBC Singapore revealed the expansion of its retail banking and wealth management team. Anurag Mathur, head of retail banking and wealth management, HSBC Bank (Singapore) said, “The expanded management team will allow us to better support our growth agenda in Singapore which is a priority market under HSBC Group’s Pivot to Asia strategy. Not only will it enable us to better focus on priority areas, it also allows us to be more efficient in the deployment of our resources. I am particularly pleased that of the four new appointments, three are promoted from within which shows that our efforts to groom and develop talents are paying off.” Prior to taking on this newly created role, Cameron Senior was head of retail distribution, HSBC Bank (Singapore). He has almost 20 years of extensive experience in multiple areas within HSBC’s retail banking business and across key HSBC priority markets in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK. In his new role, Cameron will champion and drive changes to the bank’s wealth and international business to further strengthen its wealth management and advisory sales platform for its emerging and mass affluent customers both domestically and for those with international needs. Fion Khoh will take on a newly created role as head of network which expands her current remit to the management of the bank’s Singapore branch network. Fion has more than 15 years of experience in retail banking sales, customer relationship and branch network management. In her new role, besides overseeing the consistent delivery of sales and customer servicing, Fion will lead the execution of HSBC’s strategies to drive and expand banking relationships within the entire branch network. Ms. Khoh will also be responsible for the development and management of HSBC’s physical branch and ATM footprint. Christine Lim has been appointed head of direct sales, responsible for driving growth and profitability through the delivery of a market-leading direct sales channel to acquire new to bank customers. Prior to joining HSBC, Christine spent 7 years at ANZ Bank Singapore as acquisition dead of credit cards & personal loans and was instrumental in strengthening the mobile sales and digital distribution channel for cards and loans at ANZ, driving strong growth in unsecured lending. Christine brings extensive leadership experience across direct sales (manned and unmanned), developing alternate acquisition channels, channel management, and service quality. Lina Chan, the new head of multi-channel optimisation, has over 20 years of experience across retail banking which includes client management, service and sales performance, product and marketing management. She has spent time in HSBC Vietnam heading up its direct banking team and has been successfully leading the HSBC Bank (Singapore)’s client management and business development team since 2011. Lina has been instrumental in ensuring that high-quality and timely customer reviews are delivered, effectively balancing the need to both grow the business and manage risk. In her new role, Lina will be responsible for supporting business growth by optimising multi-channel support and transformation that includes identifying and migrating select over-the-counter services, streamlining the referral process across channels, and championing new multi-channel technologies.  

And Britain's Competition and Markets Authority extends deadline for open banking implementation.

It has the lowest staff cost per employee at US$61,800 (S$83,333). UOB Kay Hian reports OCBC leads in cost efficiency with the lowest staff cost per employee and ‘very lean’ non-wage expenses. This is against US$89,600 (S$120,830) for DBS and US$64,900 (S$87,620) for UOB. However, DBS’ staff cost per employee grew at a slightly slower CAGR at 3.6% for 2013-17, vs 4.8% for OCBC and 4.9% for UOB. Staff cost accounted for 61.6% of operating expenses for OCBC despite its lower staff costs per employee, vs 56% for DBS and 55.3% for UOB in September 2017. DBS also leads in productivity with the highest income per employee at US$399,500 (S$538,805) as of 3Q17 (annualised), significantly above the US$239,800 (S$323,465) for OCBC and US$267,900 (S$361,289). This is mainly due to its established presence in Singapore and Hong Kong with market shares, which are major financial centres, estimated at 20.6% and 4.2% respectively. According to UOB Kay Hian, OCBC and UOB's income per employee grew at a faster CAGR at 4.7% and 5.6% respectively for 2013-17, vs 2.1% for DBS. OCBC’s income per employee stayed flat in 2015 and 2016, possibly held back by the integration of Wing Hang Bank, but had improved 11% ytd in 9M17. UOB’s income per employee has grown steadily at CAGR of 5.6% for 2013-17. DBS has the highest PPoP per employee at US$232,600 (S$313,701), vs US$135,400 (S$182,703) for OCBC and US$151,500 (S$204,284) for UOB. OCBC and UOB registered faster growth with PPoP per employee expanding at CAGR of 4.4% and 4.9% respectively for 2013-17, vs 2.1% for DBS. DBS has the smallest workforce at 23,114, whilst OCBC had the largest headcount of 29,161 as of September 2017. UOB has kept headcount relatively unchanged as it maintains an ASEAN-centric footprint and did not partake in any major M&As.  

The financial impact should be moderate and manageable.

Mobile is the bank’s fastest-growing digital channel. Mobile banking overtook other digital channels to become the preferred channel used by Citi’s Asia Pacific clients in the last 12 months, as digital grows rapidly as a source of new business at Citi. Digital acquisition in Citi’s Credit Cards and Loans business grew 57% year-on-year, and digital lending now accounts for 40% of total consumer loans fulfilled by Citi in the region. This growth has been underpinned by Citi’s digital investments and growth in partnerships on leading digital ecosystems. Citi has digital credit card partnerships with leading players in the region including Amazon, Grab, Lazada, Expedia, and Airbnb. Citi also recently partnered with Facebook to launch its first banking chatbot on the Facebook Messenger platform in Singapore. Giving customers real-time information on their accounts, transaction details and rewards points balances, Citi’s chatbot will be rolled out across the region over the next few months. The bank is already active in a number of leading social messaging platforms in Asia Pacific including WeChat in China and LINE in Thailand. Citi also recently reached a major milestone with three million customers having registered to use its voice biometric authentication. Across the region, Citi’s digital banking channels and servicing capabilities continue to see strong growth in customer engagement. In Singapore, the bank has seen a 48% year-on-year increase in its Citi Mobile app monthly active users and a 44% year-on-year increase in the download of its mobile app. The Asia Pacific Global Consumer Bank’s focus on transforming its business continues to yield positive results. For the third quarter of 2017, the business reported a 5% increase in revenue year-on-year to US$1.87 billion, representing its fifth consecutive quarter of revenue growth in the region and making it the fastest growing consumer business for Citi globally.  

And find out if 2018 will be the year of the Bank of Amazon.

Moreover, about 41% of banked balance has now abandoned traditional channels.

And regulatory woes dampen investor appetite for European banks.

He joins Citi from eBay with oversight of Citi’s Consumer Banking data and analytics capabilities and customer insights.