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Executive Column: Digital banks urged to specialize
After rapid growth in recent years, the digital-banking business is facing challenges in sustaining its business model through difficult times. Juan Madera, financial services sector (FSS) ASEAN leader at IBM Consulting, spoke with The Jakarta Post’s Vincent Fabian Thomas about the future of digital banks in the region.
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Juan Madera, financial services sector ASEAN leader at IBM Consulting, talked to The Jakarta Post on June 2 about the future of digital banking in the region. (IBM/-)
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fter rapid growth in recent years, the digital-banking business is facing challenges in sustaining its business model through difficult times. Juan Madera Jimenez, financial services sector (FSS) ASEAN leader at IBM Consulting, spoke with The Jakarta Post’s Vincent Fabian Thomas about the future of digital banks in the region.
Question: What is the future of digital banking in APAC, especially ASEAN?
Answer: There are different approaches for different types.
I will say that, in APAC, we have really good examples of digital banks that have started from a large … let's say, digital ecosystem, already. I am thinking about Rakuten and Kakao Bank, for example.
They start with a large population, a large customer base, and then they also have a high degree of technological sophistication. And what they do is they make it easier for the customers to become banking clients.
The second type we're seeing emerging is platforms like Grab, GoTo, etc. that are pure platforms, where they have a very interesting mission to support the gig economy, in particularly in Southeast Asia, where there's a very young population [and] a middle class has been developing.
