AMID the need for digital transformation within private banks and wealth management in the country at present, Security Bank Corp. has partnered with Avaloq to digitalize further its operations while meeting the expectations and enhancing the experience of customers.
“So while the Philippine economy continues to grow, we expect the wealth management proposition to outpace that. What we need from here is not just a scale of adding more people. We have an advantage now to create ourselves an opportunity where we use technology to face those demands of the clients,” Security Bank financial markets head Arnold Bengco told reporters in an interview during their recent signing of agreement in Makati City.
Given today’s digital age, the government and the banking industry need to bring the unbanked or underserved more into the financial ecosystem while leveraging on digital touchpoints that are available to everyone.
“The banking ecosystem in the Philippines has a long way to go [in digitalization] if you compare it with mature markets in Southeast Asia,” said Security Bank executive vice president, and head of enterprise technology and operations Lucose Eralil.
This holds true also for the wealth management here compared to those abroad, like in Singapore and Hong Kong—now the two main booking centers in Asia for many multinational banks—since they have been offering such service for a number of years already and, regulatory-wise, have also gone through those cycles in terms of understanding what are the right risk controls in place, according to Avaloq commercial head for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa Gery Dachlan.
“When it comes to this market, there is also obviously still some way to go in terms of the regulators. Clearly, it’s on the bank’s journey in terms of offering new products and services. And that will obviously spur the regulators to ensure they have the right risk controls in place,” he underscored.
Recognizing the need for digital shift, Security Bank has laid out a three-year technology roadmap that will allow it to become a game-changer and differentiator in the financial industry.
Part of this plan is the new partnership aimed at helping the digitalization of its wealth management business with the Avaloq Core Platform that is also capable to standardize workflows and enable the offering of a full spectrum of bespoke investment advisory services and products to high net worth and affluent clients. Due to the platform’s operational efficiency gains like the high straight-through processing (STP) and service accuracy rates for payments, securities and fund processing, the bank can focus more resources on providing personalized service, creating new innovative offerings, and expanding into new markets and client segments.
Also included in the collaboration is the rollout of Avaloq’s Relationship Manager (RM) Workplace solution to beef up Security Bank’s front office. With it, relationship managers of the bank will have full overview of client profiles and portfolios, ensuring more targeted communication and simpler transaction management to bolster productivity and foster closer customer relationships. Also, it will enable them to offer tailored investment advisory services to a bigger, more diverse clientele. Fully customizable, this solution is seamlessly integrated with the Avaloq Core Platform.
Security Bank is one of the country’s best-capitalized private universal banks. Since launching its wealth management business in 2017, the bank has grown its wealth management assets under management by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44 percent and has expanded its client base by a CAGR of 40 percent.
With their partnership with Avaloq, Bengco expects their trajectory will also increase. He added: “More than the growth of those figures is also the depth of that client engagement.”
Avaloq, which is part of Japanese conglomerate NEC Group, provides premium front-to-back software and services for over 160 financial institutions globally. Security Bank is now its fourth bank-customer in the Philippines. Dachlan said they are hopeful that more will partner with them as “we plan to grow our client base here.”