Banking

With the pandemic’s capital market and dealmaking frenzy a memory, the banking industry is undergoing belt-tightening amid rising interest rates. While the 2008 financial crisis saw massive layoffs, banks have been reluctant to engage in similar job cuts. Can lenders ride out the next few months without relinquishing significant talent?

KBC Group is well regarded as Europe’s premier bank-insurance group, seeking to provide a universal service to customers that saves them time and money in various aspects of their lives. In our interview, CEO Johan Thijs explains how the Group not only changes with its customers but proactively anticipates their future needs.

Despite its importance to operations, treasury management still relies on legacy systems, left behind as banks race to exploit technology in building next-generation infrastructure. What are the eight ways that banks can develop forward-looking treasury-management systems that enable them to grow their businesses nationally and globally?

For years, countries grew familiar with an environment of low inflation, low rates and loose monetary policy. That environment was upended as high inflation returned with a vengeance, biting sharply into living standards and swiftly reversing central banks’ goals. With no easy solutions available, policymakers are left with hard choices.

Malaysia was insulated from climate change and its effects until the last couple of decades when devastating floods ravaged the country. Malaysia has committed to net zero as early as 2050, but this resolve must be supported by corresponding determination from the financial sector to channel resources to the green transition.

International banking regulations have grown stiffer and more complicated over the past 15 years since the Global Financial Crisis, affecting international banks disproportionately and putting them at competitive disadvantages with local banks, in contrast with the initial intention of the Basel Committee. Four lines of action are suggested to ensure a fair playing field for all banks.

Piguet Galland & Cie SA, “a bank on a human scale”, safeguards what many banks are abandoning as they embrace digitalisation and distance themselves from clients. In our interview, Selman Bicaco Urrutia, Head of Private Banking, explains how Piguet Galland employs digital tools and other means to only intensify its crucial human touch.

Serbia’s AIK Banka is committed to being its customers’ bank of first choice. It has invested generously but smartly in digital transformation, creating products and services that improve the customer experience and internal operations. Board Chair Jelena Galić explains how AIK Banka has become its clients’ reliable and valuable partner.

The best banking institutions in retail, commercial, private and investment banking are highlighted, along with two outstanding CEOs from their regions.

As central banks grapple with soaring inflation rates and the urgency to hike interest rates, the Bank of Japan is out of step with its loose monetary policy and negative rates as it struggles to overcome stubbornly low inflation. With prices showing signs of stirring, the BOJ may recalibrate and unwind its unconventional monetary policy.