Banking

The banking and insurance industries are dominated by well-known companies that are deeply embedded in the consumer consciousness. However, as technology has evolved, the competition from startups has intensified.

Ms. Juliet Morris of International Banker interviews Ms. Nahla Khaddage Boudiab, COO of AM Bank on Lebanon’s banking sector, AM Bank’s success and her role within the World Union of Arab Bankers.

The largely state-owned banking industry in India has not started the year off on a good foot, with fraud cases, costing billions in damages, triggering alarm bells about the security of the current system. The push is on to increase the privatisation of Indian banking, but how far will such efforts get in a country dominated by state control of banking, policymaking and regulating?

Many bankers love blockchain for its potential to maximize efficiency and productivity while slashing costs and security risks. But the crypto-currencies, such as the (in)famous bitcoin, tied to it? Not so much—at least not across the board. While giving the thumbs up to distributed ledger technology for its advantages in areas such as trade finance, industry leaders are maintaining a wary eye on cryptos, due to disadvantages such as volatility.

Ms. Juliet Morris of International Banker interviews Mr. Henry F. Saamoi, CEO of International Bank (Liberia) on the banks role in the growth of Liberia, the digital solutions being implemented to improve customer service and his long career in banking.

Rarely has a technology been met with the excitement and trepidation that AI has. Because artificial intelligence not only matches but can surpass human intelligence, it is exciting as a means to improve speed, save cost and maximize accuracy—but menacing for its potential to displace human workers. Banks are embracing AI for its staggering benefits, while also acknowledging that it creates a few wrinkles that need ironing out.

In March, the US Senate reformed the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act by loosening its tight regulations on smaller financial organizations, welcome relief for those firms that have been struggling for eight long years with requirements targeted for larger, systemically important institutions during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Most are upbeat about the Senate bill, but how will it fare in the House of Representatives?

Nedbank is among South Africa’s top four banks, offering a range of wholesale and retail banking services to an equally varied clientele. In our interview, three of its top executives, Ciko Thomas, Mike Brown and Mfundo Nkuhlu, discuss a bank that aims to use its financial expertise “to do good for individuals, families, businesses and society”.

The banking industry in Ukraine has been beset by conditions so dire—from rampant fraud in its main banks, threats of war to foreign capital flight—that some thought it would never fully recover. Yet with help from international partners, the government, under the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine, is making impressive strides toward putting its banking sector back on solid, fruitful ground.

As customers age, their vulnerability to abuse, especially financial, increases concurrently. Elder financial abuse is not a new crime but is becoming more prevalent with the current senior boom. Where does the bank’s responsibility to ensure safe banking for elderly customers begin and end, and what steps can it take to ensure the financial well-being of all clients, especially its most vulnerable?