WaiKo-chi holds 20 years of expertise in IT leadership, program management, and technology oversight. Recognized as a seasoned professional, he excels in grasping the bigger organizational picture, seamlessly integrating diverse technologies, and staying abreast of the latest industry trends to achieve specific goals. Wai’s hands-on experience spans a range of IT domains including application development, systems integration, project management, and strategic development. This diverse background serves as evidence of his versatility and proficiency in navigating various aspects of the IT landscape.
In an exclusive interview with Financial Services Review APAC, Waishared his invaluable thoughts concerning the changes taking place within the industry along with the ensuing challenges and possible solutions.
What are the primary challenges that currently impact the FinTech industry?
There existstwo sets of businesses in Malaysia that provide financial services to the public which are heavily regulated institutions like banks and non-regulated entities, notably technology companies that deliver diverse financial solutions. These two distinct sectors have a strong digital presence.
In the absence of legislative guidance for non-regulated institutions, protecting the consumer’s interest poses a challenge. The situation is reversed for regulated banks. These entities must navigate the intricate balance between maintaining regulatory compliance and preserving digital agility and responsiveness to meet customer needs. The challenge is toeffectively integrate these establishments and find a delicate balance that promotes and safeguards trust in these financial offerings.
Please elaborate on the technologies and the practices employed to address these challenges.
It is not merely a technology issue; rather, it entails the adoption of a modern stack of technologies that empowers banks to respond to client requests more quickly and efficiently.A greater portion of backend and frontend processes are still operating on legacy systems.
“It is also important to prioritize a list of challenges you would like to address immediately. This is imperative as no organization has the capacity to solve all challenges simultaneously.”
Similarly, core transactional record keeping systems of numerous banks are hosted on legacy frameworks. Embracing new technologies to enhance a bank's current central system, regardless of whether it operates on the cloud or on-premise, is a viable approach to tackle this challenge. This has proven successful for several banks, resulting in higher success rates. After establishing touchpoints with customers, it becomes feasible to promptly develop a new technology stack around the central record-keeping system.
Banks can encounter additional challenges like complexity and cost. These obstacles can be mitigated by exploring and implementing technology stacks that enable seamless integration with all transactional core systems. Industry newcomers can directly leverage the latest technology stack and development approaches.
Could you please share insights from a project you successfully led or managed?
An example that underscores the importance of upgrading transactional core systems is a recent project. We recognized the need for a faster client onboarding process within our organization. We used the latest technology stack to modernize the onboarding site, which banks can easily integrate with their back-end.
This streamlined our processes and facilitated easy system-to-system interactions, making it convenient for banks and our partners to conduct business with us. Consequently, the modernized stack significantly reduced errors compared to traditional methods of filing and emailing transactions.
Do you have any advice for our readers on how to strategically position themselves in the competitive FinTech sector?
Every organization serves a diverse customer base, including retail, corporate, and individual clients. Success lies in segregating them and identifying and addressing specific challenges faced by these customers.
Prioritizing a list of challenges for immediate attention is paramount, as no organization possesses the capability to tackle all issues simultaneously. It is crucial to concentrate on obstacles that, when successfully addressed, can bring substantial benefits to both the organization and its customers concurrently.
Based on my experience and observation, I recommend an approach that involves avoiding the retention of technology components that undergo frequent upgrades.Instead of replacing the entire technology stack, it is crucial to decouple elements and discard those deemed high-risk.
Elements requiring minimal changes needs to be incorporated into the inner layers of the stack, while those subjected to frequent upgrades should be strategically placed on the outer layers. This methodology significantly enhances the stability of the technology stack and core systems, contributing to the overall improvement of the organization’s corporate appearance.
