Standard Chartered Bank yesterday opened a flagship digital branch in Taipei, the first iWealth center in the Asia-Pacific region, as the British banking group is seeking to better serve customers who increasingly carry out transactions online.
The iWealth center comes as part of the group’s efforts to invest US$1.5 billion over the next three years to provide customers digital solutions amid growing pressure from non-financial challengers vying for market share.
“We spent US$2 million setting up the digital hub in Taipei to demonstrate our commitment to the local market, which ranks on par with Singapore and Hong Kong in terms of importance,” Standard Chartered Taiwan chief executive officer John Tan (陳銘僑) told an opening ceremony.
Photo: Taipei Times
The sleek-looking iWealth center is targeting affluent Taiwanese customers with net worth of NT$3 million (US$94,274) and above. They can sip expensive tea, read magazines and swipe through iPads when they visit the facility for financial consultation after booking a reservation through the bank’s Web site.
The iWealth service will be extended to other cities in Taiwan, starting with Taichung in central Taiwan in the first half of next year, Tan said.
The bank has trained numerous personnel to offer clients one-stop professional assistance on wealth management, financial analysis, asset allocations and other business needs, said Kate Lin (林素真), the lender’s retailing banking head.
Photo: Taipei Times
The digital hub aims to help customers benefit from the latest banking technology, as internal data show more than 60 percent of the bank’s customers limit their online transactions to cash withdrawals, savings deposits and other basic activities, Lin said, adding that iWealth offers much more.
All VIP rooms at the digital hub are equipped with three screens, with one displaying personal account details and the other two displaying information on market development and wealth management solutions, Lin said.
Customers can conduct cash withdrawals and other traditional banking transactions at the digital branch if they want, Lin said.
The iWealth center also gives clients access to a video banking platform earlier launched elsewhere.
With video banking, clients would be able to speak with banking consultants over a secure video connection, Lin said.
The new channel should allow clients to do almost anything they can in a branch via video, from signing up for a new card to finding a mortgage, Lin said, adding priority banking clients can use video banking to consult face-to-face with investment advisers to explore new wealth management opportunities.
“We are investing in technology that makes banking secure, simple and personal for our clients,” Lin said.
In addition to video banking, the bank’s retail clients — and prospective clients — will be able to connect with banking consultants through online chat and audio links on Standard Chartered’s Web site, Lin said.
The provision of expensive tea is intended especially to pamper female clients, who account for more than a majority of the bank’s clientele, Lin said, adding that Taiwanese consume 1.1kg of tea each year.
Sherri Chuang (莊琇媛), deputy director-general of banking bureau at the Financial Supervisory Commission, who participated the opening ceremony, said the commission has encouraged financial innovations.
Digitalization is necessary for the banking industry as more than 80 percent of clients have stopped visiting physical banks and prefer conducting business over the Internet, Chuang said.
The digital branch lends support to Standard Chartered Bank’s plans to deepen its presence in Taiwan after opening its first branch in 1985, Chuang said.
The Asia-focused bank hired 3,000 employees in Taiwan after announcing plans last year to cut 15,000 jobs to improve its finances, company data showed.
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