The Asian Bankers Association (ABA) yesterday successfully completed its 40th general meeting and annual conference in Taipei.
The two-day event at the Grand Hyatt Taipei under the theme of “Asian Banks: Transitioning Toward a Sustainable Future” attracted more than 250 representatives of central banks, financial institutes, enterprises and international organizations from more than 20 countries.
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) and Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Peng Jin-lung (彭金隆) spoke at the opening ceremony of the event, while Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Monday attended a dinner party for the meeting.
Photo courtesy of the Asian Bankers Association
South Korean Representative to Taiwan Lee Eun-ho, Singaporean Trade Representative to Taipei Yip Wei Kiat (葉偉傑) and Vu Tien Dung, head of the Vietnam Economic and Culture Office in Taipei, also attended this year’s event to show their support.
CTBC Financial Holding Co (中國信託金股) board director Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) said at the dinner party that the ABA was established by CTBC Financial’s late founder, Jeffrey Koo Sr (辜?松), in 1981, and the organization has been working hard to promote regional economic and trade cooperation for the past 43 years.
ABA holds annual conferences in major cities in member countries to promote the development of regional economic cooperation and the exchange of information on business opportunities. Taipei hosted the first conference in 1981, and then in 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2015.
Jeffrey Koo Jr said that it is of special significance for Taipei to host the 40th ABA General Meeting and Conference this year, and expects CTBC to continue contributing to the development of regional banking and global finance.
ABA chairman and CTBC Financial vice chairman Daniel Wu (吳一揆) on Monday said that the banking industry is facing the challenge of digital transformation.
Driven by factors such as customer demand, operating models and digital technology development, the banking industry has gradually shifted from traditional business models to developing digital services with customer experience as the core, Wu said.
As an international organizational platform, ABA can effectively assist member states to find solutions to challenges, allowing the banking industry to achieve digital transformation and move toward sustainable operation, he said.
Thomas Nides, vice chairman for strategy and client relations at Blackstone Group Inc, was invited to this year’s event to have a “fireside chat” with Wu on Monday.
Nides and Wu shared their experiences and observations on the international financial situation.
In addition, Nides said that there are many opportunities and challenges in Asia during the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, and provided suggestions about how the regional banking industry could maintain its competitiveness and sustainable development in response to geopolitical changes.
CTBC Financial president Rachael Kao (高麗雪) on Monday hosted a plenary session and discussed issues related to the sustainable development of the banking and other industries with Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) chairman Philip Tsao (曹為實) and KPMG Sustainability Consulting Co (安侯永續發展顧問) managing director Niven Huang (黃正忠).
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Pia Bernadette Roman Tayag, CTBC Financial chief technology officer Titan Chia (賈景光) and Friedman Wang (王俊權), head of digital technology division at CTBC Bank, participated in another plenary session on Monday focused on the technologies and challenges of digital transformation in the banking industry.
Yesterday, Richard Koo (辜朝明), chief economist at Nomura Research Institute, attended a plenary session to analyze the financial situations in the US, Japan and China.
In addition to sharing his views on the follow-up situation of this month’s US presidential election, Richard Koo also drew on the experience of Japan after 1990 and the West after 2008 to propose solutions to a real-estate bubble in China.
At another session yesterday, CTBC Bank president Tony Yang (楊銘祥), Lito Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, Atsushi Masuda, chairman of the Association of Credit Rating Agency in Asia, and Vinayak H.V, senior partner at Mckinsey & Co, discussed the transformation of the banking industry.
This year’s ABA General Meeting and Conference was organized by CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), the Banks Association of the ROC and the ABA.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to host the next ABA event.
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