Philip Panaino, global head of cash management of Standard Chartered talked about the opportunities in the banking industry in this digital world. In a post-COVID era, he felt excited about the use of technology and working within the ecosystem to add value to the customer’s payment journey. “Capitalising on the digital advances that we've made in the pandemic era, we, as an industry and as a bank, got an amazing amount of unique opportunities ahead of us. Whether it’s using technology such as distributed ledgers, working with central banks on building digital currency capability, whether it's working with interconnected networks to create a seamless frictionless cross-border payment experience for a corporate client and the consumers out there,” he said.

Travers Clarke-Walker, chief marketing officer of Thought Machine, talks about the company's involvement in the growth of digital banks in the region and how these institutions can take advantages of new technology to diversify product offerings.

Parv Aggarwal, head of partnerships at WadzPay, talks about the company's mission to integrate payments between the physical currency world and the metaverse via cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and CBDCs on its distributed ledger and blockchain-based Atlytica payment engine.

Vinay Mendonca, Global Head of Product at HSBC, talks about the progress made by the bank in the digitisation of its trade finance and the improvements in speed of financing and quality of service.

Winnie Chen, head of treasury services in Asia Pacific at US-based BNY Mellon, discusses how the company is strengthening its teams in the region to tailor fit services in a rapidly-changing environment.

Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, senior vice president in banking & payments at FIS talks about the importance of industry collaboration and adoption of new technologies in reducing payments friction.

Samir Pandiri, president at Broadridge International, discusses the opportunities around innovation and platform integration as clients seek to digitise their ecosystems.

Nicolas Cailly, Head of Payments and Cash management of Societe Generale discussed the challenges such as high interest rate, and inflation worldwide and their impact on cash management and payments business. The bank supports the development of its clients and partners around the world. "We need to be very cautious in managing our balance sheet and our risk environment where we see risks being ratcheted up, where we see squeeze on liquidity and problems appearing,” he said.

Carl Wagner, chairman and CEO at Contour, a digital finance trade network, shares that it’s not so much the technology but value-propositions leveraging existing legal frameworks and networks that will drive the utilisation of consortium-led trade finance solutions in the future.

Ti Eng Hui, CEO of Brunei-based Baiduri Bank Group described how its new core banking system will position it for the future by simplifying IT operations, removing complexity and reducing costs. It will consolidate many obsolescent legacy systems into one open platform to support various businesses. The project, led by Tech Mahindra will be implemented in two phases over the next 18 and 24 months.

Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures, the fintech investment and venture capital arm of Standard Chartered, talked about how banks and fintechs are collaborating to create innovative financial solutions.

Kok-Leong Lee, APAC head of lending at Deutsche Bank highlights how trade and supply chain finance continue to keep pace with customers’ needs in a complex business environment and narrates the journey Deutsche Bank is making to help customers transition to a more sustainable future.

Sebastien Avot, APAC head of institutional cash and trade of Deutsche Bank discusses the significance of ISO 20022 readiness for financial institutions in accelerating the harmonisation of standards for cross-border payments and evolution of foreign exchange and liquidity needs in the post-pandemic era.

Alex Manson, head of the fintech investment and venture arm of Standard Chartered Bank, talked about how SC Ventures is out to transform the role of banks in the innovation space and how the future of finance is more collaborative than competitive as the relationship between fintech providers and financial institutions blur.

As The Asian Banker contributes to the development of China’s banking industry, telling its story to the rest of the world and sharing market intelligence, its award programmes must maintain a high level of credibility, stressed company director Cindy Yu, also CEO of Greater China during the recently-held Finance China 2022. Amid an economic downturn, China is strengthening the integrity of its financial system to enable it to play a vital role in economic recovery.