Asian-Pacific Association of Banking Institutes (APABI)

MESSAGE FROM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I am pleased to report the successful completion of our second biennial Virtual Roundtable last month.

I want to thank all 18 members who participated, and particularly the seven who gave presentations on their recent updates. I am even more excited about the consensus on forming a governing board, which will forge a new chapter in the history of our organization.

For this quarter’s edition, we are focusing on fintech as a driver of the future of the financial industry. The specific technologies driving these changes are diverse, and three are featured below: AI, new concepts of money, and the integration of banking with myriad other aspects of our lives. That last trend, which can be summarized as “Banking as a Service,” encapsulates both the APIs connecting individuals’ accounts to other services, and embedded finance from scenario perspective, spanning the entire value chain from technology to marketing.

This edition also features interviews with two of our smaller members, from Mongolia and Nepal – a rare opportunity for readers to learn more about the banking sectors in those respective countries.

I would like once again to thank the newsletter committee members for their active participation. APABI Focus has so far been an effective way to increase member engagement, and I look forward to more such initiatives going forward.

Regards,

David Stinson
Editor-in-Chief, APABI Focus Newsletter