Message from the APABI Secretariat

Dear APABI Members,

We would like to congratulate the Banking and Finance Academy of Mongolia for successfully hosting the APABI Meeting and Conference 2022. Member institutes from five countries (aside from the BFA) travelled to Mongolia to participate in person: IIBF of India, BAIPIL of the Philippines, KBI of Korea, TABF of Taiwan, EIBFS of the UAE. Four more institutes participated online: IBFKH of Cambodia, HKIB of Hong Kong, AICB of Mongolia, and CBI of the UK. The event was themed “Re-Shaping Banking Sector in Post-Pandemic Era,” and participants had the opportunity to learn about changes in the Asian and global banking sector over the past two years, as well as the situation of banking, finances, and economics in Mongolia.

On Day 1, the Executive Meeting, each member presented their national updates, followed by several special updates. First, the Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB), represented by IIBF, introduced their organization. They have represented 2 million bankers around the world since 2017, and have created five banking education standards. Next, the PRB Academy (for the Principles of Responsible Banking) introduced their four courses which are schedule to go online at the end of October. Finally, TABF described its work in the APABI secretariat to foster communication and exchange between member institutes.

The members agreed to hold online conferences in the years between physical meetings, helping APABI conform with the post-pandemic trend of videoconferencing. The members also selected Mumbai, India as the location for 2024 meeting, hosted by IIBF.

The Conference on the second day featured two panel discussions: “The NEXT Finance Talent: The Pandemic as an Accelerator of Transformation of Talents and Skills” and “Time is Now: Creating Synergies between Digitalization and Human Resource Management in Banking Sector.” Panelists from member institutes and Mongolian banks described the challenges balancing employee and customer expectations in the era of remote work, as well as solutions they had discovered and implemented.

The day also featured two keynote speeches. In the first, Lkhagvasuren B., Governor of the Central Bank of Mongolia, described Mongolia’s macroeconomic situation, as well as payments ecosystem development. Next, Markus Loch, Country Representative of German Sparkassenstiftung Mongolia, reminded the audience that relationship skills, including body language, are just as important (or even more important) in an era of online communications. Finally, a presentation on banking the metaverse demonstrated Mongolia’s modern side.

The conference was an important opportunity for APABI to meet again after the pandemic. Please make sure that all member information is up-to-date, so that the appropriate people in your organization will receive all updates on upcoming events and APABI news. Contact the secretariat at apabi@tabf.org.tw  for any questions.

We look forward to seeing all members online in 2023, and in Mumbai in 2024!


Sincerely,

TABF, representing APABI