Interviews

Exclusive Session With Roosevelt Ogbonna

Published

5 months ago

January 3, 2023

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Tell me about your Company’s Financial Year 2023 Growth Plans

So far, we have achieved significant growth by virtue of several transformative strategies employed. However, we are geared to do more, even as we key into various sectors and industries.

Carving a niche for ourselves as the dominant universal gateway across every segment in Africa, we will be deepening our retail offerings come 2023, laying strong emphasis on digitization and increased collaborations across the continent.

In line with our vision to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank, we have expanded the reach of our digital services across the African continent by leveraging best-in-class technology. In addition to providing top-notch digital banking services to our customers across all digital channels, we have supported industry-agnostic ecosystem startups to provide value in different sectors to scale through our Pan-African Start-up Accelerator programme and we will be scaling this even further through the new year.

Furthermore, through our continued expansion into key markets in Africa, most recently Angola, we will be providing unmatched banking to customers while also continuing to harness the accretive opportunities that come with being Africa’s gateway to the world.

To harness the inherent potential in these expansions, we will also continue to work with other Africa-focused multilaterals to provide robust and efficient payment platforms and ecosystems to serve the continent.

Lastly, we recognize that the face of banking is changing faster than imagined and we are aware of the constant disruption to our businesses, due to varying factors, including stiffer competition from Fintechs. We are also committed to sustainable business practices in reshaping the dynamics of the markets we play in as we identify new opportunities in these markets.

In terms of the entrepreneurial spirit, what do you feel have been your main contributions to the bank so far?

Being a great entrepreneur isn’t just about being brave and taking risks, it’s about unprecedented levels of attention to detail, and a positive, productive mentality that resonates with team members across the entirety of an organization.

Two questions I ask myself almost every day are, ‘Are we serving our customers and the larger society in the best way?’, and ‘What can I do today to make all Access Bank employees feel empowered, motivated and capable of maintaining high levels of excellence?’

Answering these help me abide by the mantras of excellence, responsibility and service and this ultimately cascades through the DNA of Access Bank.

Your commitment to sustainability, how do you maintain it?

Access Bank aligned its sustainability strategy with its corporate objectives by reviewing its corporate philosophy in line with its sustainability agenda. The Bank’s sustainability vision, “To be the most sustainable and respected bank in Africa, financing and facilitating brighter futures for all our stakeholders through innovative services and best in class operations”, directly builds on the corporate vision, “to be the World’s Most Respected African Bank”.

We have taken an effort to ensure that sustainability is ingrained across all levels and aspects of the Bank. Our corporate governance structure is designed to superintend the creation of optimal and long-term shared value for our stakeholders. At Access Bank Plc, Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (‘ESG’) performance is at the top of our corporate agenda.

Our ongoing investment in communities is far-reaching across the pillars of health, education, sport, arts, environment and social welfare. The Bank has launched initiatives – large and small – to empower women. ‘Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton’, for instance, is an initiative through which businesswomen within Nigeria and beyond are provided with world-class business training, finance, and mentoring opportunities. So far, over 250 women across Africa have received free mini-MBA certifications and financial grants worth $21,123.

In a bid to tackle climate change and its hazardous effects, Access Bank has launched a series of initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions and moving Nigeria – and the world as a whole – toward the global Net Zero vision. It has pioneered waste recycling within Nigeria’s financial sector, expanding its recycling operations to 75 locations across the country. The Bank also issued Africa’s first Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) certified corporate green bond ($41 million), which is also the pioneer green bond cross-listing between the Nigerian Stock Exchange and Luxembourg Green Exchange, supporting the transition to a low carbon economy. Following its debut green bond issuance, the Bank issued a $50 million Reg S Step-Up Green Notes due 2027 in the international capital market via a private placement, further driving green finance adoption across sectors of the economy.

How do you make sure you and your team are meaningful & aspiring in every decision you take for the younger employees at your bank?

At Access Bank Plc, we strive to build a repository of human capital that truly understands the values of the organization and strives to maintain such values. However, we not only nurture, effectively manage, and preserve the best talent, but we also invest in the well-being of the entire workforce.

We recognize that our people are the foundation of our success. Our employees are vibrant and diverse with a continuous zeal to excel while being committed to collaborating with one another to achieve the common goal. Hence, we remain committed to upskilling our workforce to give them a competitive advantage amongst their peers.

In addition, we have structures that encourage all employees to look beyond ‘self’ and take pride in the collective efforts we put into developing our communities. This is scaled through our Employee Volunteering Scheme, which also counts amongst the key performance metrics assessed per employee.

So, do you feel that the outlook is positive for the banking sector in 2023?

2023 will see the continued fragility of the world economy due to factors like spiking prices, unevenly rising interest rates, and international political tensions.

However, I am very optimistic that incumbent financial institutions that have increased their resilience over the past decade by improving capital and liquidity positions like ourselves will perform robustly against these unfavourable headwinds.

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Interviews

Finance Derivative Talks to Tianjin Port Development Holdings Limited

Published

5 months ago

January 3, 2023

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1. How do you look back on 2022, being one of the 10 best largest container ports in the world?
In 2021, the container throughput of Tianjin Port exceeded 20 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and ranked eighth on the list of world largest ports in terms of total container handling capacity, and growing the fastest among the world’s top 10 ports. Tianjin Port will strive to achieve 25 million TEUs by 2025 and continue to open a new chapter in the story of prosperity of Tianjin Port’s world-class port.
The market environment in 2022 was more difficult than that in 2021. Other than the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and financial policies tightening in Europe and the United States, China’s economic growth was slower-than-expected due to the resurgence of the COVID 19 pandemic and related strict control measures. In this challenging market environment as at Q3 2022, Tianjin Port as a whole handled accumulatively cargo throughput of 363 million tonnes, 3.3% more year-on-year, and container throughput of 16.54 million TEUs, 4.7% more year-on-year, via enhancing efficiency and various flexible measures. Tianjin Port Co., Ltd., the major controlling subsidiary of Tianjin Port Development Holdings Limited (“Tianjin Port Development” or the “Company”) still managed to achieve profit growth of 11.9% in the first three quarters of 2022.
In mid-October 2021, Tianjin Port Group (the controlling shareholder of Tianjin Port Development, which holds 53.5% stake in the company) unveiled what it says is the world’s first zero carbon emissions smart terminal in Beigang area of Tianjin Port. This smart and ‘zero-carbon’ smart terminal can serve as an example of intelligent upgrading and low-carbon development of ports all over the world. As at Oct 13 2022, this zero-carbon smart terminal in Beijiang port area had handled 1 million TEUs since it started operation in October last year.

2. How are you able to manage and improve the sustainability strategies with the stakeholders? Tell us about your visions and key factors to success.
Tianjin Port Development has been investing resources in promoting its sustainable development and its sustainability strategies emphasize five principles, namely “Environmental Commitment”, “People Focus”, “Quality First”, “Customer Oriented” and “Community Care”, which are incorporated into its daily management and operations. The Company has kept strengthening communication and cooperation with various stakeholders so as to continuously improve sustainability management.
Building a smart port is a major undertaking of the Company. We aim high and strive to build a world-class smart port and a green port, to better serve the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and construct the “Belt and Road” initiative.
We continue to propel port automation with advanced smart, automatic and communication technologies, aiming to improve service efficiency while reducing service costs and offering customers with better experience. The Company continues to make use of artificial intelligence algorithms and big data to develop new smart projects, implement innovative business operation and analytics systems to enhance operating intelligence and customer service efficiency. In addition, we keep hastening automatic transformation of traditional terminals, and designing our own fully-automated facilities and equipment.
The Company has dedicated much effort to implementing sustainable development concepts and paying more attention to topics such as green development, smart and safe production. All these efforts have laid a solid foundation for the Company’s success.

3. How did the market change post covid-19 and where do you see it going?
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ports around the world, those in overseas countries in particular, have seen containers stacked up and even halt service. The pandemic has brought to the foreground the need to develop smart ports. In recent years, Tianjin Port Development has actively used innovative technologies to build smart ports. It currently owns more than a dozen world-first technologies that have helped it improve operational efficiency. For example, a single driver can take remote control of six automated facilities simultaneously. In the future, Tianjin Port Development will continue to pursue automation and intelligent reforms plus upgrade its facilities.
Furthermore, during the pandemic, sea freight was adversely affected by land transportation restrictions in mainland China. In light of that, Tianjin Port Development enhanced the function of its feeder network and optimized the linkage between main services and feeder services within the port in Tianjin-Hebei area, built a collaborative operation platform for feeder services covering the Bohai Rim, and promoted vigorous development of “daily shift” services. An alliance was forged and the “Maritime Expressway – FAST” service brand was created, enabling coordination and link up of all processes, from delivery from factories, loading and unloading at the ports and piers, sea transportation and on-shore storage and logistics to receipt of goods by end customers, thus forming a “door-to-door” standardized transportation system. We have been able to make better use of our marine channel advantage to improve overall freight efficiency and bring more business opportunities to Tianjin Port Development. At the same time, Tianjin Port Development is also starting to actively take part in multi-operational partnership covering road, rail and sea transportation, which will become a new business model serving the “Belt and Road Market”.

4. Do you see your company expanding its offerings in future? FY2023
In the future, Tianjin Port Development will hasten transforming its transportation mode. For inbound operations, under the “Maritime Expressway Express—FAST” service brand, it will speed up expanding coverage of its ports and land logistics network in the Tianjin-Hebei region. And, for supporting outbound logistics, it will extend the sea-rail shipping channel. Moreover, it will continue to upgrade automation of its piers, so as to achieve complete digital transformation. Furthermore, it will press on with using green energy, step up “zero-carbon port” construction, implement its “dual-carbon” goals, and take to greater depth the work of building an international shipping hub in northern China.

Interviews

Exclusive Interview With AsiaPay CEO -Joseph Chan

Published

5 months ago

January 3, 2023

admin

It’s a pleasure to have you. Tell me a bit about your journey and about heading AsiaPay.

As the founder and CEO of AsiaPay Group, Joseph started up the first high-quality third-party digital payment service and technology firm in 2000 in Hong Kong, spearheaded the company’s business strategies and product development together with his management team, and leads AsiaPay becoming one of the most successful world-class digital payment companies in Asia.
In regard to business growth and market recognition, Joseph presents his long-term vision which is to operate a successful and socially responsible company that continually provides individuals and corporate entities with the newest digital payment values, readily enhances one’s quality of life, and maximizes business opportunities, efficiency and productivity.

On that note of innovation, what are your views, on things like blockchain, Artificial intelligence, and robotics?

AsiaPay works closely with our partners in the AI, metaverse, crypto, and NFT-related businesses. With the capabilities of the web3 payment, we aim to strengthen the sales scene, use virtual social space as attraction, product display, and sales as a reality, and enhance the interest and purchase intention of potential buyers, coupled with cryptocurrency-led payment.

Decentralizing blockchain can guarantee the fidelity and security of transactions and digital payments. While combining digital record authenticity in blockchain technologies and the automation of artificial intelligence can enhance data security to prevent fraud in the fintech and digital commerce industries.

Along digital transformation, there has been successful applications of robotics in F&B n hotel industries in Asia and more digital payment solution adoption follows to provide more seamless and valued payment experience to customers.

AsiaPay continues to work closely with partners and startups in these technology areas and also web3 area like metaverse, crypto to well capitalise on these technologies to provide more advanced payment solution to address coming business and market needs

How do you manage the making in the area of diversity and inclusion in terms of gender and cultural background?

Joseph Chan

AsiaPay always aims to remain a balanced and fair working environment with diversity and inclusion over its 15 country operations in Asia. As we serve merchants covering wide range of industries and operating across borders with close interaction with our teams in Asia, we respect the unique background, needs, perspectives, and potential of all team members. We:

Identify diversity and inclusion as key strategic priorities
Recruit and hire openly across Asia
Establish snd enforce cross-country mentorship
Promote team work and foster relationship by overseas team training, yearly executive meeting…etc …
Acknowledge holidays of all cultures and celebrate
Be aware of any unconscious bias.
Ensure benefits and programs are inclusive

And, we set up a variety of staff performance and long-service awards to appreciate our team member’s contributions regardless of their genders, races, religion, nationalities, and sexual orientations. Every team member is equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace.

Even under this highly competitive Fintech market, we have enjoyed relatively high retention over the years.

AsiaPay continues its business expansion in Asia with 16 operation offices as of date. What are the strategies for the Indonesian market?

Indonesia is one of the key emerging markets in Asia, according to a YStats.com report points that Indonesia mostly used “online wallet” (69%) alternatively to traditional payments in 2020. “Online wallet” was commonly used as an alternative payment method after the onset of COVID-19;

BimoPay is a payment gateway platform service offered by AsiaPayto address the Indonesian digital payment needs, as Indonesia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Our key strategies shall emcompass,

Sales strategies and programs targeting key merchant segments;
Bank and payment and channel partnership;
Digital marketing campaigns enhancing brand and service awareness;
Localised product and service innovation and development;

Do you see AsiaPay expanding its offering in the future? How do you see 2023 coming?

With digitalization and technological innovations taking over the economic sector of the world, AsiaPay will continually bring advanced, secured, integrated, and cost-effective digital payment processing solutions and services to banks and eBusiness globally.
We will continually embrace change and innovate capitalizing on the technological trends and strength especially addressing the coming evolution of digital commerce, smart retail, web 3.0 payment, payment data analytics, crypto/CBDC and blockchain technologies.

Apart from our existing 16-country operations in Asia, we will continue to expand our footprint in the world to expand our payment solution and service coverage, and further sca