| James Kon |
STANDARD Chartered Bank (SCB) has reiterated its commitment to stay in Brunei Darussalam with the introduction of a new local capital market subsidiary and launch of a new banking mobile application sometime this year.
The bank is also looking at providing more financial products, including debit cards, to consolidate its position in the local financial market, said Standard Chartered Bank Chief Executive Officer, Vietnam and Asean and South Asia Cluster Markets, Nirukt Sapru who is in the country for a two-day visit.
With its long illustrious history in Brunei, he said, “We are here to stay. Standard Chartered Bank was established in 1958 and has a very positive and strong relationship with Brunei’s people and government.
“We have a stable regulatory environment and (Brunei) is a great place to grow. It’s also a vital place to complete our franchise in Asean because we are the only bank to have business in all 10 Asean markets,” he added.
“Brunei is an important part of our franchise because this is where we have some of our largest clients with big retail businesses. We are investing heavily in Brunei in terms of capital market subsidiary and wealth business. We want to be here to support our customers through good times and bad times.”
Standard Chartered Bank Chief Executive Officer, Vietnam and Asean and South Asia Cluster Markets, Nirukt Sapru with the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Brunei), Rino ‘Donny’ Donosepoetro
Asked about the looming exit of a major international bank from Brunei, he said the move will potentially have an impact on the financial market. Therefore, banks such as SCB have to ‘step up’ to ensure that customers can transfer their accounts to other banks.
During the sluggish economic situation, he said, “The financial institutions also can play a role in reducing the impact by continuously improving the cost of doing business through the introduction of state-of-the-art products and services for the ease of customers to carry out transactions in retail and corporate banking.”
SCB is the leading digital bank in cash management and Internet banking, he said.
“In recognition of SCB Brunei’s commitment to pursue digital strategy and improve customers’ experience, the bank won the best digital bank (award) for a third consecutive time last year.”
He said SCB is also willing to share with the industry its experience and expertise on the Basel III which is a comprehensive set of reform measures developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk of banking sector.
On Brunei’s plan to launch its own stock market by 2017, he said patience is needed because it takes time to set up a credible stock market. “It is important to ensure that the right initial steps are taken,” he added.
During his stay in Brunei, Nirukt Sapru also met with senior officials and relevant stakeholders in the country.
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