OUR EVALUATION CRITERIA
The following are our core “Belief Statements” for each of the awards in this category. Each Belief Statement can be broken down into its elements, which are in turn made up of the quantifiable data that we look for in our audit document and interviews.
These are then published in selecting the winners as a form of transparent assessment, that can also be used to discuss the basis from which we arrive at our conclusion. These insights are also used to benchmark players and discover GAP analysis in future assessments.
BEST RETAIL FINANCE PLAYER (BY COUNTRY)
The Best Retail Finance Player Award is predicated by this Core Belief:
"We believe that an outstanding institution in retail financial services demonstrates a long-term sustainable franchise, based on a strong focus on the customer and a commitment to provide a frictionless customer experience, strong business processes and technology infrastructure that lead to a consistent and profitable performance as well as a deep desire to innovate and continuously challenge and disrupt the underlying basis of its business and operations. We recognise financial institutions for their vision, execution and market leading propositions that can make a real impact to its business, customers and the industry at large.”
Retail players who outperform not only national competitors, but also peers in the region, are evaluated for the Best Retail Bank in the region or internationally.
The questions that we ask related to the completion of the scorecard will also give us a good overview of your retail finance business at the micro-level in your country, at the market level between your competitors and at the street level inside your organisations.
In our assessment of best retail banks and best retail finance institutions, the following are the factors that we look at and the percentage we give to each of them.
Evaluation Scorecard for “The Best Retail Bank” in the Retail Financial Services Excellence Awards Programme (from 2018 onwards)
| Criteria | Weightage | Breakdown of Measureable Data that we look for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Performance | We want to see sustainable growth, profitability but not at the expense of risk and good management of costs | 15% | |
Corporate Strategy and Leadership | We want to see the ability to articulate a strategy to which we are able to connect the quantifiable performance figures to a long term and achievable story. | 5% | |
Digital Journey | We will assess where your institution is in our proprietary Digital Journey Map. Beginner (1), Intermediate (4), Advanced (8), Benchmark to your peers (10) | 15% | |
| Brand (Value of Franchise) | We want to assess the brand promise that your institution enjoys in your marketplace | 10% | |
| Sales Capability | We want to see how large, powerful and organised your sales capability is | 10% | |
Customer Experience | We want to know if your customers love you more than your competitor through their experiences of basic services | 10% | (open current account) (open current account) |
| Process and Technology | We want to know that your technology infrastructure is keeping up with the times by your ability to respond to competition quickly | 10% | |
| Risk Management | The ability to take on risks and price them in a managed manner. | 10% | |
| People and Organisation | We want to know if you have a mixture of incumbent and new blood in the organisation and the ability to mobilise your employees to support a programme | 10% | |
| Achievements in the year under review | State to us the achievements in your retail business in the year under review that has not been captured in the static data above | 5% | |
| Source: The Asian Banker | |||
BEST DIGITAL FINANCE PLAYER
"We believe that the best digital finance institution and/or the best digital bank has demonstrated exceptional effort and mastery in the industry by going beyond digitising products, and services, while also transforming the entire franchise through focus on organisational agility and simplification, brand equity, and overall consumer experience."
The questions that we ask in the subsequent page relate to the completion of the scorecard and will give us a good insight into the digital transformation of your institution and your retail banking franchise in your country, at the market level between your competitors and at the street level within your organisation.
In our assessment of the best digital bank and best digital financial institution, the following are the dimensions that we look at, the indicators that define those dimensions, and the percentage we give to each of these dimensions.
Evaluation Scorecard for “The Best Digital Bank ” in the Retail Financial Services Excellence Awards Programme (from 2018 onwards)
| Category | Weightage | KPI |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | 10% | |
| Technology | 10% | |
| Operations | 10% | |
| Innovation | 10% | |
| Big Data | 15% | |
| Transaction | 15% | |
| Bottom Line Impact | 30% | |
| Source: The Asian Banker | ||
THE BEST SME BANK
We believe that the best SME banks are those that demonstrate the ability to provide large numbers of small business customers with credit, transactional and cash management services in the most cost-efficient manner enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to consolidate and maximise their cash flow and grow their business over several economic cycles.
In our assessment for the Best SME Bank, the following are the dimensions that we look at, the indicators that define those dimensions, and the percentage we give to each of these dimensions.
Evaluation Scorecard for “The Best SME Bank ” in the Retail Financial Services Excellence Awards Programme (from 2018 onwards)
| Category | Weightage | Indicator / Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Digital and Innovation | 25% | |
| Customer | 25% | |
| Profitability | 10% | |
| Market | 10% | |
| Yield | 10% | |
| Cost | 10% | |
| Credit | 10% | |
| Source: The Asian Banker | ||
THE RETAIL FINANCE PRODUCT AND PROCESS AWARDS
The following are our core “Belief Statements” for each of the awards in this category. Each Belief Statement can be broken down into its elements, which are in turn made up of the quantifiable data that we look for in our audit document and interviews. These are then published in selecting the winners as a form of transparent assessment, that can also be used to discuss the basis from which we arrive at our conclusion. These insights are also used to benchmark players and discover GAP analysis in future assessments.
The Automobile Lending Product of the Year
We believe that leaders in the automobile finance business are defined by their distribution model, be it direct or agency driven, and the capability to acquire customers through market leading turnaround time and quality service, and whose assets demonstrate strong risk management over several market cycles.
The Consumer Finance Product of the Year
We believe that consumer finance is a highly effective entry-level customer acquisition platform, but is successful only when a percentage of customers bring on board their re-current and long-term revolving credit, deposits and consumer finance relationship with low delinquency costs.
The Credit Card Product of the Year
We believe that credit cards are highly effective customer acquisition platforms that must demonstrate the ability to convert its base into sticky and active users with low delinquency, supported by a robust analytics-based marketing and loyalty programme.
The Deposit Product of the Year
We believe that the deposits business is a demonstration of an insitution's strength in terms of franchise and retail distribution channels, as well as its proximity to customers and their ability to effectivelly sell a wide range of new and existing products in the local marketplace.
The Digital Lending Product of the Year
We believe that a digital lending product incorporates innovative models in enhancing loan origination and decisioning, risk profile assessment, sourcing capital, while also providing a seamless experience to customers across a wide range of income segments.
The Digital Wallet of the Year
We believe that a digital wallet should allow customers to conduct the widest possible choices of digital payment transactions seamlessly, instantly and securely.
The Micro Finance Product of the Year
We believe that a successful microfinancing business is one that demonstrates the ability to reach out to commercially driven, marginalised customer segments with a variety of micro loan and payment products, distributed through an impressive network reach and supported by strong risk management, collection practices and excellent locally trained staff.
The Mortgage and Home Loans Product of the Year
We believe that a strong mortgage business is denoted by market share, volume and number of customers, ability to maintain spreads over economic cycles, strong customer equity portfolio and low delinquencies, supported by strong origination and customer support capabilities to achieve a profitable portfolio.
The Best Remittance Product and Service of the Year
We believe that remittance services require the execution of large volumes of instantaneous global transfers for low value transactions at the lowest possible per transaction cost that is passed on as a value proposition to the largest number of customers possible.
The Retail Payments Product of the Year
We believe that a successful retail payments project or product is one that enables real-time or offline, secure and end-to-end completion of low-value transactions for the largest possible number of customers and issues.
The Business Model of the Year
We believe that successful business model is one that demonstrated sustainable revenue enhancement and diversification strategies. In doing so, it recognises innovative programmes to serve new or underserved customer segments utilising new or re-engineered products delivered through new or re-engineered delivery channels.
The Payment Merchant Services of the Year
We believe that successful payments merchant services enable the real-time and secure completion of low or high value transactions, supporting the end-to-end supply chain, with straight-through processing, utilizing multiple channels or devices at the lowest possible cost per transaction and minimum error rates, in a regulatory compliant manner.
The Securities Trading Product of the Year
We believe that a successful securities trading product facilitates the efficient processing of investor transactions, providing price transparency and cheaper trade execution. Market access and connectivity is enabled through use of streamlined trading functionality, advanced technology and robust risk-management processes.
The Asset Management Product of the Year
We believe that successful asset management is defined by the delivery of healthy investment returns, personalised to customer needs, allowing for the transparency of investment activity and product information.
The Investment Trust Product of the Year
We believe that a successful investment trust product is defined by a healthy capital growth and dividend yield, offering customers access to a diversified range of investments, with a clear and transparent fee structure.
The Insurance Product of the Year (Life)
We believe that a successful life insurance product provides flexible and personalized insurance coverage that utilises technology and big data to tailor risk assessments and premiums, to achieve efficient on-boarding and to improve customer engagement.
The Insurance Product of the Year (Non-Life)
We believe that a successful non-life insurance product provides flexible and personalized insurance coverage that utilises technology and big data to tailor risk assessments and premiums, to achieve efficient on-boarding and to improve customer engagement.
The Pension Product of the Year
We believe that a successful pension product enables customers to easily access their pension payments and transactions, as well as to provide personalised advice and information on the scheme structure. Through digitalisation and data analytics, it should deliver a more customised offering, specific to customer needs, balancing the rate of return with low risk.
THE RETAIL FINANCE DIGITAL AWARDS
The following are our core “Belief Statements” for each of the awards in this category. Each Belief Statement can be broken down into its elements, which are in turn made up of the quantifiable data that we look for in our audit document and interviews. These are then published in selecting the winners as a form of transparent assessment, that can also be used to discuss the basis from which we arrive at our conclusion. These insights are also used to benchmark players and discover GAP analysis in future assessments.
The Digital Awards are made to players who have achieved specific goals in the digital part of their infrastructure, business or customer relationship.
The Best API Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that open application programming interfaces (APIs) are able to create powerful synergies between an institution's products and service propositions and its customers, exposing data and services externally and internally, to partners and mobile devices. Complete API management platforms are also able to maximise business value and deliver APIs that developers and business owners will support.
The Best Automated Chatbot Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that the best blockchain initiative, application or programme launched innovative use cases allowing network participants to connect directly and form online networks, removing the need for middlemen.
The Best Blockchain Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that successful chatbot services are not only able to interact with customers via multi lingual text and voice interfaces but offer highly relevant cost efficient proprietary services to its customers on top of a generic AI engine.
The Best CyberRisk Management Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe a successful cyber security risk management initiative must continuously address the evolving risks by demonstrating, on an enterprise level, the ability to identify and prevent instances of cyber frauds, thefts and intrusions to the bank’s network or systems while ensuring smooth and safe operations of the institutions.
The Best Data Analytics Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that the application of data and analytics must demonstrate the ability to convert actionable information, gained from collecting, processing and analysing large data sets into, real business drivers, making an impact on the banks top and line growth.
The Best Digital Brand Initiative, Application or Programme
The Asian Banker assesses the institution’s efforts to create a strong digital brand identity to build consumer mind share, persuade and realistically demonstrate the brand’s relevance to a customer’s digital lifestyle
The Best Digital Compliance Initiative, Application or Programme
The best digital compliance initiative, application and programme effectively identify, own, manage and mitigate ethics and compliance risk in critical areas such as sales and marketing, finance and accounting, risk management, IT and data privacy through regulatory technology.
The Best Digital Distribution Network of the Year
We believe that the best distribution network are designed to maximising the scope of an institution's footprint through physical and digital channels to serve the transactional, advisory and product needs of the largest numbers of visitors in the most cost efficient manner, using both human and automated devices consistent with their brands.
The Best Digital Employee Engagement Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that a well-run insitution builds inclusive workplace environments where flexibility, diversity and value-based behaviour is celebrated and rewarded to create a highly engaged digital savy and digitally trained workforce. The areas of assessment are: employee development, employee engagement (internal), performance/reward structure and employee involvement (external).
The Best Digital Finance Ecosystem Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that to provide customer-centric products and services, financial institutions would need to embed their offerings into the lifestyle of their customers, and would need to collaborate with other value providers as part of an overall ecosystem.
The Best Digital Financial Inclusion Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that a financial inclusion initiative, application or programme brings in more consumers into the financial system by providing alternative and innovative solutions to underserved segments in which credit and financial products are limited.
The Best Digital Sales Initiative, Application or Programme
The best digital sales initiative, application and programme creates timely, relevant and needs based customer propositions which result in positive customer experience, customer loyalty and increased profits.
The Best Digital Social Media Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that a successful social media campaign engages in new ways of communication and the distribution of financial services and products to create not only trust, responsiveness and loyalty among new and existing customers but better leads generation and conversion.
The Best E-Commerce Proposition
The best e-commerce propositions are able to successfully connect digital marketplaces with value added lending and payments services in the most seamless and accessible way.
The Best IoT Initiative, Application or Programme
The best IoT initiative, application or programme creates elevated client engagement by meshing IoT with other emerging technologies to create powerful value propositions for new and existing clients, autonomous agents and market places.
The Best Internet Banking Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that the best Internet banking capability is one that enables customers to access information, conduct transactions or purchase financial products and services in the most intuitive and secure manner possible that is consistent with the lifestyle needs of the target customer, while at the same time enabling the bank to communicate its messages.
The Best Mobile Initiative, Application or Programme
The best mobile initiative, application or programme offer a wide range of relevant functionalities and finanancial and non financial features to acquire a maximum number of active users while ensuring high-level security and outstanding user experience.
The Best Mobile Payments Service
We believe that the best mobile payments product is one that demonstrates the use of the full range of current mobile device technology for financial transactions and services and in the most intuitive and secure manner possible.
The Best Retail Operational Risk Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that a bank with a successful retail credit and operational risk management possesses: (a) an excellent on and off balance sheet position demonstrated by exceptional key credit risk ratios, and (b) processes for risk assessment, risk decision-making and risk control implementation to ensure proper measurement and mitigation of operational risk.
THE RETAIL FINANCE FRICTIONLESS AWARDS
The following are our core “Belief Statements” for each of the awards in this category. Each Belief Statement can be broken down into its elements, which are in turn made up of the quantifiable data that we look for in our audit document and interviews. These are then published in selecting the winners as a form of transparent assessment, that can also be used to discuss the basis from which we arrive at our conclusion. These insights are also used to benchmark players and discover GAP analysis in future assessments.
The Frictionless Awards were created to recognise initiatives, applications or programmes that seek to streamline processes, supply chains and customer experiences such that the customer can apply financial services in their everyday lives.
The Best Frictionless Customer Experience
We believe that excellent customer service experience is designed around the customer's lifestyle and preferences, and should seek to utilise a combination of people, process and technology to reduce all possible friction.
The Best Frictionless Customer Relationship Management
We believe that a well-run customer relationship management includes customer loyalty, customer advocacy and retention initiatives, sales processes as well as all initiatives around customer relationship management at the front, middle and back office.
The Best Frictionless Credit Evaluation Initiative, Application or Programme
The best credit evaluation initiative, appliation or programme successfully applies new scoring models with a wide range of transactional, behavioural and alternative criteria processed in a highly automated manner to reach out to more customers previously inaccessible.
The Best Frictionless Robo Advisory Service
We believe that successful automated adivsory services are not only able to onboard customers into wealth management services in the most cost efficient and convenient way, but would also able to create new forms of customer value around advisory.
The Best Frictionless Omni Channel Integration
A sucessful omni channel integration is one that demonstrates efforts to integrate a diverse mix of network points to deliver services and products in the most consistent and unified manner possible, driven by business Intelligence, real-time data management, CRM, cross-channel implementation and channel cooperation as well as integrated contact management.
The Best Productivity, Efficiency and Automation Initiative, Application or Programme
We believe that a successful productivity, efficiency and automation initiative, application or programme enhances the institutions processes and optimises operations which allows the institution to better serve the consumers at faster and less costly manner.