Summit Explored Reshaping IT to Fuel Digital Banking Transformation

Huawei Hosted the 4th Global FSI Summit at CeBIT 2016

[Hannover, Germany, March 18, 2016] Huawei co-hosted the 4th Global FSI Summit with renowned industry publication, The Banker, at CeBIT 2016 on March 16, 2016. With the theme of "Reshaping IT to Fuel Digital Banking Transformation", the Summit brought together over 200 industry experts and global financial customers, including “Financial Times”, China Construction Bank (CCB), BNP Paribas, Santander Central Hispano S.A, Worldline, to discuss the impact of digitalization on customer behavior, channel services, product innovation, and business operation, as well as the future of digital transformation.

The financial services industry (FSI) is facing enormous challenges as the new digital world redefines customer expectations. Over the last 500 years, retail banks have traditionally expanded their businesses using physical branches. However, this method of expansion has been challenged in the last 50 years. FinTech, with its optimal product design, innovative services and compelling customer experience, has gained significant traction within a short period of time. Consumers are now demanding financial services "anytime, anywhere, anyway (using any terminal)".

The traditional banking industry is actively transforming services and IT architecture, and exploring virtual electronic space to compete with FinTech offerings. "Innovative ICT has become critical to digital transformation in the financial sector. Huawei is strategically focused on enabling the financial services industry to succeed in the new era, and will work with our customers and partners to accelerate digital transformation using Leading New ICT," said David He, President of Marketing and Solution Sales Department, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei.

David He, President of Marketing and Solution Sales Department, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei

Digital networks have already covered every aspect of banking services. Many banks have developed a number of digital channels, such as e-Banking and mobile banking. However, these channels do not support service collaboration or data sharing, which limits the customer service experience. "Banks need to rethink their multi-channel operations and make full use of digital technologies to facilitate business transformation and development," said Chris Skinner, Chairman of the Financial Services Club.

Chris Skinner, Chairman of the Financial Services Club

For banks, IT plays a critical role in delivering rapid product innovation, building service channels to increase customer satisfaction and controlling operational costs. Jin Panshi, General Manager of IT Management Department, China Construction Bank, said in his speech: "The major challenge for commercial banks is that their core service systems rely heavily on mainframes, which keeps IT costs high and limits system control capabilities." Open architecture comprising cloud computing and open platforms has become central to banking IT architecture transformation.

Jin Panshi, General Manager of IT Management Department, China Construction Bank

Kenny Liu, President of the Financial Services Sector, Enterprise Business Group, Huawei, shared insights on how banks can transform their IT architecture to innovate and compete. "Huawei leverages SDN, big data, cloud computing, and mobile technologies to reshape banks' existing ICT architectures across platforms, data, and services. This enables flexible distribution of IT resources, helps banks extract valuable insights from data, and improves the financial services experience for customers." Using cutting-edge technologies, Huawei develops innovative financial ICT solutions to help financial institutions deploy future-proof digital banking systems.

Kenny Liu, President, Financial Services Sector, Enterprise Business Group

The industry has reached a consensus that banks need an open architecture to build flexible, reliable IT infrastructure that supports digital innovation and growth. During the summit, experts from ISVs, SIs, and information services providers shared their views on the need for an open architecture. The representative of Worldline, a world-leading payment services provider, said that e-payment is undergoing rapid development and customers now demand timely and efficient services. Many banks are constrained by closed architecture which is slow, inflexible and costly to operate. Worldline will work with Huawei to develop cloud-based, next-generation payment solutions to help banks address these issues and respond to their customers’ rapidly evolving needs.

Huawei is growing rapidly as a leading ICT provider for the global financial industry and is currently serving more than 300 financial institutions globally, including 6 of the world's top 10 banks. In Europe and Asia Pacific, Huawei has delivered solutions to local mainstream financial institutions. In China, Huawei is serving the "Big Four" banks as the major IT device provider, and has conducted multiple joint innovations with its customers.

For more details about the summit, visit the following website: http://enterprise.huawei.com/topic/2016Cebit_cn/industry_summit_finance.html