Retail Banking Forum 2014 pops the champagne on closing leg in Manila, Philippines

Find out what's the hottest topic in Philippines' retail banking.

Asian Banking and Finance closed its Retail Banking Forum 2014 today in Manila, Philippines at the Mandarin Oriental Manila.

Tim Charlton, Asian Banking and Finance's editor-in-chief, also revealed the Retail Banking 2014 Industry Outlook in the forum.

He discussed the key priorities, threats, segments and products to focus on, and distribution issues in retail banking. 

The panel was joined by Mark Perez, Head of Retail Banking Group, Metrobank; Joven Hernandez, Head of Retail Banking Group, Philippine National Bank (PNB), and; Anthony Thomas, Retail Bank Director, Citibank.

"Branch banking will continue to be part of our strategy over the next 5 years. challenge in ph market is financial exclusion and this is where branch branking will continue to be part of," Hernandez of PNB discussed.

Citibank's Thomas said that priority areas for investment are: 1) customer advocacy 2) innovation - technology platform to support the product you want to deliver; 3) process flow - delivering products seamlessly across channels.

Metrobank's Perez also explained his side on areas that should be focused in investment are: 1) get the customer experience right - ideally all the elements of your brand experience should be present and experience across all channels; (branch, mobile, internet) 2) development of lower cost to serve channels 3) invest in anything that contributes to continuous, solid fee income. so you wont be exposed to credit risk, market risk becuase you have stable sources of revenue.

This fourth and last part of the four-city forum was attended by senior bankers in Manila. Around 60 attendees from Security Bank Corporation, UCPB, East West Bank, Maybank, Metrobank, Philippine National Bank, Citibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, RCBC, Philippine Business Bank, and the Union Bank of the Philippines flocked to Mandarin Oriental to participate in the event.

The Retail Banking Forum 2014 kicked off in Jakarta in 7 April, set foot in Kuala Lumpur in 9 April, and made its third leg in Bangkok in 11 April.