Forum receives rave reviews from attendees

European Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman Dimitris Psillakis, right, listens to a keynote speech during a forum organized by The Korea Times at the Plaza Hotel Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Lee Kyung-min, Jhoo Dong-chan

Over 200 guests expressed their appreciation for a digital finance forum organized by The Korea Times, Wednesday, saying it asked the right ― time-relevant ― question in a straightforward manner.

Under the topic "Sleeping with the enemy: Digital Disruption," Korea's oldest English daily held the finance forum on digital transformation to discuss the challenges, business environment outlook and ways forward presented by this new paradigm

Shortly before the forum began at 7:30 a.m. at the Plaza Seoul Grand Ballroom, dozens of special guests including Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Yoon Suk-heun, Joydeep Sengupta who leads Asia-Pacific Banking Practice at McKinsey & Company as well as bank CEOs and leaders of foreign companies attended a brief tea meeting.

Korea Times President and Publisher Lee Byeong-eon speaks during a forum on digital transformation hosted by the newspaper at the Plaza Hotel Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

In opening remarks, Korea Times President and Publisher Lee Byeong-eon expressed high hopes that the forum would provide a timely insight into what was required in the era of digitization.

He pointed out that innovation, under this environment, could and should lead changes in the financial industry and public discourse to foster growth via close integration between the IT sector and financial services firms ― the traditional market players.

"Areas of focus should include online, mobile platform expansion, artificial intelligence and blockchain," he said. "A new ecosystem and a paradigm shift are required to help provide much-needed growth momentum in the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

K bank CEO Shim Sung-hoon said the forum's topic was on-point for stressing the importance of strategic moves toward integration, which he noted will serve the industry and the public at large well, as it will encourage healthy competition.

"I believe in an internet-only bank's competitiveness. I am sure K bank has a distinguished quality only fintechs can offer," said the CEO of Korea's one of two internet-only banks.

"Once K bank settles issues regarding shareholder structure, we will be able to not only win the support of consumers but also contribute to a healthy business environment. All we need is a stable business environment," he added.

FSS to focus on narrowing down digital divide

2019-06-26 16:32 | Economy

The Korea Times forum on digital finance

2019-06-26 18:00 | Markets

American Chamber of Commerce Chairman James Kim, center, asks Joydeep Sengupta of McKinsey & Company why Korean banks are not on the lists of globally competent financial services firms, and what they should do to become leading entities on the global stage, at a forum on digital transformation hosted by The Korea Times at the Plaza Hotel Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The forum was informative and helpful as it clearly outlined the next course of action the financial sector should undertake, Macquarie Korea Opportunities Management Senior Managing Director Eric Kim said.

"Financial services firms are increasingly gripped by growing concerns about the future of the industry amid fierce competition between the industry establishment and fintechs, not to mention the range of other existing challenges," he said.

"The forum provided an insight on global trends and where Korean market players should go," he added.

Maintaining an open mind, in the process, will be crucial to facilitate the challenges, especially since the financial industry is dominated by a culture where conservative norms prevail over new, fresh ― largely considered disruptive ― ideas, Kim noted.

"The Korean financial industry will have to change its culture to better embrace changes," he said.

Such a sentiment was echoed by Barbara Zollmann, president and CEO of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"It was good to hear thoughts presented by the FSS governor today, followed by the reality of the banking system presented by McKinsey. I thought that was pretty much looking into the future, encouraging the banking world to go into that direction," she said.

"Adopt and embrace challenges. That's what businesses do, right?"

DBS Korea CEO Eugene Bang said the important lesson he learnt was that everyone has to be on board when it comes to executing innovation.

"Not a single entity or person can achieve it alone. DBS was able to pursue change not only because everyone in the company showed commitment, but also due to the strong support of the government and the regulator in Singapore," Bang said.

Insight on fintechs in the digital transformation era was a globally shared area of interest.

"An increasing number of European firms have demonstrated their interest in fintechs and how to assimilate them within their own conventional businesses. I am so happy to be here to get a recent update on the industry," European Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman Dimitris Psillakis said.

Similarly, Andrei Popkov, the Belarusian ambassador to Korea, said information from the forum will help his country better achieve digitization.

"We are participating in a special program with Korea with experts from both countries having regular meetings for discussions and common approaches on becoming more advanced in e-trade and e-finance. I will be able to relay to them some of the information I obtained today," he said.