Asseco SEE organized Banking & Technology Forum “Next Level of Banking” in Tirana

Asseco SEE in Albania has organized first Banking and Technology Forum “Next Level of Banking” on 20th May in Tirana.

Asseco SEE in Albania has organized first Banking and Technology Forum “Next Level of Banking” on 20th May in Tirana. The Forum brought together leading ICT and banking experts to present and discuss the challenges of modern banking and the latest generation of information and communication technologies. Official program started with panel discussion themed “Challenges of Financial Industry Today and Tomorrow – IT Projects that will improve business” and panel members were Oliver Whittle (Moderator), Artan Kapo (NBG Bank), Gazmend Kadriu (Union Bank), Serge Guay (Raiffeisen Bank), Herjola Spahiu (Emporiki Bank) and Hikmet Gular  (UBA Bank).  The Forum was honoured to host Minister of Innovation and ICT Mr Genc Pollo, together with Ministry’s Head of Cabinet Mr Gjergji Gjinko.

The overall message of the panel discussion was that the Government wishes to encourage e-commerce, and is looking to the banks to help facilitate this move. Customers will expect their needs to be met, rather than the banks’ internal preferences dictating the direction banking goes. Customers will differentiate by service standards, choice and ease of accessing products, the variety of delivery channels, a reduction in prices, and quicker responses to their (changing) needs. In turn, the banks will have to focus on customer needs satisfaction, the customers’ willingness to pay for products, and better service levels. 
This will call for:

 

1. Improvements in core banking systems and/or satellite systems, MIS, CRM, etc.
2. long term cost savings through process improvement, centralisation of operations, and shared back-up facilities with other banks and major IT users
3. attention to service levels to ensure they match or exceed customer expectations
4. pricing to reflect customers’ willingness to pay
5. efforts to encourage “banking monogamy” and increased “share of the wallet”
6. introduction of packaged products and services

 

The presentations that followed the panel discussions were very relevant solutions to some of the issues raised, e.g. core banking solution and CRM (Experience); call centre management for ATMs and POSs, interactive voice engines,  electronic banking, mobile banking, SMS banking, mobile tokens, loyalty cards, single point of authentication and e-commerce; merchant bulk payments; anti-money laundering, and credit scoring and rating.

The Forum gathered more than 100 eminent bankers from Albania and was supported by leading vendors: Primo Telecommunication, EMC, Lenovo, Hypercom and WincorNixdorf.