Bank of China launches first global innovation lab in Singapore

  • Will spearhead and manage regional and global R&D activities
  • Establish a training structure to build a pipeline of talents

 

Product Development Centre of Bank of China GM Xia Jianying (right); Bank of China president Liu Liange (centre); Member of Parliament Ang Wei Neng (4th right); and Member of Parliament Gan Thiam Poh at the launch of the Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore)

BANK of China’s (BOC) first global fintech innovation lab was launched in Singapore on Nov 14. The Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore) is the first-of-its-kind set up by BOC Group across the globe and a definitive step taken towards establishing itself as a world-class bank in the new era.

BOC will conduct research and development (R&D) and showcase its cutting-edge technologies and latest innovations at the lab.

Bank of China president Liu Liange, said, “In the 82 years that Bank of China has been in Singapore, we have witnessed Singapore’s evolution into a leading financial centre. Today, we see its government’s drive towards fintech and innovation. Bank of China is committed to becoming a world-class bank in the new era.

“The Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore) marks a new milestone in our journey in Southeast Asia as we lead the future with technology from Asia’s fintech hub, Singapore. We will combine our banking expertise with the culture of innovation that permeates our bank and adroitly apply fintech to deliver relevant financial services in an ever-changing and volatile world. With Bank of China Innovation Labs around the world, we will enable accelerated innovation of financial products and technologies and respond faster to market trends.”

The BOC Innovation Labs will be the Bank’s first step towards achieving its goals of enabling advancement through technology, driving development through innovation, delivering performance through transformation and enhancing strength through reform. 

The Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore) will spearhead and manage regional and global R&D activities.

It will establish a training structure to build a pipeline of talents and foster financial innovation and research collaborations with partners such as fintech firms, Institutes of Higher Learning and the government.

Visitors to the lab’s showcase at Bank of China Building on Battery Road can experience ‘ABCD’ technologies – Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud and Big Data. There is a robotic customer service officer with facial recognition capabilities that quickly identifies individual clients and their preferences.

Visitors can also experience how the bank’s customers in China tour car exhibitions or houses for sale at different parts of the country via Virtual Reality (VR) and seal the deal on the spot. 

A further 1,000 square metres of collaboration and R&D space is located at Bank of China Plaza in Middle Road.

Better digitalised banking experience for Asia Pacific

China has taken on a leading role in fintech in recent years with a large proportion of its population adopting fintech services. BOC is a pioneer of many firsts in China and it aims to continue bringing new fintech services to the market while seizing opportunities to advance the industry and contribute to its vibrancy.

This intent is also evident in Bank of China Singapore Branch. It has been a strong proponent and supporter of Singapore’s efforts to transform its financial services sector.

Its latest effort to lead fintech adoption here is the launch of its new Bank of China Mobile Banking (International).

BOC Singapore customers will have a more secure and seamless interface with fingerprint- and facial recognition-enabled login.

It is also the first to feature an online global Customer Knowledge Assessment and Financial Needs Analysis to assess customers’ money management abilities and risk appetite.

 

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