Tech at the heart of StanChart drive to innovate

Standard Chartered's CIO in Hong Kong, Ashley Veasey talks to Computerworld Hong Kong about the bank's new vigor for innovative customer services and the role IT plays in the company's success

CWHK: How did you get into career in technology?

Ashley Veasey (AV): A computer science degree at university is where it started and that came about due to parental advice. My parents suggested three things for me to consider: first was a career in banking; second was to look at technology and applications; the third was to do something more exciting like missile defense or aerospace. In the end, I plumped for banking and technology.

CWHK: And your first job after university?

AV: My first job was at Citibank, then I did two years at a US consulting firm that was just setting up in the UK and I recalled the office was initially like a telephone box stuck in the middle of Heathrow Airport--we could fit no more than two people in there and we were flying everyday. After a stint as a consultant, I went back to banking and joined JP Morgan in New York.

After that, I joined a startup in London during the dotcom rush when everyone was jumping into web startups. Having been at a small firm before I was used to pulling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty again -- it's so different from corporate life and I'd do it all again. Thankfully, I didn't lose my shirt but I learned a lot. That came and went, then an opportunity at Standard Chartered came up.

The bank seemed quite progressive in their plans so I did one year in UK before heading to Asia to take on a role in Singapore. Following that I was CIO Thailand and Vietnam for two years and, now, I am based here in Hong Kong, our largest market globally.

CWHK: Recall your days as a computer science student, was technology seen as an exciting career path then?

AV: Looking back then, technology was definitely seen as a unique and sexy career, much more than it is now. It was the days of the old IBM PCs in the 80s running on Intel 8088 processors with 10 MB hard drives, black screens and dinky green characters. Everyone was still looking at computers and wondering about all the new possibilities that computers could bring.

But more recently, there's a less enthusiastic perception around technology, since the dotcom bust and the subsequent fallout of failed web ventures. However, we are seeing a shift right now with the rise of social media and new consumer technology devices.

We are seeing a lot of young people coming out of university and while they are interested in banking, they are also interested in technology. What's appealing to Generation Y employees is the buzz around consumer technology with all the gadgets that are on the market now. They have a keen sense to explore how these technologies can be connected to create new ways of doing business and improve people's lives or, in our case, it's about improving customer service.

The shift to enterprise mobility is an important part of the bank's strategy. Standard Chartered is the first bank to make a bold move and adopt iOS as the main mobile platform. As a direct result of our adoption of iPhones and iPads, we have drawn a lot of young professionals to explore working within the technology function of our bank.

There's a definite pull of people back towards careers in technology as a result of these trends but it's a very different side of technology compared to what I grew up with.

CWHK: Standard Chartered has historically been a very conservative bank but with things like your move to iPhone, launching a raft of mobile and other online services, is innovation and pushing the boundary a key strategy today?

AV: Over the past seven or eight years, the bank has invested in technology to be at the forefront of new ways of doing business and this has resulted in several service innovations, such as our Breeze suite of banking apps. To be fair, our competitors have some good offerings in the market, however, we also look at how other industries are creating outstanding customer experiences. We look at how companies like Starbucks and Nike have differentiated themselves in their space and really focused on the customer.

For us on the retail banking side and to some extent on wholesale banking too, there are two key themes for us: technology convergence and innovation. But it's not about innovating for the sake of innovation, it is part of our strategy to put the customer right at the heart of everything we do -- looking after customers, safeguarding their money, and providing security of systems and data.

We're making sure we listen to our customers. So instead of expecting customers to come to us, we look for new ways to reach out to them. That's a real change in mindset which is necessary if we are to successfully address the next generation of customers. I recall pleading to my son to go with me to a bank branch to open his first bank account and he just sat there motionless at his computer, hands hovering over the keyboard. Kids these days are likely to do everything from their PC, so opening a bank account shouldn't be a problem either.

CWHK: We've seen a number of banks have technology problems and service outages, how do you balance new services and innovative offerings with the need to be secure and reliable.

AV: At the end of the day, we remind ourselves that we are a bank, not a media company or a technology company. We manage our customers' money and so we do everything to retain our customers' trust. While we are exploring new technologies, before we roll out any new mobility offering or new feature on ATMs, iPhones or iPads, we absolutely make security and reliability paramount in all that we offer.

The basics must always be in place first. It's like a layer cake, we need to have the fundamentals like secure and reliable transaction processing systems all in place before starting to add the layers of mobile and online banking. We prioritize these basics before adding on the layers of innovation.

CWHK: Detail some highlights in your job as a CIO?

AV: The diversity of the CIO role is what is compelling and exciting for me. My role combines technology and operations, much like a COO, we could coin a new position -- the CIOO. Add to that the different locations I've had the opportunity to work and the role becomes very exciting in the number of different things we as technologists can do to change and improve the business. I feel genuinely that I can make more of a difference in a technology role than in a business role with the way technology drives the business today.

However, the aspect of my job that gives me most satisfaction is seeing the people who work for me develop and grow. It could be seeing them taking on new and larger roles or watching them succeed and win awards. More than anything, the business of banking technology is all about people and seeing our people succeed is the most gratifying thing. As a technology leader, I spend at least 50 percent of my time on people matters, helping them meet new challenges, helping them overcome change and work closely with our business units.