Regional One Team Townhall: to the Fintech Frontier
Since the beginning of 2020, KBTG has expressed its resolve to become a regional organization. In the attempt to do so, our chairman, Krating Ruangroj Poonpol, announced a plan to establish a development hub based in China on the stage of KBank Vision 2020 “A Step Ahead Forever”. All was well until a disaster named COVID-19 striked. Barely any industry was spared from its wrath. Surely, you probably thought this crisis must have put KBTG’s regional plan on hold. To be honest, a part of me was fearing that too — only to be pleasantly proven wrong later on. Despite all odds against us, we found ways to brave this storm and push through resiliently towards our goal. Once October arrived, KTech has officially opened its door to Chinese fintech industry. With the family growing bigger, our gathering naturally needs to be on a larger scale, bringing us to KBTG’s very first Regional One Team Townhall.
Hosted via video conference between KBTG Headquarter and KTech’s office in Shenzhen, China, Regional One Team Townhall serves as a platform for each party to summarize the success they have had in 2020 and relay the regional expansion roadmap we each are pursuing as one team. What makes this more special than our regular townhalls is that the entire thing is presented in English! To kick this remarkable celebration off is, of course, the Chairman himself. He explains why 2020 was the right time for KBank and KBTG to expand regionally.
“This is the most pivotal moment for this bank because the future is Asia. It is not going to the U.S. or Europe anymore. We are living in the most exciting region in the entire world,” he exclaimed, before proceeding to recap a series of recognition we have received this year, from IDC’s 20 Best Banks in Asia Pacific, Red Hat APAC Innovation Awards, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2020, to him being named IDG’s CIO50 in ASEAN. With the best team he has ever been a part of, better than Silicon Valley or any global companies even, Krating believes we have both the capability to be the top regional digital bank of Southeast Asia and the responsibility of the strongest to keep changing the fintech industry. Thus KBTG cannot stop only at Thailand and should aspire for things that have never been done before, which is to become Thailand’s first fully regional digital bank in three years. Better yet, we aim to defeat DBS for best digital bank and claim their spot in ‘GANDALF’ (Google, Apple, Netflix, DBS, Amazon, LinkedIn, and Facebook) within the next five years. Impossible it may sound but Krating trusts that with the power of KBank, KBTG and KTech combined, this feat is achievable.
Our determination to drive growth and empower customers is set atop of four pillars: dominate digital payment, reimagine commercial and consumer lending, democratize investment and insurance, and penetrate regional markets. Achieving all of these in three years requires the finest game plan — the K strategy, that is. To discuss more in detail are a panel of leaders who have dedicated their time and effort to provide support for the regional team. On the business side is Punnee Chariyanuntakul, Regional Program Manager and panel’s moderator, followed by Vorapol Jittamas, Senior Principal Visionary Architect on tech architecture and how to align practice across countries. Mongkol Uechitanantakul, Deputy Managing Director and Chatchawat Asawarakwong, Acting Chief Security Officer, reprise their roles from previous meetup to talk about the preparation for infrastructure and cyber security. Finally, making his debut at our townhall is Fan Yang, Managing Director who walks us through KTech’s strategy to claim the lead in Chinese flourishing fintech industry.
Now that we see the same big picture, it is time for our regional team leads to summarize 2020 achievements and update their progress. Joining us from China are Xuefeng Bai, Head of IT Management Department at K-China and Jurairat Krajangta, Managing Director of KTech. Meanwhile, back here in Thailand we have Thongyoo Kittibunlu, Head of Delivery Management, Tanaporn Julkananukit, Senior Network Engineer, and Chanin Luangingkasut, Senior IT Security Architect. Each of them goes over their accomplishments and future plans for the respective companies. For example, KBank China has prepared a five-year roadmap where 2021 will be the year to “build & learn”. KTech, on the other hand, has acquired a license as the first fintech company set up by a foreign bank and already completed their first project, a personal car rental loan service. As for our business in AEC countries, we are proud to announce that KBank has successfully piloted regional ATMs in Laos! (If you have a chance to visit there post-COVID, be sure to take a selfie with the machine.) Ensuring a seamless connection between countries, KBTG is also working diligently with the use of hybrid multi cloud.
Closing out this historical townhall, our CIO, Jarung Kiatsupapong, takes the floor to deliver a simple yet very sweet remark. In his eyes, KTech is the new hope. He believes China is the gold mine full of talents that could help KBTG deliver as we continue our journey towards regional growth. At this time, our Chinese team is in the middle of a learning process. We are still fine-tuning and searching for the best practices. However, it will not be long till the day KTech is ready to transform to its final form and take the region by storm. Circling back to our chairman’s words, we are journeying through space on the USS Enterprise (shout out to Trekkies in the room) with Southeast Asia and China being our final frontier. KTech will be the key element to help us boldly go where no one has gone before. Our main purpose is to pioneer the fintech frontier, serving our customers who will make up one-third of the whole world. Putting WE before me, let’s take flight towards our shared goal as one.
If you want to read more interesting stories like this or learn about the latest innovations, check out KBTG’s official website at www.kbtg.tech
