Webinar on "Improving Digital Financial Services during COVID-19" held by WSBI, AFCA Thu.

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- A webinar on "Improving Digital Financial Services during COVID-19" jointly organized by the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and Asian Financial Cooperation Association (AFCA) was convened on Thursday.

Carlos Ferrer and Enrique Lara, directors of AXIS Corporate, an international management consulting firm and Jordi Guaus, research and innovation director of strategic marketing with CaixaBank, a renowned financial service firm in Spain made presentations on the webinar.

According to the joint presentation by Carlos Ferrer and Enrique Lara of AXIS Corporate, banks have perceived the critical importance of digital transformation, given the sudden evolution of customer needs and the uncertain macroeconomic situation, which threatens banks' profitability.

Under such circumstances, AXIS recommends banks to formulate a distribution channel and transformation strategies well in advance. Such strategy should be centered around the concrete needs of the industry and the organization, and by no means it should be based on digitalization for its own sake. 

Jordi Guaus from CaixaBank highlighted in his presentation the importance of building emotive connections with customers, in particular during the COVID-19 health crisis.

As Jordi Guaus believes, it is evident that digital channels fit better for customers' daily banking needs while human interactions remain important for milestone decisions. 

During the webinar, Jordi Guaus also shared CaixaBank's new service model - InTouch, which is a new way for the bank of relating to customers, namely an online functionality with a human touch, which has helped improve customer service while at the same time reduce costs. 

Founded in 1924, WSBI focuses on issues of global importance affecting the banking industry and helps savings and retail banks around the world to thrive. It brings together savings and retail banks from about 80 countries, representing the interests of some 6,000 banks around the world.

AFCA is a regional non-governmental and non-profit organization with its foothold in Asia and devoted to building an exchange and cooperation platform for Asian financial institutions. (Contributed by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)