B2B Cambodia sat down with Arunava Dasgupta, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Wing Bank, to discuss how the bank maintains its high client protection standards and was able to receive Gold Level Client Protection Certification from Micro Finanza Rating (MFR), the highest recognition under the international framework for responsible financial services.
B2B Asia News: Congratulations to Wing Bank on receiving a Gold-Level certification from the MFR Certification Committee. How would you say this recognition differentiates Wing Bank from other financial institutions in Cambodia's competitive digital landscape?
Arunava Dasgupta: "The certification, in itself, is a testament towards the global client protection standards that we have always maintained as an organisation. We are a fully Cambodian bank, we are owned by a Cambodian, and we are absolutely always fully committed to the growth and protection of Cambodia as a whole. So this is a global testament and recognition of what we have been doing so far.
“Is Wing Bank a differentiator in the market? Absolutely. We have 12,000 agents across the country, we have over 250 Master Agents across the country. Our commitment has always been to protect Cambodia and Cambodians. And this MFR certification is just a testament, a global testament towards that.”
B2B Cambodia: Reaching and maintaining a 100 per cent compliance level surely required a rigorous process. What were the most significant operational or cultural prospects required within the bank to meet MFR standards?
Arunava Dasgupta: "The standards were always there. This [certificate is] more of a validation towards the standards that we already had. Sometimes what happens is that you do things, but you want to get it validated by a global organisation to make sure that you are doing the right things. And lo and behold, we are all doing the right things. So the process was not as rigorous, I would say.
“I have been involved in this process from the beginning. So personally, it didn't feel like a rigorous exercise for us. Of course there is a lot of documentation, a lot of proof, paperwork and everything else that needs to be submitted to MFR to be evaluated for the certification. However, it never really felt rigorous, because we already have been maintaining these client protection standards for decades now.”
B2B Cambodia: With the rise of digital loans, how does Wing Bank utilise technology to ensure borrowers have the capacity to repay without being over-indebted? How does the bank ensure its digital-first customers fully understand the terms and conditions?
Arunava Dasgupta: "There are a few things. Number one, we are the only bank in Cambodia that actually uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to assess and disperse digital loans in less than 30 seconds. We have machine learning models that work 24/7 to assess loans. Now, in terms of loan assessment, there are always two parts to it. What's the risk to the bank? That's number one. And number two – what's the risk to the client?
“There are hundreds of parameters that are assessed through our machine learning model. How do we communicate this to the customer every time there is a digital loan? If you go through the digital loan journey with us, once you apply for the loan, you receive very clear terms and conditions. But nobody really reads the entire terms of service. However, in banking, we have a very important term sheet. What we have done in our digital journey is outline what are the most important things that the customer must know. Such as the interest rate, the fee, the tenure, the kinds of installments that have to be paid month to month, and customers can go ahead and choose their tenure. Even in our digital loans, we make these points very, very clear for the customer to read. It's not hidden somewhere within a long terms and conditions. The customer has very clear visibility.”
B2B Asia News: How is Wing Bank able to maintain high ethical and client protection standards across its broad nationwide network?
Arunava Dasgupta: "Our processes are quite rigorous internally. That's why it seems like magic, that we are able to go ahead and maintain such a big network and have zero incidents of major customer or client protection issues. How do we do that? We maintain very strong standards with our partners. Our Wing Agents are our partners. If they do not succeed, we don't either. If they are not part of our culture, then we don't succeed.
"Second, we use technology, and we use a process. So there is a people, process and technology amalgamation that helps ensure every transaction within our agent network, every loan processed through our agents or Master Agents, goes through a careful consideration and is handled in the right way.
“We use a very strong AI and machine learning model, we use OCR technology very frequently, and we have an entire team of individuals — we call them revenue assurance — who are out on the field to make sure every single client that we touch is protected.”
WATCH: Maintaining Client Protection Standards Across a Nationwide Network
Arunava Dasgupta, Wing Bank
B2B Asia News: Now that Wing Bank has achieved this high-level certification, what is the next step in its journey to becoming “The Bank for Every Cambodian”?
Arunava Dasgupta: "We will continue to do what we have been doing so far. One of our main pillars is the customer. Without the customer, we are nothing. Internally, we always quote one person, Mahatma Gandhi. He is a Nobel Prize winner, a politician, he had nothing to do with business, but he always said that the customer is the most important part of your business. The customer is not a disruption to your business. You have your business because the customer exists.
“So, our mission has always been to provide the best of experience to our customers, and to protect the customer from financial issues as much as possible. As I was saying, when we make assessments, it is not only about assessing the risk to the bank, but we place higher weight towards assessing the risk to the customer. For example, repayment is a big part of our assessment. We protect customers to make sure that whatever loans we are processing are comfortable for them to be able to make their repayment. So we will continue to do what we are doing, enhance our services, and our mission will always be to provide the best for the customer today, tomorrow, and for the rest of the years to come.”