Shows
Banking Transformed with Jim MarousWhen 93% Mobile Adoption Drives InnovationThailand's banking sector is experiencing a remarkable evolution, driven by regulatory innovation, mobile-first consumer behavior, and some of the world's most stringent operational requirements. Leading this transformation at one of the region's most influential financial institutions is our guest today.
Ian Gillard serves as Senior Executive Vice President at Bangkok Bank, where he oversees digitalization, mobile banking, blockchain initiatives, cloud strategy, and analytics.
Today, we'll explore how Bangkok Bank is navigating Thailand's unique regulatory landscape, the bank's strategy for dominating both domestic and international markets, and Ian's vision for the future of digital engagement in...
2025-08-1237 minBanking Transformed with Jim MarousHow to Redesign Banking for the AI AgeHow do you transform banks that have been built over centuries for a world where artificial intelligence operates 10 times faster than the digital revolution? We're not just talking about implementing new technology; we're reimagining banking for customers who interact daily with AI assistants and may soon entrust their money management entirely to intelligent systems.
However, banks that rush into action without understanding their organizational and cultural legacies will find their investments yielding disappointing results. The issue isn't the technology; it's that we equate activity with progress, making top-down decisions that overlook what's happening on the ground.
2025-07-1541 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Jesse Weinberg, First National Bank (South Africa)Introducing Jesse Weinberg who is the Head of the SME Customer Segment at First National Bank (FNB) of South Africa. He joined the bank in 2010 to launch PayPal as a business product offering to the South African market, and since then he has enjoyed various banking roles within FNB across both retail and business banking divisions. Jesse holds commerce degrees in business informatics and an MBA from IE University in Madrid. Jesse is passionate about entrepreneurship and technology, and the role that banks can play to help to develop SMEs in Africa, ultimately addressing both unemployment and inequality.
2022-01-1024 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Simone Cooper, Standard Bank (South Africa)Meet our nominee Simone Cooper who has obtained diverse exposure to banking, particularly business and commercial banking, having undertaken various roles within Standard Bank. Simone was a key member of the team involved in re-establishing Business Banking in South Africa. She has been involved in various initiatives promoting the development of SMEs, including several government initiatives and development finance projects.
2022-01-0724 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Ernest Kwong, Alliance Bank (Malaysia)Ernest Kwong joined Alliance Bank as Head of Remedial Management before moving on to several other roles in credit, recovery, and sales within the business banking segment. He has over 24 years of experience in the SME and Commercial segments at local and international financial institutions. Mr. Kwong was instrumental in revamping the Bank’s financial programs, leading a team to assess the viability and relevance of SME programs at every business life stage.
2022-01-0619 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Jack de Mooij, Rabobank (Netherlands)Jack de Mooij is an energetic, and empowering business leader with broad experience in (digital) SME banking, ‘going beyond banking’ and building platform ecosystems. After starting his career at ING, in 1995 Jack has fulfilled many roles in the field of SME Banking, both within the Netherlands and internationally. Since 2020, Jack is responsible for Rabobank’s SME proposition in the Netherlands, where he works with his teams on the optimization of Rabobank’s SME distribution strategy and the digital transformation of Rabobank’s SME proposition.
2022-01-0519 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Sofie Larsson, Swedbank (Sweden)Meet Sofie Larsson who is proud to be working at Swedbank as a Nordic Head of Corporate Segment - SME and Midcorp. Sofie has worked with different kinds of corporate services. Doing business and meeting customer needs is a passion of hers as well as leading teams running business and teams changing business to better meet customer demands. According to her, the best is to face satisfied customers, growing market share, and competent employees.
2022-01-0420 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Jaypee Soliman, UnionBank (Philippines)Jaypee Soliman Is currently Vice president and the SME and Micropreneurs Segment Head of UnionBank Philippines. Has been involved in MSME related projects and activities since joining UnionBank in 2008 starting his career as a sales officer for Transaction Banking and later on moving to leadership roles. He currently leads the group that drives the bank’s various MSME related product and service innovations, technology and platform solutions, and advocacies. He also guides other banking units from the lenses of customer experience, market behavior, journey, and market relevance.
2022-01-0322 min
SME at a glance: Expert views on the newsJuly Episode with Simla UnalIn this "summer episode" of our podcast, Lukas hosted Simla Unal, SME Head of Marketing&Business Development- BNPP International Retail Banking.
Together they talked about the following news and trends in the SME Banking world:
1. Banks playing a role in running the business of their SME clients:
Temenos and Canadian Western Bank (CWB) have innovated together to develop an Explainable AI-driven (XAI) solution, Temenos Virtual COO
We've already seen many attempts of banks or FIs all over the globe to help SMEs manage their business, but where are the limits of s...
2021-07-2618 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsMay Episode with Meaghan JohnsonIn May Episode, Lukas and his guest - Meaghan Johnson look at recent news in SME banking sector:
Below are some of the highlights:
Raise of Insurance products/ value proposition for SMEs:
- Reputational Risk Insurance by Beazley
- Metro Bank launches into insurance market with new SME proposition
- Emirates NBD and MetLife form strategic partnership to provide insurance products and solutions to the bank's extensive wealth, retail and SME customer base across the United Arab Emirates
Disrupting the disruptors
- Payhawk raises $20M...
2021-05-2718 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsApril Episode with Sue DouthwaiteIn April Episode, Lukas and his guest - Sue Douthwaite look at recent news in SME banking sector:
Below are some of the highlights:
- Revolut Business adds a suite of new features for businesses
- Grab-Singtel consortium to set up a dedicated team by 2021 to build Singapore’s next-generation digital bank
- WeChat Pay helps digitalise European retailers
- Orange Bank expands further with the acquisition of neobank Anytime
- Kaddra has integrated with XERO, providing an end to end solution for SMEs to run their business
2021-04-2018 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsMarch Episode with Slawomir KoziolIn the very first episode of 2021, Lukas has invited Slawomir Koziol to talk about recent news from SME industry.
Below are some of the highlights:
- Alliance Bank Malaysia - As a result of introducing BizSmart® Mobile app in 2020 the bank’s online transactions increased by approximately 30-40% and customers were more willing to sign up for online banking to perform their transactions.
- Desjardins Canada – following the COVID-19 lockdown, the bank quickly moved to implement temporary relief measures to make a difference for their SME clients - in areas such as financing, credi...
2021-03-0216 min
Series with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Rohit Garg, Mashreq BankIn the last episode of 2020 Series with global SME visionary bankers, Lukas Dzuroska talked to Rohit Garg, Executive Vice President and Head of NeoBiz, (Digital Business Banking) at Mashreq Bank. Rohit is the 7th nominee for the SME Banker of the Year Award and he shared his journey to SME Banking, his views, values and vision for the future.
2020-12-1524 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsDecember Episode with Esra KivrakIn the December episode, Efma’s SME expert Lukas Dzuroska interviews Esra Kivrak. Esra is a financial services strategy advisor with years of SME banking experience at top financial institutions in the MENA region. The two take a look at the most recent news in the world of SME banking and Esra provides her expert POV on how and why these things are happening.
Below are some of the highlights:
- Deutsche Bank are revamping their operations for business clients by combining multiple offerings for different-sized businesses into a single, focused Biz Banking offering, reflecting a...
2020-12-0116 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Rajeev Chalisgaonkar, Standard Chartered2020 has been a turbulent business environment all over the globe. As businesses have navigated this unprecedented year, they have been able to rely on their banks for crucial guidance. To understand how this has played out in practice, Efma’s SME banking expert Lukaz Dzuroska spoke with Rajeev Chalisgaonkar, the Global Head of Business Banking at Standard Chartered Bank.
2020-11-1724 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsNovember Episode with Helene PanzarinoIn the third episode of SME at a glance: Expert views on the news produced by Efma's SME Banking team, Lukas Dzuroska and Helene Panzarino discussed the latest SME news and had a look at:
- CIBC's expansion of business banking advisory team with aim to support business owners
- how Commonwealth Bank improved their lending services and doubled their in-branch local business bankers to help businesses hit by the crisis
- National Australia Bank's decision to hire new employees to support CX difficulty during #Covid-19
- the rise of challenger banks such as Lunar...
2020-11-0315 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Lori Darlington, RBC BankLori Darlington believes that everything happens for a reason which may explain how and why she joined banking industry. Which trends should we keep an eye on? What challenges do SMEs have to face during these times?
In the fifth installement of SME Banker of the Year podcast series, Lukas and Lori talked about how RBC goes beyond traditional banking when it comes to supporting and helping SMEs. Among many great initiatives, you'll learn more on how their online hub helps business owners start or grow their business by providing partnerships, resources and special offers.
2020-10-2021 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsOctober Episode with Stefan AnderssonThis episode looks at the innovative trends across the globe that are shaping the way banks are adopting their client offerings in new and intriguing ways. New ecosystems and uses of data feature prominently among the examples in this episode. Below are some of the highlights:
- Handelsbanken is closing over half their bank branches in Sweden
- How Natwest UK and Hong Leong bank in Malaysia are introducing new payments services and ecosystems
- ICICI is using satellite imaging to inform its lending decisions in India
- Citi takes stake in...
2020-10-0614 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Dayalan Govender, NedbankListen to the 4th episode of SME Banker of the Year Series. This time Efma´s Lukas Dzuroska has interviewed our 4th nominee - Dayalan Govender from Nedbank. For Dayalan, SMEs do not simply bring economic benefits to their surrounding communities, but also an incredible amount of social value. Going forward, in a world in which Covid19 is present (or at least a recent memory), SMEs are going to play a critical role in the economy of tomorrow. “As we transition into a new normal, SMEs will represent the biggest catalyst for growth and employment,” said Mr. Govender. And banks...
2020-09-2221 minSME at a glance: Expert views on the newsSeptember Episode with Tomasz GórskiIn this first episode Lukas Dzuroska and Tomasz Gorski will discuss news that has happened between May and July including:
- American Express acquiring Kabbage
- Aion Bank launching their business banking for SMEs
- Société Générale acquiring Shine
- ING investing over 4 million pounds into Business banking app Countingup
- ING announcing its cooperation with Amazon in offering loans to eligible sellers
2020-09-0116 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Nikoloz Kurdiani, TBC BankEfma and Mastercard are bringing you interview with the 3rd nominee of Efma-Mastercard SME Banker of the Year Award. In this episode, Lukas Dzuroska, Efma’s SME Banking Lead talked to Nika Kurdiani, Deputy CEO of TBC Bank Georgia. With more than 15 years of experience in banking industry, Nika knows the market and believes that SMEs are the backbone of our economy. What topic we should pay more attention to? How new players shape the SME world? How did agile setup changed TBC’s working teams in terms of effectiveness and efficiency? Find out in this 1-1 interview about motiv...
2020-08-1824 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Debarun Roy Choudhury, AGBDive deep into the interview with 2nd nominee of Efma-Mastercard SME Banker of the Year Award. Debarun Roy Choudhury, former Group Head, UOB BizSmart talked about how the needs of SME clients changed in 20 years and why the human asset is vital for proper functioning of SMEs? What does Netflix have to do with the fact that Roy cannot sleep at night? Find out more in the interview about motivation, leadership, work passion and business in the SME world led by Efma's SME Banking Programme Lead Lukas Dzuroska.
#EfmaSMEBanking
2020-07-2120 minSeries with Global SME Visionary BankersInterview with Susan Davies, Santander UKA 1-to-1 interview/discussion with Susan Davies - Head of Business Banking from Santander UK in an informal manner. What should be a bank's or financial institution’'s ultimate goal in serving SMEs? What are the top 3 projects delivered for SME clients of Santander Bank UK? What keeps Head of Business Banking up at night?
Find out answers to these and even more questions from our first Efma-Mastercard SME Banker of the Year nominee: Susan Davies.
We hope that the interview led by Efma's SME Banking Programme Lead Lukas Dzuroska will be your source of ins...
2020-06-2324 min