Heng Wui Liang, Country Manager, tells finews.asia he has a vision to make BankBazaar the leading marketplace that helps consumers access the right financial products instantly.
Mr. Heng what does BankBazaar actually do?
BankBazaar International is a neutral online marketplace for financial products. Our vision is to be the marketplace that help consumers access the right financial products instantly. We believe that helping consumers access the right products means empowering them with the relevant information to decide on what suits their needs best and provide them a simple, user-friendly channel to access them.
We do this by placing a high emphasis in providing insights, trends and the latest news on personal finance and comparing the best offers across all financial products.
Our marketplace platform is also designed to provide consumer a simpler, smoother, end-to-end experience in their financial journey
How many people work for BankBazaar at present?
We currently have six people here in the Singapore office. We are responsible for building and growing our marketplace business model in the region and to establish ourselves in the wider Asia markets. We are currently hiring and are focused on the right talent to complement this team and our larger HQ team in India. In India we have over a thousand employees.
«We are well funded, having raised $80 million. Our latest round of funding was led by Amazon»
How are you funded and how do you generate revenue?
We are well funded, having raised US$80 million. Our latest round of funding was led by Amazon. We are also supported by global investors such as Walden International, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners.
We focus on building more capabilities and partnerships to better connect consumers to the right financial products on our platform. Our partners are the financial institutions that we work with, and they remunerate us for marketing their products on our platform and our ability to help consumers access to their products. We do not charge consumers for using our marketplace.
What is your marketing strategy?
Online marketplaces, such as ourselves, sit in a unique position in their buying process. Consumers come to us, not only to discover new products in the market, but also to help them evaluate and determine if a specific financial product fits their needs. Hence, it is important for us to provide useful information as well as insights when consumers develop an interest for a specific product and are looking for information to validate their options.
«By collaboration, fintechs and financial institutions will create greater value to the consumers»
This also means that we employ marketing tactics that would drive engagement. This entails constant testing of content to arrive at messages that would resonate with our target audience. We are also very conscious where we deploy our messages and constantly optimize our media mix to ensure that we capitalize on the channels where consumers are more likely to be receptive and take action.
What’s the future for BankBazaar in Singapore and Asia?
We intend to replicate the winning formula we have in India, which means giving the Singaporean consumer a unique and easy buying experience and acting as their premier source of information for personal finance. We’ve started our offering on credit cards and will continue to work with financial institutions to expand the product categories
«Banks see value in us being an additional channel to complement their own websites»
We will soon be embarking our journey in selected markets in Asia where we see huge potential for our marketplace model, especially with the way consumers are moving away from traditional sources of influence and increasingly purchasing products online.
You previously worked for a major bank, is BankBazaar «eating their lunch?»
Absolutely not. Ultimately, we, along with our partners, address consumer needs. Banks have established financial products and services and BankBazaar, are making it easier for consumers to access them through our marketplace.
Banks see value in us being an additional channel to complement their own websites. This trend is predicated on the changing consumer behavior of researching and purchasing products online.
In this regard, I believe that by collaboration, fintechs and financial institutions will create greater value to the consumers.
Heng Wui Liang is the Singapore Country Manager of BankBazaar International. He is an experienced business leader who is passionate about leveraging technology to solve business issues and has 15 years of proven track record in leading global multi-disciplinary programs in digital financial services under his belt.
Prior to joining BankBazaar International, he was in charge of instituting mobile payments and building the SME Banking proposition, operating in a matrix, time-constrained and highly regulated environment at Standard Chartered Bank.
An INSEAD alumni (class of 2006) and a business owner, Wui Liang is responsible for growing the Singapore operations and expanding the brand’s presence in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
