DBS introduced its fully virtual wealth management capabilities in Hong Kong in grand fashion, accompanying the launch with renowned local celebrities.
The bank recently launched its new virtual wealth manager which can enable users to undergo the entire experience digitally from account-opening to transacting. The suite of capabilities also includes general banking, investments, FX trading, remittance and others.
«We are the first bank that has a fully digitized journey from onboarding to all wealth management products,» said Sebastian Paredes, DBS Hong Kong CEO. «This is not an app. This is the launch of a new virtual bank.»
Account Opening
When DBS began its planning exercise two years ago to launch the virtual solution, it wanted to significantly reduce the time required to open accounts, after repeatedly hearing clients express how busy they are and how laborious it is to fill out application forms.
«This is something on our mind for a long time,» explained Ajay Mathur, managing director and head of consumer bank gin and wealth management, DBS. «With this fully virtual wealth management account onboarding, you can open an account in just a few minutes.»
Joined by renowned local celebrities, Louis Koo Tin-lok and Jessica Hsuan, the bank made a live demonstration to showcase the ease of opening an account. In addition to mandatory documents, the system was able to use facial recognition technology to verify the user simply by matching an image of an official ID and a selfie image.
