Richard Humphreys |
This article first appeared in the Winter issue of The Record.
When Vincent Bastid took the position as Efma’s CEO just over a year ago, he promised to transform the global not-for-profit organisation for the better by improving efficiency and collaboration and creating new services and high value digital platforms and content for its community of over 3,300 member banks and insurers.
Fast forward to today, and he has delivered on his promise and more. Within a few months he had found new state-of-the-art premises, replaced the 15-year-old IT system and restructured the organisation in order to achieve new efficiencies. “Our new premises provide a more appropriate environment in which to thrive,” he says. “We can invite our members here, who can hold their own meetings and co-creation events – something that we weren’t able to facilitate in the past.
“We’ve replaced our incumbent IT systems with new CRM and CMS systems (including next generation event management and campaign marketing automation software), shifting IT development from apps to APIs and participative digital platforms. We also work differently internally – we have created new HR and business management processes, formed teams based on expertise and initiated more virtual collaboration. As a result, we are realising 15% additional working productivity,” Bastid continues. “That extra efficiency has been used to launch and test new initiatives to deliver a new augmented value proposition to members and to set up a new foundation for growth, without claiming for external funding.”
Bastid has also instigated the launch of three new online portals: the Fintech Portal; the SME AppsBank Portal; and the Innovation in Insurance (I3) Portal. “The success of the I3 Portal has been unprecedented and has provided huge industry recognition to winners, as well as a great database for Efma members who can get inspired by hundreds of case studies and find the direct contacts they need,” he says. “It is still too early to assess the SME and Fintech Portals, but I’m confident that they will provide competitive advantage for our members.”
By evolving in this way, Bastid is confident that Efma is able to help its members meet the many challenges of operating in retail financial services. “Some bankers have lost the pride in what they do, and trust has decreased. We need to work together to rebuild this because a bank moving in a separate direction will not help set up the standards of banking for tomorrow. It’s a collaborative, industry-wide venture. That’s why our new mission is to reinvent financial services as an industry, to set up clear advanced standards for end customers – getting new thinking and inspiration from our large community of banks and insurers – and leveraging key learning and analytics from Efma portals and research.
Bastid says that Efma will achieve this via a shift in its offering. “We don’t want to be considered to be simply a content provider – we want to be a strategic transformation catalyser,” he says. “To this end, we’re now delivering a wide range of topic-centric digital content and services to our members. For example, an SME manager will have access to a SME digest which summarises all of the major research in the SME industry. They will also have access to a range of Efma co-branded reports on SME banking, as well as an Efma voice of members’ document which brings together thought leadership from the biggest names in the industry. They can attend three free SME co-working council sessions per year (an exclusive to members), attend visit the yearly SME conference where they can network with more than a hundred peers and also take advantage of the SME portal and have a chance to win an industry award that will provide tremendous publicity and business opportunities. We are also offering the same package for private banking, insurance, operational excellence, innovation, fintech, and other key topics that are front of mind for our members.”
The new approach is already paying off. A record number of banks and insurance companies joined Efma in 2016 – including Standard Chartered Bank in the UK, Mizuho Financial Group in Japan, Raiffeizen Bank International in Austria, DBS in Singapore and many more.
Looking forward, Bastid says that over the next 12 months there will be even more value to be had from an Efma membership. “Co-creation will be the buzzword for the next year,” he says. “We’re about to launch our first co-creation event and we’re keen to organise more of these. We will also be co-creating the next versions of our portals.
“We’ll also be running new learning expeditions, as well as redesigned workshops, incubation programmes and more,” he explains. “And I’m excited to announce our new ‘executive advisory programme’ catch up sessions which are aimed at bringing busy executives up to speed with where the trends are, what they need to do to transform and how they can do it. These will begin next year in the UK and Asia.”
Bastid is also looking forward to the evolution of Efma’s portals and awards programmes. “These will become more community-based, and topic-centric,” he says. More interaction on the portals will result in more data. “In the past our research was done by interviewing members,” Vincent explains. “But by creating these large databases and industry portals we are able to analyse information and pinpoint more trends. This will be extremely valuable.”
“Overall, I truly believe that Efma has evolved from being a nice to have into something that is absolutely essential to get to industry sustainable models and new standards,” Bastid concludes. “This kind of community is invaluable to the success of the industry as a whole and our members will be the first ones to get high returns and see the value of this wide community collaboration on our future.”