Standard Chartered, WeChat and Sony Mobile in Unique Collaboration

Partnership to allow the Bank to offer promotions in conjunction with SCKLM

Petaling Jaya, 7 May 2014 – Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia (Standard Chartered) WeChat and Sony Mobile are working together to introduce innovative products and services in conjunction with the biggest running event in the country, Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM), to promote health and wellness.

This partnership reflects a strong, shared objective to reach out to the Gen-Y demographic. The collaboration will provide the opportunity to leverage on social media and to use a different approach to reach and engage customers.

Presenting the new Sony SmartBand together with the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact Smartphone.

The historical significance of this collaboration lies in the fact that Standard Chartered has become the first bank to work with one of the leading social messaging providers, WeChat, at the same time, the two parties will work with Sony Mobile to exclusively launch the global smartphone player’s SmartBand.

“Traditionally, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon has always been a corporate sponsorship event where Standard Chartered is the title sponsor and we promote our branding through the Race. This year, we are leveraging on the marathon to continue our commitment to serve our customers through innovative products and solutions.

“In order to do this, we have partnered with a social messaging provider, WeChat and via our official account – Standard Chartered MY to provide live updates of the marathon to our customers whilst driving our Standard Chartered JustOne Marathon account.

 (From L to R): Mr. Jason Smith, Director of Marketing, South East Asia and Oceania, Sony Mobile Communications, Ms. Amnah Ajmal, Head of Retail and Personal Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia, Mr. Lai Shu Wei, Head of Brand and Marketing, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia and Mr. Louis Song, Country Manager, WeChat Malaysia and Singapore.

“We are also partnering with Sony Mobile to offer the SmartBand (exclusive to us) to all marathoners at a special price to bank on the health and wellness theme of the marathon,” said Amnah Ajmal, Head of Retail and Personal Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia.

Recognising the huge potential of the marathon, the Bank has launched its JustOne Marathon Bonus Promotion. The first 5,000 new accountholders to sign up for the JustOne account will receive a RM120 discount to purchase the latest Sony SmartBand or Sony Xperia phones. Each successful application will receive the promotion code via SMS and customers can log on to www.sc.com/my/sonywechat to purchase the device.

Customers can further benefit from this promotion by making deposits into their account; the more they save, the higher the interest they will earn. This promotion will run from now till 31 July 2014.

In addition, customers and marathoners can follow the Official Account on WeChat (ID: standardcharteredmy) to receive a RM100 off the retail price for Sony Smartband which currently retails at RM399, and also the latest updates on other promotions and privileges, running tips, running clinics and the latest announcements on the Marathon.

“We are honoured to be the Social Media Partner for Standard Chartered Bank via their Official Account platform on WeChat. Besides receiving the latest content, users can now apply for a Standard Chartered credit card through the Official Account on WeChat. Our team is working closely with valuable content and services partners like Standard Chartered to enrich and enhance our application to WeChat users in Malaysia and we hope that Standard Chartered will continue to further leverage on our platform.”

“Our ultimate objective is to make WeChat more than just an instant communication application, but an all-in-one smart application that can cater for every user’s lifestyle and needs,” said Louis Song, Country Manager of WeChat, Malaysia and Singapore.

“We are honoured to be a part of this exciting partnership, alongside very dynamic partners like Standard Chartered and WeChat. Sony Mobile’s involvement in this partnership effortlessly embodies the Sony ethos by adding colour, fun and entertainment to the user experiences to create a perfect synergy with the health and wellness concept of the marathon,” said Jason Smith, Director of Marketing, South East Asia and Oceania, Sony Mobile Communications.

The Sony SmartBand and Core represent an entirely different proposition from other products in the “wearable” category. The Sony SmartBand is an innovative life logging wrist band that lets you keep track of everything you do. With lifelog, the Sony SmartBand is the perfect companion for the Standard Chartered marathon participant who wants to keep track of their lifestyle in line with their training regime for the marathon. It is discreet and designed to look great with any clothing style. To top it off, this piece of wearable technology is waterproof, allowing users to keep it on no matter what they are doing.

“The Sony SmartBand stands for a holistic life logging experience, diarising communication and entertainment and making that data accessible, useful and enjoyable for users in addition of course to tracking fitness and health,” Smith added.

With participation increasing every year since its inception, last year’s Standard Chartered KL Marathon registered more than 33,800 runners. This year, the organiser, Dirigo Events, is expecting more running enthusiasts to be part of Malaysia’s biggest running event with 35,000 slots opened to the public.

Six years running and with a new tagline, “Confident. Committed. Courageous,” the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2014 is set to encourage commitment to a healthy lifestyle, enhance people’s confidence, and to celebrate the courage of participants.

LinkedIn crosses 50-million member mark in Asia Pacific

Top industries represented include IT & Services, Banking & Financial Services and Telecommunications Tech companies most followed by members in the region

Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA — 12 February 2014 — LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network with over 277 million members globally, today announced that it has crossed 50 million members in the Asia Pacific region.  Nine countries in the region now have over 1 million members - India (24+ million), Australia (5+ million), China (4+ million), Indonesia and the Philippines (2+ million each), Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand (1+ million each).

This 50-million member milestone represents nearly a tripling of LinkedIn’s member base in the region from May 2011, when it opened its regional centre in Singapore. In 2013, LinkedIn welcomed more than 7 million new members in India, while 2 million joined the network in Australia and New Zealand. In Southeast Asia, the number of members jumped more than 50 percent to exceed 9 million.

“The strong growth we are seeing in our member base is a great encouragement for us.  We still have much to do in terms of connecting all professionals around the world. Accordingly, we are looking to introduce more features to deliver even more value to our members and customers,” commented Hari Krishnan, MD of LinkedIn Asia Pacific and Japan.

Since 2011, LinkedIn has also added six Asian languages to its offerings to offer a more localised experience for members in these markets.  It also introduced several Asia-based influencers to enrich the professional knowledge on its platform, including top executives such as Tony Fernandes (Group CEO, AirAsia), David Thodey (CEO & Executive Director, Telstra), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Chairman &  Managing Director, Biocon) and Nobuyuki Idei (Founder & CEO, Quantum Leaps, and Former Chairman & CEO, Sony).

As its member base continues to grow, LinkedIn was also able to help clients across the region reach out and engage with a broader audience.  These clients include Standard Chartered Bank, AirAsia, SingPost, Lenovo, University of Queensland and Van Heusen.

“Asia is a growth story. As the region increasingly consolidates its position as a key driver of the global economy, our aim is to help professionals and businesses in Asia become even more successful at what they do. Whether it’s expanding professional connections, tapping critical talent or marketing and selling to this influential audience, we’re excited to be able to help connect the dots and create economic opportunities for everyone,” Mr. Krishnan continued.

Some facts about LinkedIn’s 50 million members in Asia Pacific:

Top five companies followed   IBM Hewlett-Packard Accenture Google Tata Consultancy Services
In Singapore Google Standard Chartered Bank Hewlett-Packard Apple Shell   In Malaysia Shell Petronas AirAsia Schlumberger ExxonMobil	In Australia Google Rio Tinto Telstra Commonwealth Bank National Australia Bank   In New Zealand Air New Zealand Fonterra The University of Auckland Telecom New Zealand ANZ	In India Tata Consultancy Services IBM Accenture Hewlett-Packard Infosys In Indonesia Chevron Unilever BP TOTAL Shell	In Hong Kong HSBC Google Cathay Pacific Airways Standard Chartered Bank Apple   In Japan Google IBM DeNA Apple Microsoft

MICROSOFT TAG TAKES OFF IN MALAYSIA

Standard Chartered is the first to adopt Microsoft technology in its latest marketing campaign

25 October, Kuala Lumpur – Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad (Standard Chartered) has pioneered the use of a fresh mobile marketing approach with Microsoft technology in its latest marketing campaign – making it the first bank in the country to adopt this new wave of customer engagement tactics.

The Bank’s latest deposit campaign that offers the highest savings interest rate in town at 5% per annum is the first of its kind to incorporate a Microsoft Tag in its advertisements. Customers owning a smartphone will be able to immediately locate the nearest Standard Chartered Bank branch by scanning the Microsoft Tag from their phone. The campaign which starts 1 October, 2011 will appear in major newspapers across the country.
(L-r) Peter Tam, Director Of Local Software Innovations Malaysian Software Economy, Microsoft Malaysia and Tan Lim Soon Fu, Chief Technology Officer, Fifth Media Networks Sdn Bhd

Tiew Siew Chuen, Country Head of Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Malaysia said, “Standard Chartered continues to notch up a first in service innovation with this initiative that reinforces our commitment to provide greater value to our customers. This campaign bridges the customer experience from a print medium into one that is “live”. It is innovative, fun and easy to apply. With Microsoft Tag, our offers can now cut across conventional advertising mediums to one that is dynamic.”

“The possibilities are endless. Microsoft Tag provides a seamless experience for customers from the first point of contact to access content on mobile websites – whether it is maps, videos, clues for competitions, music demos, discount vouchers and more. We are just at the tip of the iceberg as to how extensive and pervasive this technology can be in driving customer and community engagement,” said Peter Tam, Director, Local Software Innovations, Microsoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Microsoft Tag: Hello Creative Colours, Goodbye Boring Black & White…

Microsoft Tag is a 2D Barcode released to market in June 2010. Since then, over 3 billion tags have been printed, in colour and B&W, on a variety of media, including newspapers, magazines, t-shirts and even cupcakes! Microsoft Tag can be customised with intricate designs, brand symbols or logos.

Microsoft Tag technology provides comprehensive marketing analytics, including reporting features such as number of daily scans, total scans and also a heat map which indicate from which locations customers are scanning the most.

Microsoft Tag reader is supported by leading smartphone manufacturers including Nokia Symbian, Apple iPhone, Google Android, RIM Blackberry, Microsoft Windows Phone, as well as feature phones which support Java.

A user downloads the Microsoft Tag Reader application once on his smartphone from http://gettag.mobi and scans a Microsoft Tag which will automatically open a mobile webpage, receive a vCard (business) contact, or dial a number. The mobile website content can be dynamically updated for the same Microsoft Tag, therefore reducing the need for new tags to be created.

According to latest CommStat research, smartphone growth in Malaysia has been phenomenal, with 1 in every 2 persons owning such a device with access to the internet. This, coupled with the advancement of mobile broadband networks and declining prices of smartphones and tablet PCs, has led advertisers to actively integrate mobile marketing as part of their customer outreach programmes.

TBWA Malaysia was looking for a way to effectively provide customers a hassle-free immediate excess to Standard Chartered branches. "Microsoft Tag gave us the opportunity to step away from the conventional QR Codes to do something fresh and exciting with the Bank’s above-the-line campaigns," said Shaun Tay, Head, Account Management, TBWA\TEQUILA\ Malaysia.

Fifth Media Networks Sdn Bhd, a Microsoft BizSpark partner was commissioned to develop the mobile website and customized Microsoft Tag design for Standard Chartered.

“We had three days to churn out a tag design and mobile website for this campaign. In spite of the tight deadline, we were able to pull this off using our software,” said Tan Lim Soon Fu, CTO, Fifth Media Networks Sdn Bhd. “We are looking to work with more retailers and advertising companies as this technology takes off in Malaysia. It provides a strong value proposition for organisations wanting to reach an increasingly mobile society,” he continued.

Financial Insights Discusses the Significant Business Drivers Shaping the Future for Asia's Cash Management Industry

Banks need to help corporate customer segment, and explore strategis alliances to widen coverage

Singapore and Hong Kong, June 16th, 2008 – A recent publication by leading independent research and advisory firm Financial Insights, an IDC company, points to the growing realization that an expanded and sophisticated treasury and finance function can improve business processes, drive operational efficiencies and transparency, all of which are crucial for sustained business success. The report, entitled ‘Asia/Pacific Cash Management Review: Insights into Corporate Cash Management Today, (Doc#FIN212573)', states that the importance of cash management (CM) continues to expand steadily as corporates demand efficient international cash management that expands in tandem with their global development.

"In this report, we highlight significant business drivers shaping the future for Asia's CM industry," explains Li-May Chew, CFA, senior research manager for Financial Insights Asia/Pacific. Significant enablers affecting the dynamics for Asia's CM industry include increased trade flows and companies expanding cross-borders, growing commoditization of CM and banks reacting with more creative CM offerings, regulations compelling operational transparency and the establishment of centralized CM monitoring environments, and emphasis on improving liquidity management.

The report also explores the common CM techniques, and the existing barriers for corporates to efficient CM. On the latter, while corporates ideally want a singular view of all cash transactions and balances, they have to content with the need to balance power between corporate and regional treasuries, and retain domestic oversight of the treasury management function to preserve proximity to customers and suppliers.

With local corporates and financial institutions moving in search of new overseas opportunities, international banks are building and profiting from their CM networks into Asia. Key international CM players here in Asia include the likes of ABN AMRO, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered, amongst others. Strategies are however, diverse, with the widest branch reach belonging to HSBC and Standard Chartered, while ABN AMRO prefers to tap into the resources of partner banks, as can be seen in Figure 1 with by far the largest combined regional branch coverage (their own plus partner banks). On how banks can convince corporates to outsource more of their treasury services and develop relationship with banking partners, Li-May points out that "banks would do well to assist corporates in identifying their barriers and specific weaknesses to efficient CM, be it in cash pooling, cash flow forecasting, or shortcomings within the purchase-to-payment or order-to-receipt cash cycle."

Additionally, they need to decide whether they are well-equipped to service large MNCs, or to focus solely on middle-market companies (where there are opportunities to facilitate investment and cross-border trade flows and assist local corporates expand internationally), and further need to explore strategic partnership and alliances to widen coverage and reach.

"To assist the banks towards that endeavor, treasury management vendors need to source for developing work with international banks, Offer integrated solutions to second- and third-tier banks, and help corporates' treasury division rationalize their business case for purchasing vendor cash flow forecasting tools," concludes Li-May. A succeeding Financial Insights report will dwell more in depth into the prospects for the packaged CM solutions market in Asia.

For more information on obtaining this report ‘Asia/Pacific Cash Management Review: Insights into Corporate Cash Management Today'’, Doc#FIN212573, June 2008) - please contact: sales@financial-insights.com.

STANDARD CHARTERED SPENDS US$3.6 MILLION IN NETWORK UPGRADE

12 May 2008, Kuala Lumpur – Standard Chartered Bank will spend US$3.6 million over the next four years to enhance IT network infrastructure across 40 sites in its Malaysian branch network.

The new and more resilient Metro-Ethernet (Metro-E) network, which delivers cost effective, high speed connectivity for WAN applications & services, will raise capacity ranging from 256K and 512K to 2MB for all Standard Chartered Bank branches, as well as a total of 160MB of aggregated capacity for two designated network hub sites.

“With Metro-E, Standard Chartered will be able to provide our customers with even more efficient services and better products, “said Arif Siddiqui, CIO, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia & Head, GSSC KL. “The Bank will be able to roll-out bandwidth intensive new applications and services like e-Kiosks, e-Branch enhancements and Rapid Cash transactions.”

Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia expects the Metro-E upgrade to be completed by Q3, 2008. The previous infrastructure supported legacy financial transactions and ran on COINS Frame Relay with ISDN back-up. The new Metro-E technology has already been successfully implemented in the Standard Chartered Bank’s Singapore and Hong Kong branch environments.