In pursuit of its ambitious vision to revolutionise the financial landscape in the digital age within the Philippines, Huawei hosted the prestigious Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 at the exquisite Shangri-La The Fort, situated in the heart of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Manila. This summit served as a dynamic convergence point for prominent figures and forward-thinking innovators in the Philippine finance sector, fostering deep discussions on propelling the industry forward through groundbreaking innovations.
Sylvia Wang, CEO at Huawei Cloud Philippines, kicked off the event with a welcome address, where she emphasised the encompassing benefits of digital transformation in the world of finance and why it needs to be foundational to the finance industry moving forward.
Wang also observed that the financial industry stands as the vanguard for the most advanced technologies, often serving as the pioneering frontier where numerous innovations take root. This further emphasises the imperative for all stakeholders, ranging from business leaders to financial institutions and intermediaries, to actively explore the digital solutions now accessible within the industry.
Bridging the Digital Gap in the Finance Sector
Huawei has established itself as one of the provider of fintech solutions worldwide. Today, Huawei remains steadfast in maintaining this position and aims to assist an expanding network of financial industry players in harnessing innovation to deliver essential services and promote comprehensive financial inclusion for all.
“Over the past years, we have tried our best to provide the best solutions and services to serve all our industry customers,” Wang noted about the breadth of Huawei’s client base. This client base currently includes 300 financial customers globally—including those in Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines, where Huawei has been in business for over two decades now.
“Huawei has already been in business in the Philippines for 21 years,” Wang pointed out proudly. “In the past 21 years, Huawei has accumulated a lot of localised experience and has been giving its best cloud services to support local enterprises. We have gained various certifications and professional recognitions, and also comply to the BSP regulation in Philippines as well. Meanwhile, we are also expected to have our local region in the Philippines in the near future.”
Wang added that in this era dominated by cloud-first strategies, Huawei is diligently ensuring that stakeholders within the financial industry have the seamless capability to transition to the cloud and fully capitalise on its advantages.
Huawei Cloud 20-fold Growth in 4 Years, Fastest-Growing Cloud Presence in APAC
Huawei Cloud is, indeed, at the forefront of the cloud revolution in fintech, particularly in the greater APAC region. In his keynote, “HUAWEI CLOUD: Building a Trusted, Innovative Cloud for the Financial Industry”, Huawei Cloud APAC President Zeng Xingyun detailed the unprecedented growth of Huawei Cloud in APAC, where it has seen an 86% growth in revenue over the past four years, along with a 62% increase in its customer base and an 80% increase in the number of its partners.
These impressive gains should come as no surprise as Huawei Cloud, according to Zeng, puts the customers’ needs above all else. This customer-centric approach is facilitated by Huawei Cloud’s extensive network of 14 Availability Zones (AZs), set to expand to 17 with the imminent. Additionally, Huawei Cloud ensures robust local support through a dedicated team of over 30 local experts, ready to provide round-the-clock assistance to its valued customers.
In financial markets, meanwhile, Huawei Cloud saw its revenue increase by 170% last year, thanks to an additional 26 new customers, including some VIP customers such as SCB, KTB, and KTC Bank in Thailand; GLDB Bank and APEX in Singapore; BNC Bank in Indonesia; KBZ Bank in Myanmar, Tune Insurance in Malaysia; and Akulaku in the Philippines.
Why Cloud-Native Is the Way Forward
Undoubtedly, the cloud has taken a primordial role in the finance sector, and Wu Shiwei, CTO at Huawei Cloud APAC, touched on why this is the case in his keynote, “Financial Cloud: Everything as a Service, Building Agile and Smart Finance Together.”
Wu highlighted that enterprises have made the strategic choice to adopt cloud-native infrastructure as the cornerstone of their digital transformation efforts. This decision signifies that those already integrated into the cloud ecosystem will have the initial and more streamlined access to cutting-edge innovations, while those yet to migrate or are in the midst of the transition may find it challenging to access the latest technological advancements in a timely and convenient manner.
Additionally, Wu introduced a few of Huawei Cloud’s cloud-native core banking solutions, starting with its GaussDB database, which replaced more than 600 sets of Oracle databases in Huawei-owned IT systems.
Wu also introduced Huawei’s data-AI convergence, which optimises an institution’s decision-making by enhancing its competence and capability to maximise the value of its data. The first thing to do in this case, Wu explained, is to converge the data wherever it is residing, before integrating the data into machine learning operations and DevOps.
Expanding on this pivotal concept, in his keynote “Banking in the Digitalisation Era,” Huawei’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Global Digital Finance, K.T. Chen, delved deeper into how exactly cloud-native is accelerating the digitalisation of the financial sector that is now entering a well-connected world.
Chen, in particular, highlighted technology’s growing role in the digital economy and how it is shaping finance in the Philippines with trends such as digital customer experience, big data and AI, and digital currency. Given this, Chen implored the attendees to always provide customers with “the best-class digital experience with your financial services.”
Driving Finance Forward in the Philippines via the Cloud
Notably, Wang made sure to emphasise in her opening address Huawei’s commitment to enhancing the Philippines’ financial sector through its diverse cloud and innovation solutions.
“As we are already part of the Philippines, we trust that we can bring the most valuable cloud to the nation as we know how to translate our technological capabilities and solutions to meet the specific requirements and scenarios in the Philippines,” said Wang. “We have a dedicated team and dedicated resources right here, and in the very near future, we’ll establish availability zones here in the Philippines. We’re committed to harnessing all our capabilities and resources to ensure that Huawei Cloud doesn’t just soar in the digital skies but stays firmly grounded, close to you!”
In summary, the Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 was an unequivocal success, leaving a lasting impact on the Philippine financial industry. As the summit came to a close, it was evident that this dynamic collaboration had set the stage for a new era of financial excellence in the Philippines, driven by the power of the cloud.
Speakers Quotes
Chester Velasco, Vice President, Head of IOCS, UnionBank
“Our journey with Huawei Cloud is not just about immediate gains; it’s about building a foundation for long-term success. The hybrid cloud approach offers the scalability required to accommodate future growth, ensuring Unionbank remains agile and responsive as customer needs evolve.”
Samuel Tan, Country Manager, Philippines at Sunline
“Through a dual-core transformation strategy integrating legacy and digital cores, enhanced by cloud hosting, banks can now revolutionise digital finance to meet customer demands securely and efficiently.”
Mary Cheung, Vice President, Business management, Akulaku
“It is a epitome of technology aiding creativity, a testament to the power of partnership, and a collaboration that we can learn, grow and inspire together.”
Michael Calma, Country Manager, Philippines, AdvanceAI
As a young, but amply funded start-up, we need to relentlessly focus on product-market-fit if we are to be successful in a fast growing market such as the Philippines. As Advance.AI, this involves customer-focused innovation and partnerships in localizing global AI technology and best practices into the Philippine context.
Haekal Aufar Amriel, Technical Consultant Manager at Seclron
“In this interconnected world, let’s prepare today to secure tomorrow. Mobile app usage has accelerated over the years, and it is now time to help everyone safeguard against the evolving cybersecurity threats in the digital landscape.”
Elaine Cheong, Head of Marketing at TrustDecision
“In an era of abundant information but scarce trust, we stand as a beacon of reliability and authenticity. We build a global trusted intelligence network for businesses to combat fraud, deliver comprehensive credit risk analytics and ensure compliance with regulations.”
Clarisse Raymundo, Fintech Account Head, Philippines at Wiz.AI
“Harness AI-powered omnichannel customer engagement that impacts customer experience, agent performance, and overall business outcomes with Wiz.AI.”
