Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello, Busy Bees, and welcome to The Honeycomb, where we'll be breaking down trade secrets
00:10 of notable brands and businesses in Cebu.
00:12 I'm Clarissa Sevilla from Sunstar Cebu, and today we will be interviewing Christophe Malraer,
00:19 the Managing Director of Comark Thailand.
00:21 Now Comark Thailand is the regional headquarters for Southeast Asia, and they are planning
00:27 on expanding to the Philippines quite soon, which is why we are doing an interview with
00:31 them so that we can get to know Comark.
00:34 Now hi Christophe, good day to you.
00:37 Hi, thank you for having me.
00:41 Of course, it's our pleasure.
00:43 Now could you tell us please, what is your role in Comark, and as a whole, what does
00:48 Comark do?
00:49 So I'm Managing Director of Comark Thailand.
00:54 Comark Thailand is like our regional office for Southeast Asia.
01:00 Comark is a global IT vendor with headquarters in Europe, and most of the employees of Comark
01:12 are located in Europe.
01:14 But we have projects for clients in many countries, in all continents, and I'm responsible for
01:23 Southeast Asia markets.
01:26 In Comark we are delivering products to different industries, where banking is very important
01:32 for us, and today we are going to talk about wealth management, which is one of our products,
01:38 Comark Wealth Management, which we are trying to get more clients in Southeast Asia right
01:46 now.
01:47 Alright.
01:48 Now you mentioned wealth management.
01:51 Please tell us, what is wealth management?
01:54 Wealth management is a service that provides personalized investment and financial advice.
02:00 It can address all client segments, from fully self-service trouble advisory, an investment
02:06 plan for affluent and regular retail customers, to complex wealth proposal for high net worth
02:14 individuals and ultra high net worth individuals.
02:18 Wealth management aims to help clients preserve and grow their wealth over the long term by
02:25 offering various financial products and services tailored to their unique needs and goals.
02:31 Wealth managers work closely with their clients to understand their financial situation, investment
02:37 objective, risk tolerance, and other factors to create a customized investment strategy.
02:44 Oh, I see.
02:46 So it's all, it's sort of like financial advisement, right?
02:50 Yes.
02:51 Alright.
02:52 And regarding wealth management, how can you entice Filipinos in acquiring a wealth management
02:58 plan?
02:59 We all know that it's not for everybody, not everybody needs a wealth management plan.
03:04 How would you entice Filipinos into doing this?
03:07 What are the benefits of a wealth management plan?
03:10 So the main benefits of such a plan include professional management of client's wealth,
03:19 personalized investment advice, and access to a wide range of financial products.
03:24 Wealth management can help clients achieve their financial goals and secure the future.
03:31 Okay.
03:32 Now, bringing it back to contextualizing this into a Filipino setting, how would you entice
03:39 Filipinos into acquiring a wealth management plan?
03:45 Yes.
03:46 So, actually by explaining the benefits that I just mentioned.
03:52 So if they have this kind of needs, would like to have personalized advice and would
04:00 like to have this access to wide range of financial products.
04:05 So this solution is perfect for them.
04:07 Alright.
04:08 Thank you for that.
04:09 Now, you mentioned solutions, right?
04:12 What are the different types of financial services or products offered in wealth management?
04:18 So wealth management typically involves a range of financial services and products,
04:23 including financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, or insurance, or risk
04:30 management among others.
04:32 These services and products are tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual
04:39 client.
04:40 I see.
04:41 I see.
04:42 And do you believe that the banking industry in the Philippines is ready and equipped for
04:47 your services?
04:49 So the banking industry in the Philippines is rapidly evolving and embracing digital
04:55 transformation, which presents an opportunity for wealth management providers like Comarch,
05:02 while some banks may be more prepared than others to adopt our services.
05:09 We work closely with our clients to understand their specific needs and tailor our solutions
05:15 accordingly.
05:16 I see.
05:17 So you've mentioned several times that your wealth management plans are always tailored
05:25 to suit the needs of your customers, yes?
05:29 Now, as you've mentioned before, the world is rapidly evolving.
05:34 How do you stay up to date with changes in the financial markets and the investment industry?
05:40 So at Comarch, we invest a lot in research and development.
05:44 We work closely with our clients and partners.
05:47 We participate in industry events and conferences and leverage our global experience and expertise.
05:54 Okay, I see.
05:58 Next question is, what can Comarch offer in the banking industry of the Philippines in
06:02 terms of wealth management?
06:05 So Comarch can offer a range of wealth management solutions and services to banks and other
06:11 financial institutions in the Philippines.
06:14 Our wealth management platform provides a single integrated view of portfolios, full
06:21 functionality for mobile investment, and monitoring of portfolios.
06:26 We also offer tools for portfolio modeling, risk assessment, and compliance monitoring
06:34 to help banks make more informed investment decisions.
06:39 Additionally, our solution can help banks streamline their operations, enhance customer
06:45 experience and improve relationship manager capabilities.
06:52 Okay.
06:54 And regarding relationships, how do you build a long-term rapport with your clients and
07:00 what role do communication and personalized services play in this?
07:05 So at Comarch, we prioritize building long-term relationship with our clients by providing
07:11 personalized services and solutions tailored to their needs and goals.
07:17 Effective communication is critical to build this relationship.
07:21 We work closely with our clients to understand their needs and provide ongoing support and
07:27 training to ensure they are delighted with our solutions.
07:32 We also regularly gather client's feedback to improve our offerings and strengthen our
07:38 relationship with them over time.
07:40 Okay, that's nice because we always believe, I believe in every industry, it's always important
07:46 to build a long-term rapport with your clients, right?
07:49 Because it helps you in the long run as well.
07:52 You earn their trust and they are more inclined to use your services or recommend them to
07:58 other people as well, right?
08:01 Exactly.
08:02 Actually, we have very good products and projects, for example, in Thailand.
08:09 When we completed recently wealth management implementation for Krung Sea Bank in Thailand,
08:16 and I'm happy to talk about good cooperation with Comarch to other banks in the region.
08:24 That's great.
08:25 Now, how can, bringing this back, so we were talking about big companies, we were talking
08:29 about banks.
08:30 Now let's go smaller.
08:33 Let's talk about individuals and families.
08:35 How can wealth management help with an individual or a family's financial future?
08:42 So wealth management provides expert guidance and personalized strategies to help clients
08:48 achieve their financial goals.
08:51 For example, by creating a financial plan tailored to the individual or family's unique
08:58 needs and goals, or providing investment advice to help grow wealth and manage risk, or providing
09:05 retirement planning services to help ensure a comfortable retirement.
09:12 By working with a wealth manager, individuals and families can access expertise and resources
09:20 that's not be available for them otherwise.
09:24 It can help them make more informed financial decisions, mitigate risk, and achieve long-term
09:30 financial goals.
09:32 Okay.
09:33 I'd like to ask, is there a specific minimum annual income that you need to have before
09:41 you need to pursue a wealth management plan?
09:43 Actually, it all depends because there are different client segments and the solution
09:50 can be used to support different client segments, as I said at the very beginning, from even
09:58 affluent and normal retail clients.
10:04 Many banks offer some more simpler products for this client as well.
10:11 In that case, this level of money that you should have might be not that big, but there
10:18 are also some more sophisticated products for these high network individuals or even
10:25 ultra high network individuals.
10:28 In that case, banks have some special requirements that this specific level of money has to be
10:38 able to qualify to this client segment.
10:41 Oh, I see.
10:42 So it's regardless of your annual income, if you decide to pursue a wealth management
10:48 plan with Comark, then you can, because as mentioned earlier, it's tailored to the needs
10:54 of every individual.
10:55 And that includes other people regardless of their current income.
10:59 Yes, actually, there is one important thing.
11:02 Our products are not dedicated for retail clients, it is dedicated for banks.
11:10 And banks are using our platform to offer their products and their services to banks
11:16 clients, retail clients and other clients.
11:20 So, just this.
11:22 So actually, it's up to bank decision, what is the strategy and what are these segmentation
11:30 of clients, how they would like to organize it.
11:33 Oh, I see.
11:35 So it's not necessarily Comark being the financial advisors, you are just a platform for the
11:43 financial advisors to use in their services, yes?
11:47 Yes, definitely.
11:48 Our clients for these products are banks and some other financial institutions that can
11:56 provide wealth management services for their clients.
12:00 And we are providing technology for them.
12:03 Ah, alright.
12:04 So moving on to our next question, thank you so much for clarifying that.
12:10 What is the role of technology in modern wealth management?
12:13 How does Comark revolutionize this?
12:16 So technology can help wealth managers provide their clients with better quality services.
12:24 Comark is a technology company that specializes in providing software solutions for banks.
12:30 Our software is designed to help wealth managers offer their clients more efficient, personalized
12:37 and effective services.
12:40 Comark's wealth management software includes digital account management, automated investment
12:46 advice, data analytics and mobile access.
12:50 Wealth managers can streamline their operations using Comark software, improve client engagement
12:57 and provide better clients outcome.
13:00 Alright, so I believe those are our questions so far, but I'd just like to do a quick follow-up.
13:08 You mentioned that you're currently in Thailand, yes?
13:12 And your operation is almost finished there.
13:15 Where are you moving to next?
13:19 And when are you going to be in the Philippine market?
13:21 Okay, actually it's not exactly like this, that my operation is almost finished in Thailand,
13:29 yes?
13:30 I moved to Bangkok six years ago and since that time we built a regional competence center
13:39 for Southeast Asia where we are supporting from Thailand all clients in the Southeast
13:45 Asia market, yes?
13:48 And right now we are providing different kind of products also in the Philippines, yes?
13:52 But for some other products offering by Comark.
13:59 But right now we would like to focus on this wealth management and promoting this product
14:05 to different markets.
14:06 So as I mentioned before, we successfully completed projects for one of the biggest
14:12 banks in Thailand, it was Krunxi Bank.
14:16 We are now starting the project in Malaysia with one of the local banks in Malaysia for
14:22 wealth management.
14:23 And we believe that the Philippines is also a very interesting market for this kind of
14:30 products and we would like to find clients on this market for wealth management product
14:37 as well.
14:38 Right, is there a timeline that you can tell us, let's say the last quarter of 2023, first
14:45 quarter of 2024?
14:48 So it is like this, that discussion about this kind of project takes some time.
14:53 We are ready to start it even now.
14:56 So if any bank will be interested to talk, so please contact us and we can organize a
15:03 dedicated meeting anytime.
15:05 Okay, thank you so much Christoph.
15:11 Thank you as well for inviting banks to contact you if they are interested in your services.
15:15 We needed that, that was going to be my next instruction for you.
15:21 Okay, so that's all for now Busy Bees.
15:26 We had Christoph Malraer, the Managing Director of Comark Thailand, the Regional HQ of Comark
15:32 for Southeast Asia.
15:34 Christoph, thank you so much for choosing Sunstar Cebu and Busy Bees as your platform
15:39 to promote your services to the rest of the Philippines.
15:44 Thank you very much.
15:45 Thank you very much and Busy Bees, send us a message if you want to see your business
15:51 featured on the next Busy Bees.
15:53 Once again, this is Clarissa from Sunstar Cebu.
15:59 It's 6 a.m.
16:00 Some folks are rushing to face the day.
16:03 There are challenges to tackle.
16:05 There's hardly ever room for taking a breath.
16:08 It's a good thing to have someone see through the chaos of starting things up.
16:13 Someone like you, a caring investment advisor who helps the young and bold grow their money.
16:21 Once they start growing it, the hectic part is no more.
16:25 They don't speed, they cruise.
16:28 They plan three moves ahead because you taught them to.
16:32 They mature along with their investments.
16:34 They enjoy what they have and it only wets their appetite.
16:39 That's when they think of you as their ally in growing their wealth even further and that
16:45 feels good.
16:48 When you let them get a bird's eye view of their money, they get to make the best investments.
16:54 That's why your clients have you in the first place.
16:57 That's why they trust you because they know they're set and ready for what's ahead no
17:03 matter who they are and how they change.
17:06 That's how relationships are built.
17:09 Comarc Wealth Management.
17:14 Build relationships that last.
17:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]