CEO SERIES - MOX BANK
Banking of the Future
HKUST MBA community members are always keen to learn from industry leaders and business innovators. On 21 January 2021, we had the privilege of holding a sharing session with Mr. Deniz Güven, CEO of Mox Bank, who explained how the Standard Chartered-backed virtual bank had turned into a reality.
Starting from the question, “What banking services would customers want?”, Deniz explained to MBA students and alumni how he and his team went on to build the virtual bank from scratch.
“Virtual banks are much more than a mobile app with a fancy interface”
It proved a fascinating journey, ranging from understanding customers’ pain points with traditional banking services to seeking joint-venture partners, recruiting talents, and finally obtaining a license. Mox was launched in September 2020.
Mr. Deniz Güven
CEO, Mox Bank
Virtual banks are much more than a mobile app with a fancy interface, according to Deniz. They emphasise services to customers over products, and being at the heart of customers’ daily lives and needs.
To understand their potential customers, Mox carried out large-scale ethnographic research at the outset, reaching out to 2,000 people from diverse backgrounds. This “insight-based” study enabled the start-up to comprehend people’s motivations and money usage behaviours, identify industry pain points, and create services to solve them.
One example is that Mox users can more easily manage their everyday spend and plan for future goals to get more from their money.
Mox is also the first bank in Hong Kong and in Asia to launch a numberless physical card for purchases and cash withdrawal. By eschewing card numbers, expiry dates, or card verification value (CVV), the Mox Card reduces the risk of losing personal information and has been welcomed in Hong Kong, Deniz said.
“Technologically, you can change, but the trust factor is vital”
Finding the right partners is essential for a virtual bank, as the business is built around a collaborative ecosystem that helps the bank make its products and services more relevant to users’ daily lives.
As such, Mox has established partnerships with PCCW, HKT, and Trip.com, given these firms’ well-established distribution channels and expertise in creating personalised services.
However, the virtual bank was deliberately built independent from Standard Chartered in order to leverage and bring together different technologies, establish different partnerships and create a new operating model.
Despite its strong technological orientation, Deniz emphasised that Mox is a licensed bank with a new operating model rather than a fintech company. “Banking is a trust business. Technologically, you can change, but the trust factor is vital,” he said.
