Private Inspiration: Q&A with Vivien Jong of Asia BNP Paribas Wealth Management
Our Private Inspiration series recognizes and celebrates the triumphs of women in the world of private banking.
In this edition, we speak to Vivien Jong, Asia BNP Paribas Wealth Management’s Chief Digital Officer.
“Diversity by itself is not enough—it’s about different profiles, different types of thinking, and if you look for that, then the idea of diversity and inclusion comes naturally.”
Career
Current role
I’m in the wealth management business of BNP Paribas. Primarily, our customers are high net worth individuals & industry tycoons, and I manage the digital experience for our clients across APAC, to make online banking both a delightful and seamless experience.
Wealth management is a relationship business — it’s a very personal business model that is all about understanding the client’s needs, both their personal financial goals and aspirations. Digital is here to augment the relationship between clients and relationship managers, and that’s my core remit for wealth management.
Innovation is the other side of my role. The goal of the ‘Innovation Lab’ is to foster innovation throughout the bank, showing our clients that we are progressive and finding new ways to engage. My job is to innovate new ways to operate seamlessly in the new world.
Career highlights
The real highlight has been building a high-performance team, greater than the sum of its parts, prospering in every area, that can double up and help one another at any time.
Another one would be this new role at BNP Paribas. I was very comfortable in my previous roles, but there was no breathing space to do more. Then, it was as if I was always running on a treadmill. Here, I have been able to create new values for my team and myself. That extra time and space has allowed me to strategize & learn new skills such as design thinking, and introduce them to my team. The environment here also allows me to roll out design thinking to our colleagues bank-wide, in the format of 60-day challenges, helping us to time-box ourselves and focus on the problem discovery. This is highly transformational and assists in redefining culture – breaking down silos, bringing colleagues together in ways that have never existed before.
Career lowlight
The actions I took always led me to a better place. When I became a single parent, I did seriously considering quitting my job, I went to a mentor to ask for advice. He told me this: “You can’t have everything.” Did I want the money? The title? Or did I want the scope? Or do you want the brand? You have to choose one. I chose scope in the end because I wanted to stay true to what I believe in. It’s very hard to do something you don’t have faith in, it has to be something that you feel truly passionate about. Even in that difficult moment, that decision brought me to where I am today.
Personal
Out of office
I run five times a week because I’m trying to keep fit. I text my friends and invite them to exercise too because for me running is fun. I hike quite a bit. I love hiking. My two boys like hiking, but they say they nearly died when they went hiking with me in Vietnam!
Lockdown wind-down strategy
I read a lot. I have no specific topic. Novels, politics, tech, banking news—anything I can get my hands on.
The pandemic was tough for me. Last year was so sad globally, and we have all struggled quite a bit just to connect. We tried house parties over Zoom, which was a very strange experience.
I mostly tried to do the things that make me happy — to look for happy news and find ways I could help and be useful. One day, I decided to deliver some food to my entire team myself, and it felt good showing them love and care. But it also taught me that being a delivery person is a very tough job!
One personal objective this year
I have normal goals— to help myself, to break through in my career, to help my staff and my friends. But those are things I strive to naturally do. I think this would be a good year to finally learn cycling and swimming! My Dad told me I should start with cooking first.
Outlook
Response to the COVID-19 crisis
People have known that the digital space is important, but they never really felt it until the pandemic hit. Almost overnight, we saw a huge demand for the kind of work that my team and I do. Colleagues who have never turned towards digital before have reached out seeking help in identifying new ways of working and engaging.
It’s truly unfortunate that COVID-19 had to play a part in this digital transformation. Thankfully, we were able to get ahead of the game in January and February because we knew that clients would have problems and need information. Lots of it was outside of the digital realm including changing operational processes, but things needed to be done to support our clients. We also helped our colleagues in Europe with their clients, as the virus spread much faster than anyone could have predicted, by sharing helpful measures that were in place in Asia.
Trends this year
Green finance is going to be a key driver and this should be seen as a mass adoption of the concept. And in the same vein, CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is scheduled to be the next big thing, especially with regulators starting to explore digital currency. There are significant benefits to having a regulated digital currency, however, key would be the enforcement norms and a strong regulatory environment before we see an advent in our daily lives.
Greatest opportunities this year
The main trend in the consumer world is going to be electric vehicles. Green financing is likely going to change the world, alongside digital currency.
The role of technology
Machine learning will change the future of banking, and automation is the foundation of such development. There will be a lot of open wealth technology coming up, which means that we will see increasing partnerships between banks and technology companies. Maybe it would mean developing a “super app” where the client’s whole ecosystem can exist in their mobile phone. That also makes sense because those technology companies are leading the way in terms of security, and the more that the world of banking goes online, the higher the risk will be of fraud.
Inspiration
How banking can drive inclusivity
It is happening at the board level globally for big companies, but I don’t think this is enough. It doesn’t permeate down to the country level or the function level. It’s quite clear that it’s important to have different voices and perspectives. There are blind spots if you do not have a diverse team.
How individuals, companies, and society can drive change
You want to hire people who offer something you don’t have and who can complement what you do have. If you start thinking like that, you begin to hire differently. Diversity by itself is not enough—it’s about different profiles, different types of thinking, and if you look for that, then the idea of diversity and inclusion comes naturally.
As a leader, it is your job to bring out the best in your team. You can’t hire someone and expect them to just start running — you have to invest time to make sure they have the right information, tools and environment to perform.
Advice for your younger self
I would love to tell my younger self that I need to be nicer. I have not always been empathetic. I was all about work and the need for people to deliver, no matter what they were going through. My personal life has taught me that you have to understand the stories in people’s lives to support them.
I would also tell myself to be more careful with my career. It’s important to look at the scope of any job or opportunity. I am happy to have taken some risks, but I would advise myself to be more educated and more involved about the risks.
Lastly, I would tell myself to ask someone out for a cup of coffee when I needed advice. Until recently, I never had that ability, and I never really even thought about it until someone pointed out to me how valuable an opportunity it is to get some much-needed advice. It lets you leverage their wisdom and experience, and it means that you’re working smarter, not harder. I’m where I want to be now, but I could have gotten here smarter and faster if I had just asked for advice.
The information and opinions expressed herein reflect the opinion and views of the interviewee at the time of writing; they are not necessarily representative of the views of BNP Paribas.
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