“Banking is part of the transformation process in PNG as banks play an important role in the creation of new capital, help the economic growth process and in turn transform the nation,” said BSP Group Chief Operating Officer, Frank van der Poll.
Mr van der Poll in delivering the keynote address to open the two-day Certified Practicing Accounts (CPA) PNG & CPA Australia (PNG Branch) 25th Annual Conference today, Thursday 18th November 2021, in Port Moresby, said while banks are part of the country’s transformation process, the sector is undergoing transformation as well.
“The FinTech ecosystem has become a real competitive force in the banking industry, forcing banks to transform. To address those challenges BSP Financial Group Limited, the leading financial service provider in the country, formed the Digital Strategic Business Unit with the aim to drive Digital transformation not just within BSP but ultimately with the aim to transform the way people bank in the nations in which we operate. Digital transformation within BSP Financial Group means, first of all, rethinking of the customer experience, which underlies a customer oriented strategy. It is necessary to automate and personalise the entire customer journey to ensure retention, customer satisfaction and business sustainability.
The collaboration of banks and FinTechs has the advantage of taking best practices and knowledge with the aim to improve people’s financial lives and ensuring that the unbanked become financially included. It is only natural to collaborate if we consider that each one is missing what the other one can offer. Banks learn more about technologies and technology companies need to know more about banking itself”.
‘Managing the disruption: Financial Impact and Economic Downturn’ is the theme of the conference which saw 600 participants join the conference virtually with close to 200 participants attending in person today.
President of CPA Australia (PNG Branch) Ronesh Dayal, who is also BSP’s Group Chief Financial Officer, said in his welcome remarks that the impact of Covid-19 had meant that we could not hold the conference last year therefore this year’s conference presents a unique opportunity for accountants to reconnect as a profession for collaboration and learning.
“The theme of the conference highlights the vital role we all play in accounting and finance to support businesses in their road to recovery. However, Covid-19 is not the only cause of disruption in our profession. Automation and artificial intelligence, digital currencies, emerging technologies and the ever-changing economic environment also pose challenges to the profession. All of these factors will continue to transform the profession and we, in turn, need to be able to continually upgrade and transform ourselves, to keep up to these changes, and grasp the opportunities that come with the challenges,” Mr Dayal said.
BSP has been supporting this event since 1992 with over a million kina in sponsorship, and a major sponsor of the event to date. This year was no exception, BSP is proud to be supporting the CPA PNG Annual Conference again with K50,000 to CPA for three conferences held in June, August and November in Kokopo, Lae and Port Moresby respectively.
BSP has over 100 Certified Practicing Accountants within the organisation and is pleased to be part of an event that enhances continuous professional development through such programs.
Over 12,000 participants have attended the conference in the last five years and CPA PNG membership continues to grow attracting graduates and raising the quality of CPA PNG reputation – 112 of which are BSP employees.
BSP as the biggest financial & banking institution in PNG and the Pacific assists not only the Accounting profession in such events, but other professions in Human Resources, Auditors, Health, Education and Sports, and continue with its Community Project Initiatives. BSP also support environment strategies through its Go Green events and initiatives and also makes donations to Orphanages and Charity Organisations amongst others.
