Betting on People-First Banking

Changing the Game

For Yuen, the most profound change in banking is not digitalisation itself, but what it allows banks to become. The old advantage of a large branch network is giving way to a model built on speed, convenience and intelligent connectivity.

In the past, she says, a major bank’s strength came from having “the most extensive network” and “the most people”. Today, success is no longer only about physical reach. It is about “how fast we get in touch with you, and how we make your life convenient”.

She argues that digitalisation still has limits, especially when customers are making decisions about money, family and long-term security.

“Digitisation gives you timeliness and convenience,” she says, particularly for standardised and commoditised services. “But for complicated matters, customers still want a professional.”

This is why she notes the importance of a hybrid model in which technology handles basic tasks while people focus on high-trust conversations: mortgages, holistic investment planning, legacy arrangements and business growth.

“Technology simply replaces some very basic things,” she says, helping customers and bank staff work more efficiently.

The same philosophy applies to trust. Even in highly digital markets, Yuen notes that some technology companies have embraced offline contact because customers still want to see, touch and feel before making certain decisions. That contact, she says, “builds the credibility and it builds the trust”, even when the final transaction is completed through technology.

Inside the bank, she has pushed for collaboration across business lines, from investment banking and asset management to trust, securities and retail banking. The aim is to serve the customer as a whole person, rather than as a set of disconnected accounts.

“We serve one person, his family, the corporation, and ultimately the whole society,” she says.

In an industry often organised around silos and products, Yuen is organising banking around the customer’s life journey instead.

Shaping Tomorrow

Indeed, Yuen’s forward-looking agenda is anchored in three forces: fintech, the Greater Bay Area and data-driven personalisation.

Customers no longer compare banks with other banks. They compare them with every digital service in their lives.

“Customers today have higher expectations,” she says. “It’s 24x7.”

That reality has led China CITIC Bank International to adopt a mobile-first strategy, with more than 80 per cent of the bank’s banking transactions coming through mobile channels.

“You can lose your wallet, but you cannot lose your mobile phone today,” she says. “Because everything is on that.”

For her, this is a response to how people live, work and move, particularly in the fast-paced Greater Bay Area (GBA) in southern China.

The GBA is central to her view of the future. Yuen sees Hong Kong as both gateway and platform: international enough to connect businesses and investors with the world, and close enough to the mainland to understand the region’s growth, capital and wealth-management needs.

Her focus now stretches from individuals moving to Hong Kong under talent and residency schemes to SMEs and large corporations using the city as a launchpad.

“If you want to get access to the world, the first office could be in Hong Kong,” she says. “We can help them to land and then push further out.”

Another pillar is the internationalisation of the renminbi. Yuen sees Hong Kong as a leading offshore RMB centre, with growing relevance as companies seek funding, products and settlement solutions linked to the currency.

“Hong Kong is a very good platform,” she says. “If you want to get access to RMB, Hong Kong is getting more and more exciting in this arena.”

For SMEs, she believes the next five years will be defined by cross-border and multi-market business. Banks will need to provide payment gateways, digitalisation tools and cross-border solutions that allow smaller firms to operate beyond their home markets.

“As the world is more connected,” she says, “it’s actually the cross-border payment solution, digitalisation solution, the payment gateway, staying connected at every portal, that helps a company or SME do business.”

Data and artificial intelligence sit behind much of this strategy. Yuen says the bank is building capacity to use data and AI models to understand customers better and deliver solutions according to their needs.

But trust and safety cannot be afterthoughts, she says. Cybersecurity, biometrics and customer education remain part of the same proposition. So the priority for banks should be to “level up” and train their people, and sharpen the model to serve customers better.

Her vision is not fully automated finance, but augmented human judgment, with technology as an amplifier rather than a replacement.

Lessons That Last

Peeking under the hood of Yuen’s success and strategy, you see a set of deeply human convictions.

For her, continuous learning is not a slogan but a discipline.

“The world is changing every minute, and we need to stay updated,” she says. “I believe in continuous development and continuous education.”

She links that mindset to the acceleration of financial cycles. Information moves so quickly that professionals must stay agile and open.

Her second lesson is people-centric leadership. Having led frontline and client-facing teams, Yuen believes leadership begins with understanding individual motivations.

“You have to understand the whole universe,” she says, referring to the concerns and aspirations of different people and departments. Once leaders can connect with people, they can motivate them and align their focus in the same direction. And this goes beyond colleagues to customers and society, too.

“You need to understand society to understand your customers,” she says. Every person is connected to the wider population through families and communities. Understanding that context makes a banker’s perspective more complete.

For young professionals entering finance, her final advice is direct: stay positive, curious and agile. Curiosity keeps people excited, while agility gives them the flexibility to adapt.

“Positivity is the key,” she says. Challenges and downtimes are inevitable, but positivity provides the secret to recovery.

Finally, she advises the next generation to keep challenging themselves. Growth, she says, comes from courage, movement and the willingness to try something unfamiliar.

“Keep yourself updated with all the news,” she says. Social media summaries are not enough. Professionals need to read from real sources and develop their own analysis.

In an era of digital disruption, a combination of ambition, humility and people-first pragmatism will be key. The future of banking belongs not to technology alone, but to those who use it to serve people better, she concludes.