Priscilla Ng

Priscilla Ng took on a role three years ago at Citi – which she had joined in 2001 – to drive digitization across the consumer bank. She has just left this month to join Prudential Hong Kong as its new chief customer and marketing officer, overseeing digital, marketing, product development, customer experience, and data.

She took the Citi role to change the way it operated its consumer bank, including credit cards, savings, investments and insurance. Although Citi is a global powerhouse, in Hong Kong it lacks the branch network and history of local rivals. So the bank competes digitally.

That meant partnerships, using the bank’s clout to provide merchants and consumers with value. Through APIs, Ng oversaw the bank’s partnerships with local retailers for digital payments and reward programs.

In fact, she sees a point when digital banking will become more powerful than branch networks. “In the past, banks depended on branches to open accounts with new customers, but now we can use facial recognition to open accounts and provide all kinds of services remotely.”

Technology has similarly evolved, from mainframes to more modular infrastructure, not just to support third-party partnerships through APIs but also internally, to create new services and adjust user interfaces quickly.

She says bankers have come a long way in a short time when it comes to appreciating things like customer experience. She wants to bring that experience to insurance, where she can integrate user experience into product development and claims, as well as grow partnerships and acquire new business leads.