FIRST by Hang Seng Bank’s merchant partners, from dining, beauty service and cosmetics, to entertainment. Some of limited-time-and-quantity offers were exclusively sent to DORI users when paying with Hang Seng credit cards, and the business result has been “encouraging” with most offers being fully redeemed quickly, according to Margaret Kwan, executive director and head of retail banking and wealth management of Hang Seng Bank.
BRACE YOURSELVES FOR LOW PAY HIKES
Salary increases in Hong Kong will be moderate in 2018 with 49% of firms planning to offer salary increases from between 3% to 6%, down 1% from the actual reported in 2017 according to recruitment firm Hays. Meanwhile, 22% of employers this year plan to offer salary bumps of more than 6% in the year ahead. Employers will also remain cautious on increasing headcount, with only 43% intending to do so in 2018, a small improvement from the 39% in 2017, even as the number of employers expecting the economy to strengthen further in 2018 rose 9 percentage points to 20%. “For candidates, these conditions represent something of a challenge,” said Dean Stallard, managing director of Hays Hong Kong, citing the firm’s latest Salary Guide survey. “Those staying in a job are likely to see only modest salary increases whilst those changing employers have a better chance of securing a higher salary, but there is likely to be fewer new jobs coming to market.” Candidates’ best bet is to do ample research in the developments in their sector to gauge their bargaining power either for a salary raise or a new hire package. It is also critical to look into the skills that are in great demand, for which employers will be willing to pay a higher premium. “A preoccupying worry for many employers in Hong Kong is the continuing skills shortages issue in the territory that is also a prevailing theme across the Asia region,” said Stallard noting that 89% employers still believe that skills shortages will hamper the effective operations of their businesses, only 2% down from the previous year. In Hong Kong, employers reported that the hardest roles to recruit for are for entry up to middle management IT roles (27%), entry up to middle management accountancy & finance roles (19%) and entry up to middle management engineering roles (18%). 6
HONG KONG BUSINESS | MARCH 2018
HARO covers the mortgage, personal loan, credit card, and medical insurance and travel insurance services.
Hong Kong banks bust out the chatbots
W
hen HSBC launched its chatbot Amy to answer general enquiries from its commercial banking customers in January last year, it did not take long for the bank to realise that its pioneering initiative was a home run - and for other banks to follow suit. By December 2017, or just a year after its debut, Amy was able to answer 97,000 questions with a 90% success rate and hold 38,000 customer conversations. HSBC said that Amy’s popularity, as shown in the volume of interactions, revealed a customer preference to interact with an easy-to-use chatbot. A year after Amy launched, Hang Seng Bank debuted its own chatbots, a pair named HARO and DORI. HARO covers the mortgage, personal loan, credit card, and medical insurance and travel insurance services. It is designed to analyse customer enquiries, say on policy coverage of travel insurance, and subsequently provide relevant product and service information. Meanwhile, DORI makes recommendations on offers provided
Amy was able to answer 97,000 questions with a 90% success rate and hold 38,000 customer conversations.
Nascent technology Kwan reckoned chatbots are still a nascent technology for retail banking, but expects the new generation of digital savvy banking clients to shift to the chatbot as their preferred mode of interaction. She explained that chatbots appeal to the new customer profile: Uses mobile frequently, is comfortable with self-assistance, prefers texting to calls, demands service at their fingertips, and expects real-time feedback for their enquiry. “Compared with the traditional way of displaying banks’ products and offers via static webpage, chatbots like HARO and DORI will become more popular, as they offer a more interactive way to provide customers with relevant information through smartphone devices,” said Kwan. Standard Chartered also plans to roll out a chatbot in the second quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory approval. The bank expects the general enquiry service would be significantly shifted to chatbot post launch, said Vicky Kong, managing director, head of retail banking at Standard Chartered.“We’re operating in a competitive environment where expectations on client experience and innovation run high,” Kong added.
HSBC’s ASK AMY has answered 97,000 questions to date