Q1: Reflecting on 2025, what were your bank’s major milestones from an operational perspective, and how did you achieve them? Conversely, what were the setbacks and challenges encountered along the way, and what measures were taken to surmount them? How have those lessons shaped your 2026 strategy?

2025 was a defining year for us because we completed the most ambitious phase of our Wealth Operations Automation and Transformation Programme, a strategic effort launched in 2022 to standardise, simplify and digitise our end-to-end operating environment. This programme has delivered measurable outcomes in scalability and resilience, enabling increased volumes processed by fewer headcount. 

Like any large-scale transformation, we required significant internal communications to align processes, harmonise platforms, and introduce new ways of working across markets. Implementing the programme has reinforced the importance of proactive communication and collaboration with our frontline teams and in-market change champions. These insights will guide the execution of our priorities in 2026 as we shift from automation to intelligent orchestration, extend digital capabilities to new channels, and deepen global standardisation to create a single, interoperable operating backbone across our markets.

Q2: . The cost-to-income ratio is a key metric for assessing bank performance. What range do you consider optimal, and how is the bank managing the cost side—across investments, real estate, and other operating expenses—to maintain efficiency and competitiveness in the region?

Instead of anchoring a single cost-to-income ratio, our focus is on delivering operational alpha: achieving productivity gains that allow the business to grow faster than our costs. This has been the overarching theme of our transformation over the past three years. 

We do this by scaling through technology and redesigning the operating model. Guided by a disciplined agenda, we absorbed rapidly growing volumes whilst keeping the processing headcount constant. This allows us to stay competitive as we continue to invest in growing the business and delivering superior client experiences.

Q3: With regulatory requirements continually evolving, private banks are reassessing their compliance systems and processes. From an operational perspective, what are the biggest challenges you face in meeting these requirements, and how is the bank tackling them to maintain both efficiency and client trust?

Regulatory expectations across suitability, reporting, digital assets, fraud prevention, and third-party risk management continue to rise. The biggest challenge is not any single rule set, but the pace, diversity, and interconnectedness of regulatory change across markets. 

We address this through a unified operating model that embeds compliance, resilience, and control into the way our processes are designed and executed. By integrating regulatory requirements directly into automated workflows and ensuring both internal systems and external partners adhere to consistent, globally aligned standards, we reduce fragmentation and strengthen end-to-end oversight. 

This approach will be reinforced by strong third-party risk governance, round-the-clock monitoring and proactive incident management models that help us detect and resolve issues before they affect clients. Taken together, these capabilities will allow us to meet rising regulatory demands with greater speed and accuracy, while delivering a stable, transparent experience that upholds client confidence and supports scalable growth.