Ask The Expert: Dr. Stella Mourouzidou Damtsa

Dr. Stella Mourouzidou Damtsa is Manager of Segments and Propositions at the Bank of Cyprus PCL where she has held a variety of senior roles over the last 33 years. She currently oversees segments, analytics, loyalty, CRM, and business intelligence.

Dr Stella took part in the panel discussion at iFX EXPO in Cyprus, moderated by Muinmos’ CEO, Remonda Kirketerp-Møller, entitled ‘Regulatory Waves: Steering Through FinTech’s Evolving Seas’. Here she elaborates on the bank’s commitment to maintaining compliance while fostering innovation.

How is the Bank of Cyprus adapting its segments and propositions in response to evolving regulatory requirements?

As a business team, we have strategic partners with our compliance and legal teams.  From the very inception of a new project, these teams are integrated.  They sit on the project steering committees and working groups, ensuring we can innovate without compromising regulatory adherence.    

What role do customer–centric approaches play in driving compliance and innovation simultaneously?

To ensure that our approach is customer-centric, our starting point in every project is what our customers expect from us.  Customers today expect excellent products and services tailored to their needs.  So, we leverage advanced analytics and big data to build products and value propositions relevant to customers – from mobile applications, through to financial literacy programme and a loyalty scheme which sends a message to our customers that they are valued, appreciated and not taken for granted.

With the rise of digital banking and fintech innovations, how is the Bank of Cyprus leveraging technology to streamline compliance processes while maintaining high standards of customer service and satisfaction?

The Bank of Cyprus invests tens of millions of Euros yearly in technology.  To streamline compliance processes, we launched a number of initiatives including:

1. Digital onboarding: After a customer onboards, the regulation demands that they update their data regularly.  We have leveraged technology to identify when the customer data needs to be updated, and the customer gets a notification on their mobile app so that can do the update online at their convenience.
2. Machine learning and Artificial intelligence are employed to detect patterns by analysing large datasets to address compliance issues and mitigate risks proactively.
3. Technologies offering real-time updates on regulatory changes, reducing the costs and complexities associated with compliance. This is especially important with geopolitical tensions and sanctions in place, which we need to abide by to protect the integrity of the global financial system, remain compliant, resilient and healthy for all customers who trust us with their business.
4. Data and marketing analytics and predictive modelling allow us to understand customer behaviour and assist in identifying potential compliance issues before they arise.
5. Quick Loans: our customers can obtain a line of credit of up to 25,000 Euros, using their mobile app.  The app automatically identifies the necessary compliance steps for each customer, allowing the entire process to be completed digitally, without the need to visit a branch.

The employment environment is changing, banks are changing, and customer needs are changing.  To stay relevant, we need to change and adapt while at the same time innovating and leading.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities for collaboration between traditional financial institutions and fintech start-ups in navigating regulatory challenges and driving industry-wide innovation?

The biggest opportunities for collaboration lie in leveraging each other’s strengths—traditional banks’ regulatory expertise and fintechs’ technological innovation.  By working together, banks and fintechs can create a more dynamic, secure, and customer-centric financial ecosystem.  Another significant and possibly unique advantage of traditional banks is that they have the data.  Data is wealth for a company, especially fintechs, because you can use it to identify trends, patterns, and predictive analytics models for marketing and risk management.