By no stretch of the imagination is the banking and financial services industry considered a hotbed of ICT/tech innovation and disruption; however, the National Commercial Bank Jamaica has been recognised as one of the most innovative banks in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nadeen Matthews Blair, the Bank’s Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, discusses ways in which NCB Jamaica fosters innovation, and an innovation culture, in such a conservative and regulated space.

 

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As much we might be hoping for tech innovation to take root across all segments of our society, one of the last bastions of tradition is the highly corporate private sector, such as the banking and financial services industry, which tends to approach change with extreme caution. Typically, that industry is regulated, and so must operate transparently, following clear procedures, with checks and balances, whilst also being subject to considerable oversight. However, in continuing the search to find guests for our innovation series, imagine my surprise when it was strongly recommended that I approach the National Commercial Bank in Jamaica.

With an employee base of around 2,700, the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited is the largest bank in Jamaica by assets. However, it is also considered one of the most innovative financial institutions in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and most recently, it has been recognised as, among other things, one of the best banks, and one of the safest banks in Latin America and the Caribbean (Source:  Global Finance).

In recent years, an important contributor to the accolades NCB Jamaica has received, is the a digital Agile Lab, which was established in 2017, and was the first in the English-speaking Caribbean (Source: International Banker). The Bank has also be holding innovation challenges and internships, all which suggest that a concerted effort is being made to foster digital innovation in a traditionally conservative environment.

Nadeen Matthews Blair

It was thus delightful to have an opportunity to speak with Nadeen Matthews Blair, the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer of NCB Jamaica, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the NCB Foundation. As the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Nadeen spearheads the Bank’s digital transformation programme. Hence, she was ideally placed to help us understand, among other things, the ways in which NCB Jamaica fosters innovation, and the extent to which it is imbued in its organisational culture, which was reflected in key questions we posed:

  1. What is Nadeen’s role at NCB Jamaica?
  2. What role does innovation play at NCB Jamaica?
  3. Why has NCB Jamaica chosen to actively foster innovation?
  4. What is Nadeen’s and the Bank’s views on fintech?
  5. How, or in what ways, has the Bank been fostering an innovation culture within the organisation?
  6. Has innovative thinking been systematised throughout NCB Jamaica? If yes, in what ways?
  7. How has the Bank managed change and resistance to innovation and agility within the organisation?
  8. What advice would Nadeen give a business about better fostering and integrating innovation in its organisation?

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  International Banker;  NCB Jamaica

Music Credit:  Ray Holman