Businesses always look to develop a bleeding edge, ‘silver bullets’, or reinvent the wheel. Ventures that succeed in their endeavors often have a diversity of success factors, with dynamic leadership being one of them. livi bank has undeniably carved a niche for itself with its spectacular breakthroughs as one of the pioneers in the digital banking space. livi is the first bank to introduce the revolutionary livi PayLater (“Buy Now, Pay Later”) to Hong Kong and is gaining popularity among its customers. It also introduced the Mochi NFT artwork collectible, an innovative way to show appreciation to supportive customers.
As Hong Kong’s leading lifestyle-driven virtual bank, livi bank aims to provide customers with a unique, fresh, and different banking experience anytime and anywhere that complements their everyday lives. The bank is dedicated to promoting financial inclusion by introducing new financing and insurance products that serve customers’ needs both in their personal and business lives and by providing financial options for Hong Kong’s SMEs.
Gary Lam: a Tech Leader Aspires to Bring Positive Changes
It is remarkable that livi has undergone exceptional developments and provided distinctive values to those on the ground. Mr. Gary Lam, livi bank’s Chief Technology Officer, is one of the leaders behind these projects. Gary’s incredible career spans more than 20 years, and throughout that time, he has worked on several financial technology initiatives and led sizable IT teams across the Asia-Pacific region.
Gary made changes to the bank’s IT infrastructure and digital offerings, with an emphasis on improving the customer experience. His leadership approach involves empowering his team to cultivate a climate of trust and responsibility and supporting their professional growth. He values forging close bonds with his team members, hearing their thoughts, and working together to accomplish common goals. Through encouraging innovation and nurturing growth, Gary has been a successful leader who fosters a happy and productive atmosphere for his team. Gary started his career with Microsoft as an Associate Consultant after graduating with a degree in computer engineering. He gained valuable expertise working on several key projects. Later, he moved into the banking and insurance sectors, where he restructured several major banks using agile approaches. He contributed to offering WeChat banking for corporate clients, developing blockchain-powered trade finance systems and global trade tracking applications.
Before joining livi as Chief Technology Officer, Gary was Morgan Stanley’s Executive Director and Head of Digital and Platform Architecture for the Private Wealth Management business. Prior to that, he worked for major banks like HSBC and JP Morgan as Head of Program Management and led Agile Transformation in the APAC region.
The Open Workplace Culture Driven by Creativity and Innovation
At livi bank, Gary introduced an agile business model called Formula One (Fast, First, and Fearless) and an open culture that values diversity of thought and experimentation to inspire creativity and innovation while upholding a positive work environment.
By establishing a top-down vision and objective and encouraging the team to propose solutions, Gary empowered the team to succeed in their work. Within a year, livi bank’s IT team offered SME business banking, established an insurance gateway, and completed the retail banking journey .
The team has been encouraged to challenge the status quo in order to provide innovative solutions, and thus, they have significantly shortened the time to market, especially for delivering new products and services.
livi has a strong and dedicated team with extensive experience in finance and banking, as well as in the technology, commercial, and consumer sectors. The agile work methodology introduced by Gary leverages cross-functional teams to create a rapid and flexible customer – driven work environment.
Outstanding technology capabilities are fundamental to livi. The bank has built a strong digital platform with the flexibility to scale and is creating enhanced data capabilities that will act as drivers for the business. livi’s digital capabilities enable speed to market, personalized products and services, resource optimization, and a robust risk and governance infrastructure that can support customers.
livi bank has continually developed innovative solutions that systematically address customers’ pain points. One of the issues the financial sector is dealing with is the lack of useable data, which makes it challenging to efficiently provide customers with customized solutions like alternative data financing, precision marketing, and other specialized services.
To address these challenges, financial institutions like livi bank can expand their services and increase their accessibility to a larger variety of customers by utilizing technical solutions to reduce the marginal cost of each transaction. As a result, it may be simpler to monetize investments in financial inclusion through cost reduction and efficiency improvements.
The Business-centric Technologist: Making a Positive Impact in Fintech
Gary aspires to be a pioneering leader in the fintech sector, a business-focused technologist, and someone who drives digital transformation and develops cutting-edge technologies that enhance the consumer experience. He is recognized for his tenacity, business-centric approach to technology, and capacity to unite a diverse team to accomplish shared objectives.
Gary is dedicated to advancing innovation and enhancing the customer experience. He aims to continue advancing innovation at livi bank, expands the bank’s offerings and reach and takes part in the continuous transformation of the fintech sector in the coming years. To contribute to the long-term, sustainable economic growth of Hong Kong, he and the livi team are passionate about introducing GBA services. Gary intends to share cutting-edge ideas with nearby markets to advance the goal of becoming a global developer.
In addition to his professional achievements, he is committed to giving back to the community wherever possible and improving the lives of others. He will continue to lead the team to support Hong Kong’s community, advance the digital banking strategy and give underbanked customers access to high-quality services at competitive prices.
“By capitalizing the strategic location of Hong Kong and the talents of our local workforce, we aim to scale up digital banking opportunities to provide our customers with a seamless, enjoyable, and convenient banking experience.” Gary Lam