Siam Commercial Bank and Publicis Sapient tie-up to launch fintech entity SCB Tech X

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Publicis Sapient have partnered to launch SCB Tech X. According to the Groupe, SCB Tech X is one of the largest fintech entities in Southeast Asia, and is a cloud-native platform-as-a-service business that will serve clients throughout Southeast Asia.

SCB Tech X touts itself to provide not only innovative banking services, such as loan products and checking and savings accounts, but also non-banking services such as food delivery, health and wellness content and online travel booking to commercial institutions and consumers throughout the region.

The joint venture, which will start out with 1,200 employees collectively, will be held 60% by SCB and 40% by Publicis Sapient. Trirat Suwanprateeb, SCB’s senior EVP and CTO, will become CEO of SCB Tech X, and Jonathan Sharp, MD at Publicis Sapient Southeast Asia, will join the new venture as CTO.

Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, said after recording double-digit growth in recent quarters and significant wins in financial services, retail, energy and hospitality, Publicis Sapient continues its global expansion and demonstrates its ability to partner with its clients to deliver innovative business solutions and scale in new, fast-growing geographies.

Meanwhile, Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, added that SCB Tech X is paving the way for a new class of technology companies built with the express purpose of helping financial institutions and other industries reinvent how they provide value to their customers.

“This is a pivotal moment for personal finance and eCommerce globally, but particularly in Southeast Asia, where the market is growing exponentially. Our collaboration with SCB brings to bear the talent, expertise and world-class technology of both organisations and results in a new business that operates at the speed of a digital native and is poised to usher in the next generation of banking," he said.

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