Santiago Castro
Chief Data Officer at FBN Bank (UK) Limited
None of FBN Bank’s success in making technology work for it would be possible without a good leader. When asked about his approach to leadership, Mr Castro sees his role in a similar way as he views the role of technology: to bring the best out of people. “I like that idea of facilitation. I think that it comes from having a vision and saying: this is where we have to work together, understand their concerns, understand their views, understand their context, and see what are their strengths and skills are. Then we can leverage them”.
He expands on his idea of what makes a good leader with another metaphor. “We often talk about artificial intelligence. I prefer saying augmented intelligence. For me, when we talk about technology and data, I use the metaphor of playing chess. You can be a better chess player than me - your brain may be able to compute five, seven, nine moves ahead - but if I have a computer with me that helps me model scenarios and look at possible moves, my computer will do hundreds. I may be very dumb, but I can look at those hundreds of moves, and with the computer I can beat you. And that is the idea of augmented intelligence. Augmented intelligence is bringing in technology as an ally. I think that is kind of my style: it’s really about helping people, empowering them to realise their own capabilities”.
We see digital, interoperability and STP as the core of servicing end-to-end client business use cases in corporate and private banking. Oracle’s digital, process-flow driven, user-persona based and interoperable offerings help FBN to navigate complex banking transactions, and help our clients have a consistent experience across the UK and Africa. This puts FBN Bank UK at a great competitive advantage.
In these challenging last few months, FBN Bank has been able to make full use of the technology that Mr Castro has introduced. It allows his team not just to keep their heads above water, but to stay one move ahead - and look to the future with positivity.
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