Travelogue 1: My recollections meeting senior bankers in Papua New Guinea

Travelogue #1:

It was my first visit to Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea (PNG), and I must say, traveling there was quite a challenge. It took me 24 hours to reach Port Moresby from Dubai, including a 6-hour stopover in Hong Kong.
Port Moresby is the vibrant heart of PNG, a country with a population of around 10 million. PNG’s economy is heavily reliant on extractive industries like mining, oil, gas, and agriculture.

Challenges in the Banking Sector:

1. Access to Services: While Port Moresby has a higher concentration of banking services, many rural areas across PNG still lack access to formal financial institutions. This creates a significant disparity, with the majority of banking branches located in urban centers.
2. Financial Inclusion: A large portion of PNG’s population remains unbanked. However, both the government and the private sector are actively promoting greater financial inclusion through digital and mobile banking solutions to reach underserved communities.
3. Infrastructure: The geographical challenges in PNG make the expansion of traditional banking infrastructure difficult. However, the development of digital and mobile banking is bridging the gap and providing more accessible services.
   Credit Bank’s Remarkable Achievement:

In this context, what Credit Bank has achieved is nothing short of remarkable. They have leveraged our platform to enable PNG customers with a valid mobile number, passport, or driver’s license to digitally self-onboard. Once onboarded, customers can add their debit or credit cards to the Credit Bank digital wallet, allowing them to use tap-and-pay services at merchant locations.
This end-to-end, seamless customer journey is completely frictionless. It’s no surprise that many customers have taken to social media to share their positive experiences, and the feedback has gone viral.

One customer wrote on social media, and I quote:

“It was fascinating to see all the AI technologies integrated into the systematic process—from image-to-text recognition to automated PIN generation, two-factor authentication, facial recognition, and more. The fully integrated system works as ONE! The biggest flex? I didn’t even have to visit the bank; I used the Credit Bank application downloaded from the Google Play Store.”

Amazing, right?

I had the privilege of attending a town hall during the public launch of Credit Bank, hosted by Danny Robinson (CEO), Sumeet Kumar (CTO), and the senior management team. Danny described Credit Bank as a digital disruptor in PNG, and based on their vision and plans, I can confidently say that the best is yet to come.

Congratulations to Credit Bank and their team—I wish them continued success! Leaving you with some pictures from the launch.

Author – Rajesh Saxena – CEO, iGCB, Intellect Design Arena

Banking leader with over 35 years of experience in retail banking including distribution, digital banking, and branch banking with special expertise in credit cards, Personal loans, and other unsecured lendings. Prior to joining Intellect, Rajesh, was the CEO of American Express, India, and was responsible for running the credit card business in India. Prior to AMEX, he worked with Citibank for 19 years across geographies in various banking roles with the last 10 years spent in managing product and country P&L’s.