Dubai: Retail banking business in the UAE is entering a boom phase as the economy is doing well and consumption is back on track, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, chief executive officer of Mashreq said on Thursday.
“While the pace of economic growth in the UAE picks up, adding further momentum to our business we see the banking sector in general and retail banking business in particular gaining from improving consumer confidence,” he said, on the sidelines of unveiling Mashreq’s E Cubed branch, a smart banking initiative in the Dubai Mall.
Al Ghurair expects the overall loan growth in the banking sector this year to exceed 4 per cent and the retail banking assets growth to be in the range of 8 to 10 per cent.
“Although our forecast for loan growth is more than 4 per cent for the full year, the real growth in banking assets this year could be bigger in the context of large loan repayments happening as many government-related entities (GREs) are paying off their big ticket loans and improved liquidity in the banking system is fuelling more new lending,” said Al Ghurair.
In a recent forecast, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said the UAE’s banking sector loan growth which languished in lower single digits during the last four years is seen picking up pace this year and it is projected to rise from 2.6 per cent in 2012 to 7.5 per cent in 2013.
Mashreq expects smart banking technologies to play a big role in its future expansion and asset growth.
The bank yesterday rolled out its smart banking initiative which offers banking products and services across various devices such as smart phones, tablets, computers and interactive touch screens installed across its new concept E Cubed smart branches.
“To start with we are rolling out the smart banking concepts across 12 branches. In all, eight smart branches will be operational by the end of this year. Eventually, the concept will be launched across all our main branches,” said Farhad Irani, Mashreq’s head of retail banking.
Mashreq expects to gain in market share and improved customer loyalty from better and transparent banking experience while redeploying human resource gain from the use of technology in further expansion.
“Our investment technology in front-end and back office is going to bring us savings in terms of human resources. Our objective is not to reduce the workforce, on the contrary we intend to increase it and redeploy the savings for business expansion,” said Al Ghurair.
The bank expects to see a big leap in technology innovation in the UAE’s banking business in the near future. “We expect to see more banks investing in similar technologies. While we have a headstart, going forward we expect to improve and update the technology and applications,” said Irani.
