Dubai: Emirates NBD expects to sustain double-digit growth in its retail and wealth management business for the full year, Suvo Sarkar, senior executive vice-president & group head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management, told Gulf News in an interview.
The bank reported a 10 per cent growth in retail loans and 15 per cent growth in fee incomes in the first nine months of the year.
“We expect to continue double-digit growth in all our loan products — personal loans, auto loans and mortgage loans,” Sarkar said. “We are also reaping the benefits of digitisation and innovation. Nearly 10 per cent of our new loans are now booked via online and mobile banking.”
The bank recently launched InstaLoan, the region’s first completely paperless and instant loan disbursal facility that is available 24/7.
For the first three quarters of this year, the bank reported a 15 per cent increase in fee income — largely driven by credit cards and forex income. The bank is confident on rising fee income as it has made significant investments in recent years in building a strong cards’ platform, a comprehensive wealth management proposition and competitive foreign exchange products. Payment volumes, on debit and credit cards, are growing at over 20 per cent per annum.
“Our wealth proposition covers mass affluent, affluent and high net-worth customers and we have recently expanded the platform beyond standard investment and insurance products to include structured products, derivatives trading and advisory [services]. All of these generate fee income,” Sarkar said.
International remittances
On forex, Sarkar said the bank’s Direct Remit platform for international remittances had helped grow remittance volumes by over six times in the past 15 months.
Going into 2016, Sarkar expects to see some moderation in consumer loans.
“On the demand side, the economic headwinds presented by the lower oil prices and the strong dollar might mean a lower demand of loans by customers,” he said. “On the supply side, a tighter liquidity regime in the region will mean banks will be more prudent in their lending policies.”
The bank is not overly concerned about reported impairments from small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SME).
“One in four of the SMEs in the country bank with us, and we provide them with a full suite of products and services that include transaction banking, forex, trade finance and credit. Less than 15 per cent of our SME customers are borrowing customers, and less than 30 per cent of our revenues from this segment come from credit. As such, rising impairments in the industry [are] much less of a concern to Emirates NBD,” Sarkar said.
Sarkar said the bank’s loan-loss rates in SME exposures were well within the bank’s risk appetite. He expects the bank to continue booking new lending business from existing and new SME customers.
Fact box: Counting on innovation
Emirates NBD has recently taken innovation to a new level by launching the Emirates NBD Fitness Account that turns health into wealth.
The Fitness Account is a mobile-based savings account that allows customers to earn higher interest on their balances linked to their level of physical activity.
Customers will earn interest of up to 2 per cent a year on their savings based on the number of steps that they walk or run daily.
Starting with a base rate of 0.25 per cent, interest rates start stepping up with the number of steps that customers take daily, climbing to 0.5 per cent as soon as they clock 5,000 steps, 1 per cent when they walk 8,000 steps and 2 per cent when they cross the 12,000-step mark.
The steps will be measured by an Apple Watch or other compatible fitness devices through the day.
