Renewed retail focus to attract new customers
Looking at the growing business opportunities in the retail segment, Bank of Baroda has plans to increase its retail exposure in the UAE through innovative products and services this year, said Vineet Kumar Dudeja, chief executive, GCC operations.
In a recent move, the bank has tied up with property developer Danube to offer mortgages at very competitive rates. Going forward, Dudeja said the bank has more such offers in the pipeline.
“The UAE’s economic expansion is on sound footing. With large number of infrastructure projects already under way and more in the pipeline, a surge in economic activity and a corresponding increase in population in the country is expected in the medium. These developments offer clear opportunities for the banking sector,” he said.
The bank is planning to offer a number of attractive retail offerings in the near future with launch of credit cards in June and direct remittance products. The bank is also in the process of calibrating their ATMs to enable customers to remit funds from these machines. Once implemented, customers will be able to remit money 24 hours from BoB’s ATM network across the UAE.
Currently the bank operates six branches and 10 electronic banking units in the UAE. With the growing use of digital banking by customers, Dudeja does not see the need for more branches. He expects banks to rationalise their branch expansions in the future and concentrate on more convenient digital delivery channels.
“The disruptive innovations that are happening in the banking sector could eventually challenge the whole method of current way of doing banking. The digital alternatives could do away with branches to a great extent,” he said.
Enhancing its digital banking capabilities further the bank will soon launch Bank of Baroda happiness two in one account where the bank will be simultaneously opening two accounts for its Indian customers; one in the UAE and the other in India. Both these accounts will be interlinked. On the net banking platform the customer would see and manage both the accounts with seamless movement of funds between accounts.
Funding
On funding of local balance sheet, Dudeja said expansion of the bank’s local loan books are predominantly funded through local deposits. “Our customer base is pretty wide and we have recourse to a large deposit base here to cater to the asset side. In the event of any mismatch we depend on interbank market. Mismatches are normally for short tenure. The dirham being a pegged currency, we have the option of borrowing in dollar or dirham with in the UAE or in the global markets,” he said.
While oil prices is a major factor in business confidence in the regional economies, he said the case of UAE, the government’s commitment to large infrastructure projects drive business confidence in the country. “Expo 2020 impact beyond the event is going to be tremendous on the economy. It is going to be reflected on many important segments of the economy such as tourism, hospitality, trade, logistics real estate and services and light manufacturing sectors,” said Dudeja.
The bank expects its corporate business to pick up pace from this year. Many local corporates looking to markets beyond the UAE and the region. This has been creating more financing opportunities for banks. BoB continues to fund the financing needs of corporates from options ranging from direct lending, to syndications, club deals and arranging and advising.