Mashreq announces new strategic direction for Osool

Osool, a market leader in the self employed segment, will now become the specialized Factoring, Leasing and Commercial Auto Financing subsidiary of the Mashreq Group.

Over the years, Osool has grown to become a leading finance company in the UAE market, with significant presence in the commercial financing space, catering to the needs of the self employed segment through its Personal Loan Finance (PLF) and Commercial Auto propositions.

Organisational initiatives will be taken to synergise the distribution capabilities of Mashreq (with a wide network of 65 branches and strong remote banking capabilities that include ATMs, CCDMs, Online and Mobile Banking) with the service delivery for some existing Osool offerings.

The PLF business is to be re-branded as Small Business-owner Loans (SBoL) to reflect its true positioning in the SME segment and in the future this product will be offered through the Mashreq branch network. This will enable Mashreq to improve customer service and to cross sell a broader range "Mashreq is a bank on the move," commented Douglas Beckett, Head of Retail Banking - Mashreq. "Given the significant potential of commercial financing businesses like Factoring and Leasing, Mashreq now plans to strategically address these by building specialized capabilities under the Osool brand."

Hemant Lalithraj, CEO of Osool, said:

"As a leading Finance company and being a part of the Mashreq Group, Osool possesses the competitive advantages and the inherent capability to cater to the ever-evolving needs of its customers. The new businesses - Factoring and Leasing - will effectively complement our existing business lines."

The Factoring and Equipment Leasing businesses offer an attractive opportunity to Mashreq given the fundamental strength of the UAE economy.

"In the short term we will necessarily need to reduce the number of people we employ in Osool as we refocus these activities. But we will endeavour to redeploy as many Osool employees as we can to other parts of the Mashreq Group where we have vacancies and we are still recruiting," said Beckett. "Many of our staff in Osool have been with the Group for a number of years and have readily transferable skills."