E-banking holds key to future growth of Mid East banking sector

Taha Husseini, Chief Information Officer, National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, commented, "Vital changes in terms of communications between the bank and the customer will put an end to the problems of place and time. Consequently this will allow customers to be connected to their banking information with the ability to complete transactions 24/7 without visiting the branch. This will not only drive banking sector growth, but also the entire economy".

To illustrate this point, in a pioneering move NCB have recently added telephone to the Internet and ATM - which constitute the Electronic Alternative Channels (EAC) - to allow direct on-line access to Saudi stock market transactions, whether for buying, selling or simply browsing. Another feature which has recently been offered to the public and which received a popular welcome is to allow IPO (Initial Public Offering) subscriptions through the EAC.

Khaled Eid, Managing Director, The World Development Forum, said,

"The Middle East banking sector has traditionally lagged behind the US and Western Europe in terms of technology, but through massive investment many of the region's banks have now significantly closed the gap. However, the region's banks will still be forced to invest heavily in real-time solutions, which are essential if banks want to compete successfully for internet accounts."

The strategic approach for many of the region's banks has always been to offer unique products and services that maintain their competitive edge, but in the technology driven global market, the participation of IT is absolutely essential. Chief Information Officers (CIO) are now being empowered to develop new strategies regarding how technology runs daily transactions and employing solutions that will enable the individual banks to process them faster and more cost-effectively.

"Things have changed dramatically over the last 15 years, gone are the days when an IT manager spoke in a language that was foreign to the rest. The CIO today is an integral element of any business decision and it is crucial for business to understand how to harness the power of technology in providing a boost to the bottom line," stated Sami S. AlAli, General Manager/Information Technology Division, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait.

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