Amid tightening liquidity and subdued credit off-take, the UAE's banks are stepping up their digitisation drive to tap new revenue streams and improve customer experience.
"Technology is rapidly transforming the way customers are banking in the UAE," says Suvo Sarkar, senior executive vice-president and group head - retail banking and wealth management, Emirates NBD.
"The UAE government is taking initiatives to digitise the country's banking and financial sector under its smart government programme," says M.R. Raghu, managing director, Marmore Mena Intelligence, a research firm..
Marmore's research shows the UAE's banks have taken steps to increase digitisation, with several banks investing heavily in 2016 to keep up with the latest trends.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), for instance, has teamed up with IBM to build a studio that will work on digital innovation projects across the bank, including mobile banking iOS apps built on IBM's Bluemix cloud platform and IBM Mobilefirst.
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest Islamic bank in the UAE, announced the introduction of the Visa payWave cards, which allows contactless payments.
The digital steps that ther UAE's banks are undertaking include initiatives such as the mobile wallet, regulations for digital signatures and PINs, etc. Work on the mobile wallet programme, developed by a committee of nine member banks, started in 2015. The project incorporates the facility for smartphones and other digital devices to be used for cashless purchases in UAE retail outlets as well as a means to store and transfer money.
A regulatory framework, based on online standards followed in other developed nations, has been developed for the UAE's digital payments industry.
"We are in the fast growth stage of the customer adoption curve and banks that will fail to adopt or deliver an engaging digital customer experience will lose market share rapidly," says Emirates NBD's Sarkar.
"As going digital becomes inevitable, the key differentiator will be combining the best of digital fintech with a human touch, complementing each other," he adds.
Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/buzzon/jobs/banking-financial-services/uae-banks-on-a-digital-reboot