UAE Banks Are Seeing Their Customers With New Eyes

About one out of seven UAE bank customers will recommend their bank to friends and family, reveals a Souqalmal.com survey.

“Behavioral intelligence solutions assist banks in pro-actively approaching their clients, allowing to optimize product characteristics and explore up- and cross- sell possibilities. As a result, banks’ customers will be using exactly the products they need,” - says Dmitry Voronenko, CEO of Scorto.

The UAE remains the most competitive banking market in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, with 51 banks with more than 840 branches and over 4,000 ATMs serving population of approximately eight million, according to “Gulf Cooperation Council Banking Competitiveness Report.”

Huge opportunities are opening to banks that can make their customers happy. Decision makers striving to achieve business goals should not lose sight of their customers. Understanding customers is essential to implement a successful cross selling strategy and roll out new products quickly. Validating products’ performance before launch allows exploring growth opportunities. But most importantly: banks must maintain business environment that is auspicious to putting the customer first.

Having this in mind, banks should not focus solely on bringing customers to the branch. Frost & Sullivan predicted an increase in non-performing loans in UAE financial industry in written answers to questions sent by Emirates24|7. While leveraging best customer experience, banks also need to think of tomorrow and strive to acquire most trustworthy customers.

Business intelligence tools can increase depth of customer analysis, reduce churn and improve customer loyalty. Processing large volumes of information, these tools will detect potential bad loans, as well as identify clients who are likely to switch for another bank. To use these tools efficiently, banks need to shift their focus towards understanding the customer and adopt customer-centric approach throughout the organization.