Standard Chartered is planning to strengthen its footprint in the UAE retail banking sector, as part of its business expansion strategy in the region.
The lender said that despite stiff competition, the UAE is one of the bank’s major markets globally and represents almost half of Standard Chartered’s operating income generated in the Middle East region, as reported by Gulf News.
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Standard Chartered UAE retail banking division head, Jaydeep Gupta, thinks that the UAE retail business is a fantastic franchise.
"The first quarter of the year ended very well. I think the momentum is going on very well for us with operating profit growth at around 15 per cent with business doing better than last year , balance sheet expanding with strong growth in assets and deposits," Gupta told the publication.
Gupta further added that the bank would focus on five key areas such as, high value customers, wealth management, retail analytics and cross selling and enhancement of online capabilities, to drive growth in 2014.
"We want grow the customer base of our high value customers. Premium segment of customers is something that we are going to focus on."
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By GlobalDataIn order to compete with local reveals, the bank is also planning to launch a system designed to provide full banking services online to its selected existing customers without them needing to visit the branches or providing additional documents.
Standard Chartered UAE, which manages a branch network of 11 offices in the country, said that it has tested the service offering for nearly 1,000 customers and will be expanded to more eligible customers.
