United Arab Bank: Standing Strong

UAB is making sure that all its measures are in place so that customers can safely bank without any worry.

Uncertain times call for unprecedented trust and a vision that is unshakeable. In conversation with Ahmad Abu Eideh, Chief Executive Office, United Arab Bank (UAB) it was obvious that evidences of resilience from the past are the strokes of hope and strength with which he frames the larger picture.
UAB, like many banks in the UAE, has been accelerating its digital strategy, rationalising costs and rolling out a set of initiatives to help individuals and corporates cope with the slowdown caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus.

"Central Bank of the UAE has always been a robust and responsive regulator to stabilise the economy and offer support to the banks. This has been pivotal in putting the country on a fast track to recovery after the Covid-19 crisis" In 2019, UAB embarked on a three-year journey of digital transformation and digitalisation. Applying the best in class technologies the bank has been upgrading all the current systems and also heading towards applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions and robotics in the day-to-day transactions. In alignment with the present requirements, the bank has automated its offerings to the retail and wholesale customers.

"Our progress towards a futuristic strategy has been commendable. We are on track on the journey and looking forward to pleasantly surprising our long standing stakeholders moving forward," said Ahmad.

Speaking on the Covid-19 impact, he said, "In such scenario of a pandemic it is very important for banks to maintain very healthy liquidity levels and at UAB we have ensured this and also supported our customers in their time of need. We have also been selectively doing new business to maintain our lending activities. We are also mindful that during such times cyber crime is at a rise and have therefore kept information security on high alert. We have applied security awareness programs of our own through emails, SMS, social media and on site to educate customers. We have also applied all the mandated initiatives by the Central Bank and UBF. Customer well-being is central to all our activities and initiatives."

In closing statement, Ahmad shared thoughts on Islamic banking, he said, "There is a surge in appetite for Islamic banking products by retail and corporate customers. This is mainly driven by the growth in the population of Islamic countries, the increase in shariah-compliant funds globally and the importance of transparency and governance underlying Islamic banking amid such uncertain times."

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