Middle East Banks Are Set Up for Failure
(But They Don’t Have To Be)
Raul GaitasInternational Business Development Manager
At the Middle East Retail Banking Summit, retail banking experts detailed three industry trends Middle East banks must pay attention to:
The need to generate more revenue from existing business, in order to fuel sustainable expansion.1
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A necessity to rethink distribution models as brick-and-mortar locations give way to digital and mobile channels.
A critical focus on customer service as a competitive advantage spurred by changing customer demands.
As Middle East banks address these issues, they must not lose sight of one important factor that must be present for success:
Modernization of the collections and recovery process.
Here are four ways to start modernizing today.
1Whatever current collections operations and activities your bank undertakes, they must be centralized under one authority.
This ensures consistent policy, action and accountability throughout every stage of the collections and recovery process.
It also means that banks will be able to better control collections costs and ensure profitability as they scale.
Centralize Collections Operations
Implement risk scoring models to make sure portfolio liabilities are properly managed.
The best models use combinations of behavior and quantitative criteria to assess risk in real-time. They also employ scorecards that track performance over time to inform long-term strategies.
Once risk scoring exists, portfolio segmentation using basic (product type, account balance, etc.) or complex (past customer or account behavior) metrics is essential.
2 Implement Smart Risk Scoring and Segmentation
The modern customer uses more channels than ever to bank and communicate, with increasing emphasis on social media and mobile.
Customers in the Middle East are on the forefront of this trend.
Collections operations must embrace alternative channels, including web portals, voice response units, text message and mobile transactions.
3 Reach Customers Across Multiple Channels
Adopting specialized collections software is the major differentiator between banks that succeed in this new landscape and those that don’t. Look for systems with the following features:
• An early warning system to flag portfolios in danger of delinquency.
• Collections management functionality to streamline operations.
• Self-service capabilities, so that customers can self-cure their balances.
• Legal recovery features that simplify the entire litigation process.
4 Adopt Specialized Collections Software
By following these four steps, Middle East banks can beat the competition and ensure they stay ahead of the top trends happening right now in retail banking.
The result?
Improved Revenue Generation
Better Customer Relationships
Peace of Mind
Want more advice to streamline, improve and optimize every aspect of your collections operations from those with 25 years of industry experience?
The Collections and Recovery Best Practices Manual has tips and strategies to help your bank generate more revenue from each phase of C&R operations.
