UAE banks are urged to adopt high-performance information management to support the rapid growth in mobile banking, industry experts announced Sunday. GCC banks are aiming to expand digital and mobile customer offerings, such as mobile payments, customer alerts, opening accounts and mortgages, especially as the UAE's e-commerce market is set to quadruple to $10 billion by 2018, according to Bank Audi. Demonstrating the strong opportunity for digital and mobile banking solutions that help customers to better control their finances, 81 percent of UAE customers would switch banks for a better digital experience, and 60 percent would move to a digital-only bank, according to a recent report by research firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young). "In a highly competitive market, the UAE's banks need to harness the power of digital products and services as the key differentiator for enhancing the customer experience, increasing their market share, and growing profits," said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO, of banking IT solutions consultancy Condo Protego. However, in the GCC and UAE, only 34 percent of banking customers use mobile banking, and 55 percent are not satisfied with current offerings, especially due to lack of real-time information and slow transaction speeds, according to the EY report. As a result, UAE banks lag in digital engagement, with the average rate less than half that in India, Singapore, and the United States, according to a recent RFI Group survey. "Banks in the UAE and the region need to accelerate their digital transformation journeys to meet customer demands, with the cornerstone being high-performance information storage and management. Banking CIOs need to have the real-time and scalable solutions that enable them to work smarter with their data," added Andrew Calthorpe. — SG
