Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), the fifth largest lender in the Gulf, is entering the Egyptian market, effective Sunday. The move comes after ADCB had successfully completed its merger with Union National Bank (UNB-Egypt) along with an acquisition of Sharia-compliant lender Al Hilal Bank. As part of its expansion plans for the Arab region, ADCB's new unit is set to offer unprecedented and innovative banking services and products for both individuals and corporates in Egypt. ADCB undertakes an ambitious plan based on establishing new branches to reach its targeted segments of customers as well as providing distinguished service to its current and prospective clients. Market analysts expect ADCB is set to become a fierce rival among banks in Egypt. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank at a glance: ADCB has total assets worth 1.75 trillion Egyptian pounds or AED 405 billion. Backed by a strong financial sheet, ADCB was able to withstand the coronavirus pandemic crisis, having posted net profits worth around AED 1.436 billion, besides a capital allocation of AED 248 billion, and a deposit portfolio of AED 259 billion during the first half of 2020. The UAE bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 16.31 percent and liquidity coverage rate (LCR) of 129.1 percent. On May28, ADCB was awarded with the winning title of "The Innovator 2020" in the Middle East for its transaction banking capabilities under cash management, payments, and trade finance. This came as an addition to the successful completion and implementation of the second phase of API Integration of Virtual accounts under Cash Management and ADCB's Mobile Token 2.0 application under Payments category. The selection was revealed at The Innovators 2020, Global Finance's eighth annual awards that honors entities regularly identifying new paths and designing new tools in finance. ADCB has ranked third in the United Arab Emirates and fifth among the Gulf banks in terms of offering a variety of integrated high-end banking services and activities for clients' needs. Also, ADCB has won other awards in various fields, including personal and commercial business banking services, besides mid-corporate banking services. In 2019, ADCB was named the Middle East's best bank for SMEs 2019 by Euromoney. It also received the Best Trade Finance Services Award by Global Finance's 2019 World's Best Digital Bank Awards. Ihab El Sewerky to lead ADCB Egypt For its newest Egyptian unit, ADCB has appointed Ihab El Sewerky as the Chairman and Managing Director of the ADCB Egypt Bank. El Sewerky has held a variety of different leading positions throughout his banking career, including Managing Director of UNB-Egypt, Deputy Managing Director of the United Bank of Egypt, and Chairman of Nile Rate Company (Tasneef). He also took the position of Chief Risk Officer at BLOM Bank Egypt, Banque Du Caire, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – Egypt (ADIB-Egypt). Earlier, he was Risk Management Consultant for the Banking Reform Unit at the Central Bank of Egypt. From his part, El Sewerky said he will rely on five key pillars to lead ADCB-Egypt; attaining growth through tapping into available opportunities in the domestic market and achieving sustainability through a deposits base. The pillars also include creating the highest level of efficiency possible while offering financial products and banking services, adopting a clear risk management strategy, attracting and retaining talent, hiring new calibres. ADCB Egypt: Vision and Mission ADCB Egypt has an ambitious expansion plan for Egypt in the coming period, El Sewerky said. The bank has sets out vision for the Egyptian market, aiming to become one of the most popular banks in Egypt through offering innovative banking solutions, leading a revolutionizing digital banking leap, and focusing on ensuring sustainability and the best customer experience, he added. Moreover, El Sewerky said ADCB-Egypt is adopting a number of strategic fast-growing-driven directions by bringing current offering in line with competitors while introducing selected innovative products. The bank intends to introduce red carpet products and services suite for affluent and upper affluent, including branded credit cards, concierge services, and fast-track services. It also plans to launch new payment solutions, including VISA credit cards, remittances with UAE, and digital wallet, and also to introduce wealth management offering which involves various investment products. In addition, the bank plans to enhance treasury offering based on its Customer needs and partner with software provider to offer accounting services to SMEs. Speaking about the bank's strategic directions, El Sewerky said they would ensure controlled expansion based on achieving sustainable growth while ensuring improvements in cost-income ratio. Furthermore, he said they would include brand perception through improving brand awareness following ADCB's rebranding. They will also focus on optimising liquidity and reducing cost of funding. This would implement by supporting CASA growth after offering new products, system enhancements, campaigns, and schemes, and through enhancing collection capabilities after making improvements in systems and processes. ADCB Egypt will also work on digitization and processes optimization by adopting the most up-to-date technologies to achieve the best customer experience. The bank plans to introduce new digital products and services such as online/mobile banking and CCDM. It also aims to launch online corporate banking platform for existing trade finance and new/existing cash management products, as well as design and implement E2E customer centric and service oriented processes. In addition, ADCB will work on upgrading its tech landscape to enable new systems across different businesses along with building and conducting automation workflows for all bank internal and customer facing services. Also, El Sewerky said the bank will ensure adopting the best practice for governance and controls, developing and hiring best market calibres, and upgrading HR policies and procedures through automated solutions. Customer satisfaction is a top priority for ADCB Egypt, El Sewerky asserted, adding that the bank would announce a wide range of exceptional banking services and products soon. "We aim to build and develop a long‐lasting partnership relationship with our customers. Our objective is to become the most preferred trade partner for our customers." El Sewerky said. "This can be done through growing our customer base and focusing particularly on meeting their needs and requirements, offering innovative, flexible, smart, and safe products, and treating our customers fairly and impartially."
