RAKBANK has leveraged the Finacle platform to come to the aid of its customers by not only easing the terms of their loans but also by helping them adopt digital technologies in their respective businesses. The pandemic directly impacted SMEs in the UAE in a negative way. This resulted in a shift in SME customer requirements and expectations from their banks. The initial requirements revolved around deferring loans and waiving any charges to basically manage the sudden impact the pandemic had on their business cash flows. However, with passing time SME customers realised that business needed to be conducted remotely and hence influenced the demand for the enhanced digitisation of their services. Throughout this health crisis we have been working with our SME customers at every stage of their business life cycle and helping them to overcome the impact of the pandemic. The bank provided loan and credit-card deferrals to its customers and helped them restructure their loan payments – this was achieved with the support of the country’s regulators. Considering the sudden digitisation requirements of all our customers, RAKBANK focused on changing its approach to support customers from navigating a crisis response to a longer-term, post-Covid-19 outlook. We launched several solutions such as SME digital onboarding that offers our SME customers the ability to apply for a bank account online, and enabled WFH (work from home) for our back-office staff to process the applications during the pandemic.
The bank set up a remote working infrastructure as part of our outsourcing strategy, and this exercise assisted in the bank’s instant implementation of the work from home (WFH) solution for our staff. There were little to no delays and impact on the work stream and operations of the bank. We took this as an opportunity to enhance our digital foundation through our WFH capability that led to the development of a new and enhanced customer service journey. Technology partners and fintechs are an essential part of our technology ecosystem. We believe in leveraging skills from our technology partners and collaborating with fintechs to offer best-in-class and innovative solutions to our customers. In line with this vision, we partnered with a fintech company called Versify Tech Solutions to offer accounting solutions to our SME customers. Accountable is a simple digital accounting platform that takes care of an SME’s accounting and taxation requirements. It gives users access to their business operations, accounting and taxation features in a single and easy-to-use cloud platform, which is closely integrated with customers’ RAKBANK business account. Among the pioneer banks in digital transformation in the region, RAKBANK chose Infosys Finacle to establish its digital foundations and drive a world-class customer experience. The bank has adopted the Finacle Core Banking Platform for both retail and corporate lines of business, Finacle Liquidity Management and Wealth Management platforms, Finacle Digital Engagement Suite – Online Banking, Mobile Banking and Digital Engagement Hub, as part of its modernisation journey.