The expansion, said Ithmaar Bank Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board Mohammed A. Rahman Bucheerei, demonstrates the Bank’s commitment to becoming the Islamic banking partner of choice for retail banking customers in Bahrain.
“Ithmaar has a long, proud history as the undisputed pioneer of Islamic banking in the region,” said Bucheerei. “Our history goes back to the establishment of Faysal Islamic Bank in 1982, then the first fully-licensed Islamic bank in Bahrain, and although our branding has since changed, first to Shamil Bank and then to Ithmaar, we remain as committed as ever to developing the concept of Islamic banking and finance and, more importantly, to delivering a premium Islamic banking offering,” he said.
“In line with that commitment, we continue to work towards improving both our products and our reach,” said Bucheerei. “We are doing so to remain as close as possible to our customers, to become an integral part of their lives and to ensure we deliver the best possible banking experience,” said Bucheerei.
“This has included expanding our fast growing network of strategically located branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to ensure that, no matter where you are in Bahrain, your bank is never too far away,” said Bucheerei. “In the past year alone, we have added five new offsite ATMs – in the Al Aali and in the Salmabad fuel stations, as well as in Budaiya, The Centre in Nuwaidrat and the City Centre mall – and have started preparing three new branch locations – in Sanad, in Budaiya and in Bab Al Bahrain – that will be inaugurated this year. We have already added another three new ATMs this year – in Ramli Mall, at Hamad Town Roundabout 22 and at the Ministry of Justice in the Diplomatic Area. We are now also working to inaugurate an additional three new branches – in Budaiya, Hamalah and Busaiteen – later this year,” he said.
Ithmaar’s business expansion plans are part of the Bank’s new, Board-approved strategy which was unveiled following Ithmaar Bank’s reorganisation with its then wholly-owned subsidiary, Shamil Bank, and its subsequent transformation into a retail-focused Islamic Bank in April 2010.
“Following our transformation, we immediately launched the Ithmaar Mobile Online Banking service, a first of its kind in Bahrain that allows our customers to use their smart mobile phones to conduct, in real time, the full range of banking transactions from anywhere in the world,” said Bucheerei. “We were particularly pleased to be the very first bank in the Kingdom to offer this service,” he said.
Ithmaar also launched a new corporate website to mark its transformation into a retail-focused Islamic Bank. The new website was designed to allow customers to comfortably explore the Bank’s wide range of innovative Sharia-compliant products and services and to easily conduct all their required banking transactions through a secure, yet intuitive, portal.
Ithmaar has also invested heavily on upgrading its telephone e-banking, SMS notification system as well as on expanding its Call Centre to accommodate additional calls.
“These new Ithmaar services were launched in line with our commitment to ensuring a secure, user-friendly banking experience for our customers,” said Bucheerei. “This, however, is only part of the story, and we’ve also been working on improving our products and services,” he said.
Following its transformation, Ithmaar rolled out a series of new customer-focused offerings including special promotional rates for auto and personal financing.
In September 2010, Ithmaar also launched a new, prize based saving account. Called Thimaar, Arabic for fruits or harvest, the new Sharia-compliant account is designed to encourage people to adopt a more responsible spending/saving pattern by offering cash prizes, along with an expected profit rate, as an additional incentive to save. The new account offers best of its kind incentives, including total cash prizes of $1.65 million, free Life Takaful from Solidarity and a built-in loyalty scheme.
“Our success has not, in anyway, diminished our determination to push ahead with further expansion and we remain as focused as ever on continuously improving our offerings to become the Islamic banking partner of choice for customers in Bahrain,” said Bucheerei. “We are continuing, for example, to expand our branch and ATM network and are finalising a suite of exciting new products and services,” he said.
“Our focus on improvement and expansion however has not distracted us from our day-to-day operations, and we are also working on the more subtle but necessary improvements to our staple offerings,” said Bucheerei. “Following its reorganisation, Ithmaar launched a new-look cheque book that includes sophisticated safety features as required by the Central Bank of Bahrain. The old Shamil-branded cheques books are now being phased out and we hope to have them complexly eliminated in the next few months. On the same note, the Bank is also currently in the final stages of launching rebranded debit and credit cards, and we are working to ensure an efficient, hassle-free distribution,” he said.
“These achievements are made all the more significant when viewed against the backdrop of the volatile global, regional and local market conditions in which we operate,” said Bucheerei. “The past year has been particularly challenging, especially as we were transforming from an investment bank into a retail bank.
“We will continue to expand our business network, reposing great confidence in the Kingdom of Bahrain and as our long-term commitment towards its growth and prosperity. The Bank will also expand its operations in the GCC.” Bucheerei added.