Dunia Finance bullish on growth, investment
Abu Dhabi-headquartered Dunia Finance, which was launched by a group of Abu Dhabi and Singapore investment firms last year, will continue to beef up its staff and investment plans despite the economic downturn.
Rajeev Kakar, Executive Director and CEO of Dunia Finance said the bank is still "liquid", "very heavily equity funded" and is poised to take advantage of the "growing opportunities" in the market.
"Strategically, liquidity is an issue for any banker, always. Currently we are substantially equity funded and we also accept deposits from companies so if you ask whether liquidity is an immediate issue for us, the answer is no," Kakar told Emirates Business.
"We continue to invest and grow in very tough times but these tough times really offer opportunities," he said.
"We will continue to be hiring, we will be training a lot and we'll have what we believe is one of the best call centres. We have currently hired 600 and we're growing as our business grows. We have one branch at the moment and we will be bringing in more products," he added.
Dunia, which means 'the world' in Arabic, Hindi and Urdu was launched in June by Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings in Singapore; Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi state-owned investment firm; Abu Dhabi-listed Waha Capital and UAE-based Al Moosa Group.
Kakar, who is also the Executive Vice-President and Regional CEO of Fullerton Financial Holdings, said the bank will be focusing on small and medium businesses, mass affluent and mass markets at this stage and gradually move on to other segments.
He said despite the more than 50 banks in the country, the bank can secure a reasonable market share by bringing in a customer-centric approach. "If we can serve clients diligently and in a right way then I think the market is big enough for everyone," he said. "Especially in the UAE, there is just no focus on customers, there are more focus on products rather than on customers. So we see a proposition for ourselves where we could come in and fill that."
"We found 60-70 per cent of the market is underserved," he added. "Most of them don't keep their primary relationship with the banks and many of them just take products. While they are being served in one of the products, there is no customer centric product, which can holistically address customer needs."
Currently the bank, which is only allowed to take deposits from companies, is not zeroing on chasing deposits by offering high rates.
"As part of the regulatory licence, at the moment we cannot take deposits from individuals, we are only allowed to accept deposits from companies," Kakar said. "At this point we can only take customer deposits from companies – so if companies have excess liquidity and they want to save, we are a good alternative. But we also service them in their other needs."
"But we are not chasing deposits because the moment you make it seem like you're chasing deposits, it becomes a product strategy. It's not about the product, it's about serving the clients needs," he added.
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