At the end of 2002 there were just under three million regular online banking users in the Middle East according to a new report published by the Albassera Project . While online banking in the region had been slow to take root, the number of banks providing online services has tripled in the past year.
While this may not seem significant compared to Europe or Asia, when taken in relation to the eligible population then, in some Middle East countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), adoption rates reach over 40 percent, effectively giving the region some of the highest adoption rates in the world.
According to the report, online transactions have grown to represent 19 percent of all banking transactions in the region of which, more than 52 percent relate to utility or bill payments. Albassera attributes this to a rise in e-government projects coupled with increased awareness of benefits derived from adoption of e-procurement.
“Banks have moved in to a higher gear to meet client's demands. In the last year, five major payment gateways were launched by banks in the region and there is growing interest in aligning with B2B channels such as tejari.com," comments research Partner at Albassera, Pat Loughran. "The bankers are beginning to see the double benefit of reducing their own purchasing costs while increasing their corporate customer base, and as far as trade finance is concerned they have barely scratched the surface of what's possible," he concluded.
The report maintains that from a retail perspective the majority of the larger national banks are already providing multi-channel platforms and it is the small to medium sized banks in the region that, if their courage holds, will be the first to make the leap from the mundane. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
