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23/10/2018

The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) Group announced a consolidated net profit of AED 671.8 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018. The third quarter of 2018 generated a profit of AED 240.1 million, which is an increase of 6.8% year on year and a 6.0% increase compared with the second quarter of 2018. 

Commenting on the results, Peter England, RAKBANK CEO, said: “The ample liquidity and rise in customer deposits have reflected in the Bank’s solid progress in the Wholesale Banking, Business Banking, Personal Banking, and Treasury. The trends for the nine months of 2018 are showing positive signs, and the Impairments are on a downward trend. The Bank remains very committed to its diversification strategy which is now delivering growth in net interest income whilst lowering the Bank’s risk profile.”

Total Assets have grown 12.4% to AED 51.8 billion compared to the end of the 3rd quarter 2017. Gross Loans & Advances and investments increased by AED 2.5 billion and AED 2.4 billion respectively compared to 30 September 2017. The healthy growth of corporate loans from Wholesale Banking segment contributed to the increase of the Gross loans & Advances by 7.7% year-on-year. Likewise, Customer deposits grew by AED 3.2 billion to AED 34.6 billion, a 10.1% growth compared to September 2017. 

“Besides the financial performance, I’d like to highlight the Bank’s recent partnership that occurred in the third quarter of the year with the Finance Department (Government of Ras Al Khaimah) to facilitate their requirements on cash management and payment gateway solutions. Additionally, on the remittance front, we signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank, which has further leveraged the Bank’s partnership with Ripple, our RAKMoneyTransfer (RMT) services enables customers to make instant, frictionless, and secure money transfer services to Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank via blockchain using the Ripple platform,” added England.

Operating Income was AED 2.8 billion for the nine months ended 30 September 2018.  Operating income increased by 1.2% for third quarter of 2018 compared to same period last year. The Group’s Net Interest Income for 9 months increased by 1.5% to AED 2.1 billion whilst the non-Interest Income declined by 8.2% due to lower investment income due to decreases in volume of  sale of investments during the nine months period as a result of the challenges in the Bond market. Operating expenses increased 2.9% year-on-year and the cost to income ratio for 9 months closed at 39.3%. Impairments were lower by AED 135.1 million for the nine months ended September 2018 compared to the same period of 2017. 

The Bank’s Basel III capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.5% at the end of September 2018. This level of capital provides the Bank with ample room for growth in 2018. The regulatory eligible liquid asset ratio at the end of September 2018 was 13.7% compared to 15.0% at the end of 2017. The advances to stable resources ratio stood comfortably at 87.7% compared to 87.8% at the end of 2017.

09/10/2018

RAKBANK continues to raise awareness about the tax system that was implemented back in January 2018 by inviting its Business Banking customers to attend a comprehensive workshop on Value Added Tax (VAT) at the RAKBANK headquarters in Dubai Silicon Oasis. The objective of this workshop is to create a platform for the Bank’s Business Banking customers to discuss and understand the practical aspects of VAT implementation, VAT features, and filing process, which was followed by a Q&A session. 

The Bank invited speakers from Morison Menon, a global association that offers comprehensive auditing and business solutions, as well as representatives from Sage, the market leader in cloud business management solutions, to give RAKBANK’s customers a complete overview about the VAT’s next phase and what needs to be done from a business perspective. 

Dhiraj Kunwar, Managing Director of Business Banking at RAKBANK, said: “RAKBANK is delighted to have top representatives from Morison Menon so graciously speak at the VAT workshop. The aim is to offer our Business Banking customers a detailed roadmap about the next phase of the VAT’s functionality and its features. We also invited one of our business partners, Sage, to speak about their VAT compliant Accounting Software, which is a convenient digital solution that supports the businesses’ financial requirements.”

Commenting on the workshop, Sheetal Soni, CEO and Managing Partner of MI CAPITAL, said: “UAE Economy is going through several structural changes in recent times and that has impacted several sectors particularly SME segment in the country. It is wonderful initiative on part of RAKBANK for its client base and creating awareness on such regulatory changes that may impact their business.” 

Ibrahim Parwaz, Strategic Manager at Sage, said: “VAT continues to be a hot topic of interest in the UAE as businesses endeavor to comply with local tax regulations. We would like to thank the Business Banking team at RAKBANK for inviting us to the workshop. With Sage Accounting, a cloud-based FTA approved accounting solution, we enable businesses to be tax compliant whilst empowering them to focus on what matters most to them - their customers and growing their businesses. With a cloud-based solution they can run their accounting anywhere at any time.”

01/10/2018

In line with RAKBANK’s strategy to strengthen its cross border payment solutions, the Bank signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank. Further leveraging the partnership with Ripple, RAKBANK’s RAKMoneyTransfer (RMT) services enables customers to make instant, frictionless, and secure money transfer services to Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank via blockchain using Ripple platform. 

Furthermore, the Bank’s customers have the flexibility to use their RAKBANK credit cards to remit money at competitive rates, with no hidden fees and a 55-day interest-free credit period. In addition, the live retail remittance payments from RAKBANK to Cargills Bank and other banks in Sri Lanka reach their destination account instantly with end-to-end visibility over the journey of the payment.

Peter England, RAKBANK CEO, said: “We, at RAKBANK, constantly focus on aligning our offerings through strategic partnerships to increase our remittance footprint on a global scale by optimizing the Ripple platform and network that we have at hand. The Bank is delighted to have partnered with Cargills Bank to extend its RMT services into Sri Lanka with the aim of offering the Sri Lankan expat community here in the UAE the ability to safely and instantly remit money back home.” 

Rajendra Theagarajah, Managing Director/CEO of Cargills Bank Limited, said: “We are delighted to partner with RippleNet and RAKBANK as a part of our drive to strengthen bank's remittance service. Our goal is to make life easy for beneficiaries by having a 370+ Cargills Food City supermarket network to access their account or for cash pick-up. We are confident that this partnership would add value to Sri Lankan citizens across the globe.”

Navin Gupta, Managing Director, South Asia and MENA at Ripple, said: “As members of RippleNet, RAKBANK and Cargills Bank understand the need for quicker, more efficient payments. Now, Sri Lankan expats in UAE can get money back to their families and friends in a way they never could before. This is the next generation of payments, and we are happy to have a network full of forward thinking institutions like RAKBANK and Cargills Bank.”

19/09/2018

RAKBANK is pleased to announce its recent partnership with the Finance Department (Government of Ras Al Khaimah) to facilitate their requirements on cash management and payment gateway solutions. 

Key representatives from both the Finance Department of the RAK Government and RAKBANK attended the signing ceremony, which was held on 19th September 2018 at the Bank’s Operations Centre Building in Ras Al Khaimah. H.E. Yousef Ali Mohammed, General Manager of the RAK Government – Finance Department, and Peter England, RAKBANK’s CEO, signed the agreement. 

Commenting on the signed agreement, RAKBANK’s CEO, Peter England said: “We are delighted to offer the Government of RAK – Finance Department convenient, secure, and simple payment solutions through all the different touch points and through an effective cash management solution. These solutions will transform their payments and receivable collections from paper to an electronic and seamless platform, which will in turn further enhance and streamline the payments and collections process related to all their services. The partnership is in line with the Bank’s commitment to enhance its offering to the public and increase the diversity of the services and products offered. Additionally, the platform allows for liquidity management capability and a treasury single account solution that comes with a host-to-host payment processing option.”

25/07/2018

The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) Group announced today a consolidated net profit of AED 431.7 million for the half year ended 30 June 2018. The second quarter of 2018 generated a net profit of AED 226.6 million, which was similar to the net profit achieved for same quarter last year. Net profit for the first half increased by 13.2% year-on-year and increased by 10.5% compared with the first quarter of 2018. Gross Loans & Advances grew by 5.9% to AED 35.2 billion for the half year ended 30 June 2018 with strong growth in Wholesale Banking book.

Commenting on the results, Peter England, RAKBANK CEO said: “Our financial performance in the first half of 2018 reflects the ongoing shift of business strategy to a more diversified balance sheet. In line with this shift, provisions have continued to come off gradually in the last seven quarters after peaking in the third quarter of 2016. Gross interest income has grown strongly, though funding cost has increased more than expected as a result of increased competition for deposits in the market. Regardless, RAKBANK continues to maintain one of the lowest funding costs in the market due to our very strong SME franchise.”

Total Assets increased by 5.2% to AED 51.1 billion compared to the end of 2017. This was due to an increase in Gross Loans and Advances of AED 2.0 billion and an increase in Investments of AED 1.5 billion. The healthy growth of corporate loans from Wholesale Banking segment contributed to the increase of the Gross Loans and Advances by 11.3% year-on-year. Likewise, Customer deposits grew by AED 1.6 billion to AED 33.8 billion, a 5.0% growth compared to the end of 2017.

England also commented: “We continue to be very focused on bringing innovation to the market. We recently announced the Bank’s partnership with FC Barcelona to become their regional partner and official bank in the UAE, aiming to introduce new FC Barcelona co-branded Mastercard Platinum Credit and Debit Cards. In addition, the Bank signed strategic agreements with both RAK SME and Dubai SME to continue supporting this vital sector in the UAE economy. We also partnered up with Air Arabia to launch a co-branded Mastercard Platinum Credit Card, which offers Air Rewards and provides customers great value in the air and on the ground. Similarly, the Bank recently introduced a dedicated app for its Business Banking customers to offer them a seamless access to Trade Finance services in just one click.”

Total income was AED 1.9 billion for the six months ended 30 June 2018, which increased by 1.9% for the second quarter of 2018 over the first quarter, though declined by 2.7% over the comparable period in 2017, largely due to the challenging bond market. Net Interest Income and Income from Islamic finance for the first half of 2018 was AED 1.4 billion, which grew by 1.6% over same period last year. Operating expenses were up by 3.7% year-on-year and cost to income ratio stands at 39.9%, though this is expected to moderate down in the second half. Impairments continued their downward trajectory declining by 10.9% in the second quarter of 2018 over the previous quarter. Impairments during the six months ended 30 June 2018 were down by 15.6% from the comparable period in 2017.

The Bank’s capital adequacy ratio as per UAE Central Bank regulations stood at 18.2% at the end of June 2018. This level of capital provides the Bank with ample room for growth in 2018. The regulatory eligible liquid asset ratio at the end of June 2018 was 13.2% compared to 15.0% at the end of 2017. The advances to stable resources ratio stood comfortably at 91.5% compared to 87.8% at the end of 2017.

“Looking ahead, RAKBANK’s new three-year strategy will focus on building the performance of improved business units and continuing to innovate through the introduction of a more diverse range of products, services, and initiatives,” concluded England.

18/07/2018

RAKBANK partners with INPAY - a European Fintech remittance service provider – to offer customers the lowest remittance fees in the market when transferring Euros to 25* European nations a charge of 25 UAE dirhams per transfer through RAKMoneyTransfer. Likewise, it allows customers to send money via the digital banking platform and from any one of the Bank’s 38 branches, where the Euro is credited directly to the beneficiary’s bank account on the same day with no hidden corresponding fees or backend charges.  

“RAKBANK is expanding its global presence and the Bank’s remittance footprint into the European corridor through this strategic partnership with INPAY in order to offer customers a seamless banking experience with the new and enhanced remittance services. This will enable our customers to make secure, faster and convenient Euro transfers to 25 European nations,” said Geoff Stecyk, RAKBANK’s COO.

“Currently we are witnessing a shift in the way people are remitting money abroad and for that reason; we enhanced the customer’s money transfer journey with RAKBANK. Customers can now remit money using their RAKBANK account or credit card. At RAKBANK, we believe that we can achieve great value proposition for our customers through strategic collaborations with FinTech’s rather than competing with them,” he added.

INPAY’s Founder & CEO, Jacob Tackmann Thomsen, said: “This partnership with RAKBANK, one of the most digitally advanced banks in the UAE, demonstrates INPAY’s relevant cross-border payments offering to financial institutions globally. We see this as an excellent example of how INPAY as a FinTech company enables its bank clients such as RAKBANK to provide their customers with even better services and do it at a go-to-market speed that was previously impossible.”

* Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania, Switzerland, Cyprus, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia, United Kingdom.

10/07/2018

RAKBANK is now the new Official Bank of FC Barcelona in the UAE  

The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) and FC Barcelona have announced a strategic Regional Partnership for 3 years extendable by another 2 years whereby RAKBANK has become the Official Bank of FC Barcelona in the United Arab Emirates. This partnership entails the launch of new FC Barcelona dedicated co-branded products including Mastercard Platinum Credit and Debit Cards. 

The contract was sealed in the presidential box at the Camp Nou and was attended by FC Barcelona’s Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Grau, while Frederic de Melker, Managing Director of Personal Banking, represented RAKBANK at the event.

With this association RAKBANK Barca fans can look forward to access FC Barcelona branded merchandise and opportunities to watch their favourite players at matches in Barcelona amongst other benefits.  

Frederic de Melker, RAKBANK’s Managing Director of Personal Banking commented: “We are delighted to partner with FC Barcelona, one of the world’s leading football clubs, to become their official bank in the country. UAE is a football loving nation of dedicated fans who avidly follow the game. Therefore, we deemed it fit to bring their favourite club closer home by building increased affinity of the segment with the Club and RAKBANK.” 

“We are very pleased with this strategic alliance between RAKBANK and FC Barcelona. The spirit of football is timeless and we aim to deliver unique value propositions through the RAKBANK co-branded Credit, Debit Cards, and other banking products. This also includes the BarcaRewards that are directly pertinent to FC Barca fans here in the UAE, which aims to offer exciting football benefits and privileges.” said Peter England, CEO RAKBANK.

FC Barcelona was founded 118 years ago in 1899, and is unique in many ways. The club is owned by its more than 145,000 members and can boast of being the most successful club in Europe over the last years. Since season 2004/05 they have won four of the Club’s five Champions League titles and nine of their 25 domestic league titles. Such unstoppable growth in recent years has led to a global reach of more than 315 million fans and made FC Barcelona a world leader on social media.

24/06/2018

RAKBANK has partnered with Xpress Money, one of the most dependable money transfer organizations in the world, to offer convenient money transfer services to RAKBANK customers through the Bank’s award-winning remittance service, RAKMoneyTransfer (RMT). The Bank’s money remittance service is available in 5 countries including India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal. By virtue of this partnership with Xpress Money, RAKBANK has expanded its RMT service to 20 new countries with a total reach of 25 countries* worldwide. It will also allow customers to make hassle-free money transfers with greater convenience and maximum security. 
 
RAKMoneyTransfer service has been specially designed to meet the remittance needs of customers who can conveniently remit money from their RAKBANK Account or Credit Card to the aforementioned countries. In addition, RMT offers another convenient choice of cash pickup options through 85,000 Xpress Money agent locations, out of the 200,000 locations that Xpress Money has globally. RMT also provides customers with highly competitive exchange rates to ensure the most convenient, secure and cost-effective transfer solution that can be completed at just the click of a button using RAKBANK’s Digital Banking platform and through all of the Bank’s branches. 
 
Peter England, RAKBANK CEO, said: “In line with the Bank’s strategy to offer customers a seamless banking experience, we are currently focusing on aligning our offering through strategic partnerships to increase the Bank’s remittance footprint. We are delighted to have partnered with Xpress Money to extend our RMT service into new territories with the objective of offering the expat community in the UAE the ability to immediately remit money back home. Therefore the partnership will enable our customers to make secure, faster and convenient money transfers to 20 countries.” 

Sudhesh Giriyan, COO, Xpress Money, said: “It has been a constant endeavor of Xpress Money to make money transfers easily accessible and affordable to customers globally. Through our global network of partners in 165 countries, we offer convenient money transfer services, with multiple pay-in and pay-out options, suitable to our customers’ needs. This collaboration gives us the opportunity to offer digital solutions through RAKBANK, elevating the level of their customers’ convenience as they can now send money anytime, to 20 new countries. We are happy to have partnered with a brand that is also working towards a similar objective that benefits the end customer.”

19/06/2018

RAKBANK recently worked alongside their partners C3 and Farnek respectively in order to host a financial literacy campaign at both the Dubai and Ras al Khaimah headquarters. The objective of the financial literacy campaign was to highlight to the Farnek blue collar employees, also C3 prepaid cardholders, about the ability to instantly transfer money to select Asian countries* at competitive rates with RAKBANK’s Award winning** RAKMoneyTransfer remittance service by conveniently using the C3 digital mobile application on their Smartphones.   

Farnek is a leading UAE-based facilities management (FM) company that provides cleaning services for the Bank and C3 is RAKBANK’s official Prepaid Card Service Providers. Hosted by C3 at RAKBANK offices, its aim was to educate the Farnek blue collar staff about prudent financial planning and the features of the C3 prepaid payroll cards such as immediate salary transfers, payroll solutions and savings that will help them achieve their financial goals.

Commenting on the campaign, RAKBANK CEO Peter England said: “The financial literacy campaign that was driven by C3 and supported by Farnek is in line with one of RAKBANK’s main CSR pillars of financial inclusion. We are committed to offering a more holistic banking experience by providing an entry into the UAE’s blue collar payroll schemes. The Bank has always been at the forefront of a well-defined segmentation strategy to deliver a diverse selection of products & services.”

“Since 2007, C3 has provided businesses, banks and exchange houses a payroll solution that allows blue collar employees to withdraw money and make physical or online payments. Digital technology and enhanced financial infrastructure have provided the key foundation for financial inclusion of migrant workers in the UAE. Thanks to the launch of the C3 Mobile Application, these workers can benefit from an extended range of digital financial services,” said Marwan Hachem, C3-Edenred’s Managing Director, Africa & Middle East.

Markus Oberlin, Farnek’s CEO, said: “At Farnek, technology and innovation are at the forefront of everything we do for our customers so naturally we want to ensure those brand values are offered to our staff. This partnership with RAKBANK and C3 adds another dimension to staff wellbeing and further underscores our commitment to our people who, through hard work and commitment, drive our business success.”

20/05/2018

RAKBANK has recently announced the introduction of a cognitive chatbot that allows Bank employees to interact with an Artificial Intelligence-powered IBM platform to help them answer questions, find solutions or quickly route pending requests to human advisors. Using AI technology will enhance the employee’s experience when facing technical roadblocks at work. The Bank will begin by making the system accessible to all its employees to answer queries on everything from ‘How do I change my password?’ to ‘How do I update my home address with the bank’? The chatbot will be able to answer these simple questions in just a split second while directing employees to a human to answer questions that are more complex. 

The chatbot service is powered by cloud-based AI technology from IBM based on an agreement between RAKBANK and IBM which was signed in early 2017. With the chatbot being able to find answers from a variety of sources of information instantly, staff are more efficient and productive. Offering a much simpler and faster process to resolve issues internally and find solutions will in turn benefit the customer. The chatbot also uses AI-based tone analyzing capabilities to better understand how an employee is feeling – for example, if they are unhappy or frustrated – and then change its tone and actions accordingly. 

Peter England, RAKBANK CEO, said: “We at RAKBANK believe in leveraging new technologies that constantly enhance the experiences for both employees and in turn customers. By using AI technology to power our chatbot, our employees are able to get answers to their simple queries easily and in real time. Leveraging AI is in line with not only our strategy here at the Bank, but also enables us to enhance our existing market-leading chat service. The second phase of the chatbot service is to introduce it to customers. In the near future, customers will be able to get answers to their simple queries with zero waiting time. RAKBANK will continue to find ways to improve efficiency across the Bank, and engage in strategic partnerships such as IBM that gives the Bank a competitive edge in the market. These are driven by our emphasis on innovation, which we regard as an essential vehicle for reaching future goals”.