Hussain Al Yafai, Head of Corporate and Institutional Clients and Head of Financial Markets, Standard Chartered Oman, shares his vision on strengthening corporate banking and financial markets in Oman, in an interview with Muhammed Nafie.
How is the performance of your corporate banking division in 2014?
In Oman, we are doing extremely well in the corporate institutional and client segment. The year 2014 has been very good for the bank. We are looking to post double-digit growth in terms of revenue this year, despite the fact that we are operating in a very competitive environment; coupled with abundance of liquidity which is causing margin compression. We managed to post impressive growth rates, by deepening our client relationships and our global expertise.
What are the measures taken by the bank to strengthen its corporate and institutional client business?
One of our focal areas is to continue building a highly competitive and talented team and to leverage our international network and brand strength in order to deliver to our clients locally.
In addition to vanilla lending, we are tapping into different segments, specialising more on top-of- the pyramid products, such as capital markets, corporate advisory, and project finance. We do lending mostly to solidify our relationships, but ensure that all other areas such as transaction banking, corporate finance, and capital markets are firing on all cylinders.
We are also working very closely with various government entities in Oman to deliver on their infrastructure and strategic expansion. We are part of a consortium of financial institutions raising $2.9bn for Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (Orpic). In addition, we are one of the core banks in the $1.85bn Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) signed with the Sultanate’s energy investment arm, Oman Oil Company. We are also deeply involved in various prestigious projects in the country.
Can you share details about your branch and ATM network? And are there plans of upgrading your presence in the year ahead?
Right now Standard Chartered Bank has three branches in Oman. Currently, we are not focusing on branch network when it comes to the expansion of our business. On a global level, banks are now migrating to smart expansion methods such as e-commerce and online banking instead of focusing on infrastructure building and branch network.
What are the measures taken by the bank to improve its HR practices?
We take Omanisation very seriously. The percentage of Omanisation is above 90 per cent and at senior management level it is currently 57 per cent. In addition, our female staff strength is at 37 per cent. We are developing our Omani employees as the future leaders of the bank. The employees are either trained locally or sent to our regional office. For employees with high potential, we offer opportunities to go on short-term assignments to our offices in the region or internationally. Some of these employees have the opportunity to leave Oman for one or two years to work in some of our Standard Chartered offices in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, London etc. Investing in our employees is a great way to build and sustain a strong pipeline of local talent and support them with the right skills and experience to lead the bank.
In what ways is your bank supporting small and medium enterprises in Oman?
SME is one of the key areas for us, as it is for all other local banks, especially given the government’s renewed focus on extending support to this important sector. Recently Standard Chartered Oman was awarded the ‘Best SME Customer Service’ by Banker Middle East Product Awards 2014 which demonstrates our commitment to our SME customers. We have built the team, built the necessary infrastructure and plan to continue growing the SME segment.
You are a seasoned banker with years of experience at SCB. What is your vision for the bank’s corporate and institutional business in Oman?
I joined Standard Chartered Bank in Oman in 2013 as the head of corporate banking; but I have been with the bank since 2005. I joined Standard Chartered Dubai’s financial markets team as regional business planning manager for the MENA region. In 2007, I was part of the Capital Markets team leading many high-profile debt capital markets (DCM) transactions for the region. Now as the head of corporate and institutional banking and financial markets, I will be focusing on deepening our relationships with clients, and delivering strategic thought to them. My priority will not be on doubling our client base, because that is not how we do business. I will be focusing more on the business of volumes and quality aspects. In addition, we are not in the business of competing with local banks, but are there to compliment their services in multiple ways.