UAE Banks Federation Highlights support and Commitment to SME Lending

8 December 2015: The UAE Banks Federation (UBF), a professional body representing 49 member banks operating in the UAE, has discussed possible measures to manage and control loan defaults by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) at the latest meeting of its CEO Advisory Council. Other topics discussed at the meeting held on 7th December in Dubai, which was chaired by His Excellency AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation, included compliance with the Federation’s rules on competitive advertising and a review of work of the Federation’s specialised Committees.

The Advisory Council was advised on the latest developments on SMEs skips in the country and discussed the various reasons for this, and considered ways and means for banks to apply a co-ordinated approach, in cooperation & consultation with the Central Bank, to alleviate SME funding difficulties and continue banks support to the SME sector being vital to the national economy.

The Council also discussed the report presented by the independent international agency, with the Marketing committee guidance in its Code of Conduct, on competitive advertising.  The Federation set out guidelines by member banks in the voluntary Code which was published in 2014 and which all member banks have agreed to abide by through their operations.  The Code states that all banks will ensure that all advertising and promotional material is clear, fair and not misleading. In this context the Committee highlighted the issues related to aggressive advertising and statements made which could be misunderstood or misinterpreted by customers.

His Excellency AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UBF, commented: “At a time when many member banks are facing some challenges as a result of a levelling off in the global economy, regional issues, and the drop of oil prices, since a while. It is important for the industry to recognise the impact this is having on customers and the options we have to support them through potentially more challenging times. This is particularly important for SMEs right now, but it is also the moment for us to look closely at our own standards to ensure that they are being maintained across the industry and to cooperate with each other to find the best solutions to support and help this group of companies.  We have gained a high level of trust among customers but how we market ourselves is a good example of how that trust can either be maintained or diminished.   We continue to study other ways to ensure that best practice is implemented by the UAE’s banks in their dealings with their customers.”

The Advisory Council also reviewed the recent annual conference, The Middle East Banking Forum, which was held in Dubai on 16th November and which attracted over 300 participants.  The conference is becoming one of the leading banking events in the region with participation by an ever widening range of senior representatives of regional and international banks as well as banking associations, advisers and suppliers.

Finally, the Council discussed progress on the wide range of ongoing projects being carried out by the Federation’s committees.