Building Customer-Level Profitability: Q&A with Mashreq Bank

In the lead-up to FICO World in November, FICO interviewed Mashreq Bank Vice President Khalid Zafar, who will co-present “Building Customer-Level Profitability in a Changing Environment.”  At the conference, Zafar will share how Mashreq Bank redefined its predictive analytics and decision strategies to better deal with changing consumer behavior, risk-reward metrics, regulations and the economy.  Zafar answers our questions about this upcoming FICO World session in the Q&A below.

What is the main idea behind your session? The current economic conditions have had a great impact in the banking environment in UAE [United Arab Emirates].  I would like to present how it has specifically challenged Mashreq Bank, and how we have adapted and responded to these challenges.

What are the challenges banks face in this area today? Increasingly, more savvy customers have challenged the way they receive banking services.  Banks, on the other hand, also have to pick customers carefully in light of increased risk.  These two together means a change in the approach of how banks do business today.

Is there a “game-changer” approach that your bank is taking? We are trying to re-wire the organization the way we think of and serve our customers.  We want to shift from an inward-thinking organization to one that has its internal working linked to the pulse of the customer through well-tuned KPIs.  This means working with our people, policies and processes better, with more efficient use of systems to provide value to our clients at a lower cost.

What will attendees take away from your session? The personal experience of a bank on becoming more customer-centric; and to learn about the changing environment, while at the same time trying to influence the environment to its favor by being the ‘first to the market’ with innovative ideas. *** We invite you to hear firsthand from Mashreq Bank and other industry innovators at FICO World, which runs November 1-4 in New York.