Business Support

GROUP BUSINESS SERVICES (GBS)

The past year has been particularly active for GBS. We continued our mission to ensure that the Bank’s technological and operational infrastructure remains robust, efficient and adaptive and that our digital transformation continues at pace.

We worked with teams across the Bank to improve mobility, delivery, efficiency, and transparency in a drive to continuously offer our customers an outstanding level of service. At the same time, we strengthened our culture of agile working, collaboration and accountability to support a rapid pace of change across the organisation and to ensure projects were delivered smoothly and as planned.

In partnership with the Wholesale and Consumer Banking teams, we implemented a number of online services and tools to provide innovative solutions to our customers, including those in the SME and mid-corporate sectors, improving customer onboarding, financing and trade workflows.

Working with other functions within the Bank, we were instrumental in delivering a large number of critical projects, including projects to support the introduction of VAT and IFRS 9 as well as a number of regulatory and compliance solutions. We also enhanced our customer feedback and liaison programs to ensure even greater transparency, fairness and accessibility.

In 2018, we further strengthened our processes around operational efficiency and risk, by enhancing controls and security. These improvements helped us to drive greater efficiencies by increasing productivity and enhancing the customer journey at every touchpoint, as we seek to provide a world-class banking experience for our customers.

From customer onboarding and servicing, to the voice of the customer, transparency and accountability, we are committed to responding to customer feedback and providing exceptional service at every opportunity. Regardless of the channel through which our customers choose to connect with us, we work to ensure a seamless experience with a consistent and timely service.

The replacement of our core banking system in 2017 provided the robust platform required for the volume of change and transformation undertaken this year. In 2018 we utilised the enhanced system’s resilience, agility and scale as the foundation for the digitisation program across ADCB.

This year, we enhanced our range of apps and revamped our internet and mobile banking platforms. Customers benefit from these enhanced digital capabilities, allowing them to do everything from opening an account and paying bills, to transferring money and getting approval for a loan faster and with greater ease and security.

While working on many new initiatives, this year we delivered several significant new releases, while creating a digital style guide to bring a consistent look and feel across all our platforms. Teams from across the Bank have been mobilised to work on delivering these projects, such as Hayyak. Hayyak, currently in pilot stage, significantly enhances the onboarding process for new customers, reducing the time to open an account from 3–4 days to about 10 minutes.

The dedicated digital studio in the ADCB head office augments our agile culture and helps us to deliver new products and services faster and more efficiently. The studio is home to our agile working teams—or squads—and features four specialist rooms including a hi-tech customer lounge. Our studio teams, comprised of staff from every area of the business, work in collaboration with consumers—both customers and non-customers—to develop and test all our digital platforms at every stage of development, including proposed new releases.

By adopting this agile digital culture and harnessing our unique consumer insight, we are differentiating ADCB and bringing innovative and new services to the market. We are also raising our brand recognition and building greater trust with all our stakeholders—promoting deeper engagement with customers and our staff and creating greater value for investors.

We are also making greater use of data and analytics to develop more intuitive and personalised user experiences as well as to create new and different products and services that match the ambitions of our customers. Embedding analytics in our decision flows will also significantly improve operational efficiency and customer experience.

In addition to taking feedback, suggestions and insights from our customers, we look to our staff for new and innovative ideas and have piloted a programme to encourage intrepreneurs, or internal entrepreneurs, to come up with a range of digital designs for new ways of working, new products, AI and businesses.

We have also played a pivotal role in improving the Bank’s operational processes, increasing efficiency and reducing costs through ITMAM, our captive shared services centre through both on-shore and off-shore capabilities. In 2018, ITMAM delivered another solid performance with 98.2% of service level agreements met across Consumer and Wholesale Banking Groups. The number of transactions processed per employee was up 1.3% compared to last year.

We are continuing to save time and deliver efficiencies for customers through new and improved channels. In 2018, GBS processed an 11% increase in transaction volumes in businesses such as payments, trade and treasury products. Meanwhile, we continue to use the Lean Six Sigma approach across our teams to create greater value for our customers and the business by minimising waste, reducing defects and improving processes.

We successfully increased the capabilities of our network of Cheque Deposit Machines (CDMs), which significantly improved the cheque clearing experience for our customers. More than 1.8 million transactions went through our CDMs in 2018, which process and clear cheques almost immediately. We continue to grow and develop ‘Tamooha’—our award winning all-female UAE National operations centre in Al Ain, and we continue to bring further operational processes from across the Bank into the ITMAM way of working.

GBS continues to do more, with less, and without any compromise on quality. We will continue our investment in digital, capitalising on our new system to scale for growth.

In addition to our heavy day-to-day operational responsibilities, we have a pipeline of innovative and exciting initiatives for 2019 and beyond, driven by our commitment to our customers, to agility and to the future of our Bank.

HUMAN RESOURCES (HR)

Our success is driven by the quality of our people, the strength of our leadership, and the clarity of our vision. The knowledge, skills and experience of our staff in every area of the business enable ADCB to deliver its strategic goals and objectives through exceptional customer service.

Maintaining an engaged and motivated workforce is key to fostering a high-performance culture. Our values—Integrity, Care, Ambition, Respect and Discipline—play a large part in this and help us to achieve higher levels of service, boost our reputation as a brand, and build on the trust and confidence of our shareholders.

There is a strong sense of pride amongst those who work at the Bank. This year’s annual employee engagement survey once again revealed rising levels of employee engagement, which placed ADCB ahead of other local banks as well as those in the region. According to the leading global consultant’s benchmarks, ADCB’s results also compare favourably to the top performing companies in the Fortune 500 with engagement levels.

More than 86% of staff took part in the survey which showed a continued improvement in scores across the majority of topics. The results revealed:

• 90% of staff believe the Bank provides clear and promising direction;
• 90% consider we provide high-quality products and services and are entirely focussed on our customers;
• 85% are confident in the quality of leadership at ADCB; and
• 83% regard our performance management as robust.

The strength of our employee engagement and their commitment to the Bank has meant that more than a third of our staff now have an average length of service of six years at ADCB.

The importance of placing the customer at the centre of everything we do is a key strategic pillar and helps to drive our success in HR. Customer-centricity helps us to build meaningful and long-term relationships with our customers and to better understand their evolving needs. We listen closely to what our customers are saying and quickly design solutions that are appropriate for them. Our goal is to ensure that this relentless focus on the customer becomes embedded in our decision-making process and part of the Bank’s DNA. To further support this, we strive to attract the best talent possible and to sharpen their skills through robust learning programmes.

Supporting the digital transformation is another of our core pillars. To build better in-house digital capabilities, we have recruited talent from the local, regional and global markets as well as augmenting skills internally through our Digital Academy. We also piloted a programme to assess digital behavioral competencies throughout the business.

Investing in the development of our people remains at the heart of our HR activities. Through our range of specialised academies, we delivered more than 163 unique classroom training courses and 450 technical and functional e-learning modules. In addition to the academies, we placed great focus on mandatory learning where we have seven different modules on topics such as compliance, risk, anti-money laundering, information security and our code of conduct. These mandatory courses form an integral part of the comprehensive three-month induction programme designed to integrate new staff into the Bank’s culture.

Employees received an average of 38 hours of training in 2018, helping to further develop their skills and abilities. Our training is measured through learning tracker tools that ensure we deliver a robust return on investment.

Our performance management process is thorough and comprehensive. It is mandatory for all employees to have set objectives and KPIs mapped to their role. 30% of our performance objectives are service related. To reinforce and promote good performance, the process is linked to reward and recognition and to the career growth opportunities within the Bank. Performance forms part of the eligibility criteria for the range of vertical and horizontal career moves we offer.

Career paths and requirements for career progression are clearly defined and communicated to all employees and supported by learning and development programmes open to all staff.

In 2018, in line with our values of Care and Respect and to foster a better work/life balance, we reviewed our benefits scheme and introduced a half-day leave category to help provide flexibility for staff.

We recognise the value of diversity and we are proud to have people from 84 different nationalities working in the Bank, which helps to enrich our culture.

We place a special focus on gender diversity across all levels of the organisation and have seen a significant increase in the number of women joining the Bank and moving into senior leadership positions. 39% of our workforce is female with 29% of middle and senior management roles held by women. To support working mothers, we have doubled our maternity leave.

In 2018 we increased the number of UAE Nationals working for the Bank. We consistently surpass the Emiratisation targets set by the regulators every year.

Helping drive this success is our Emirati Academy, which aims to ensure that high school and university graduates are fully prepared for branch or departmental roles, with the necessary knowledge and training to equip them for success.

TAMOOHA

Ambition is one of our core values and we believe in nurturing those with a strong desire to achieve more. That is why five years ago we created our award-winning Tamooha initiative which helps Emirati women pursue a career and contribute to the nation’s progress, while ensuring their family priorities are taken care of.

The programme, which has grown every year, provides a women-only workspace, telecommuting and part-time options for skilled Emirati women who want a work environment suited to their traditional values. We provide training and support at our dedicated centre in Al Ain, where women are able to gain experience and skills.

Those who successfully complete the course receive a certificate and the chance to work from home or at the centre. This year, more than 10 women chose to move from Tamooha into full-time employment with the Bank.

In 2018, we also saw an increase in the number of those applying to the programme. As a result, there are now more than 200 taking part in our Tamooha initiative.