A trailblazer when it comes to customer-centric innovation and digital excellence, Boubyan Bank has a new five-year plan, to ensure its position as a leading, full-fledged Islamic bank for high value individuals and companies.
Sharia-compliant finance has seen huge developments in recent years, from regulatory evolution and market expansion to product innovation and financial inclusion. There has never been more demand for banks like Boubyan that have the insight and expertise to provide diverse customer groups with cutting edge Islamic services and products.
“Countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia continue to strengthen Islamic finance laws and others like the UK have introduced specific regulations to support Islamic banking,” says Adel Al-Majed, Vice-Chairman and Group CEO of Boubyan Bank. “Sukuk issuance has grown substantially, driven by demand for Sharia-compliant investment options in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Sovereign and corporate sukuk have become popular financing tools, allowing governments and businesses to raise capital in a Sharia-compliant manner.”
Continuously evolving to meet new challenges and ambitions, Boubyan has already established a reputation for excellence in its provision of Sharia-compliant finance. A new strategy — Boubyan 2028 — aligns with the bank’s overall mission and will integrate environmental, social and governance considerations across its operations.
“Boubyan 2028 aims to grow and strengthen our local and international presence, diversify products and services, and explore new growth opportunities,” says Al-Majed. “We will continue scaling our core businesses, in addition to exploring strategic partnerships to ensure growth momentum.”
Execution of the bank’s strategy will result in continued customer centricity, with the aim of growing market share, innovating on existing and new business lines and creating significant value for shareholders. Boubyan is experiencing strong growth across all its business segments, but in the retail sector Al-Majed singles out the bank’s PRIME and Premium segments for special mention.
PRIME is the youth segment, where Boubyan is at the cutting edge of developing new products and services. “These efforts have yielded exemplary results,” says Al-Majed. “Today the bank holds a significant market share among the Kuwaiti youth. While maintaining this share year on year is in itself an enormous feat, the bank succeeds in overachieving its expectations by increasing growth every year.”
In the Premium market — affluent customers — growth has been just as impressive. Entering its third year of existence, the Premium segment is a perfect combination of Boubyan’s outstanding customer services, coupled with innovative, state-of-the-art Premium lounges that offer wealthy customers privacy and financial support.
Supporting digital development
FinTech and digital technology are changing the Islamic finance landscape faster than ever, providing new avenues for ethical and Sharia-compliant investment. Faster services, growing product options and personalised services are widening the Islamic finance market.
Boubyan has taken a highly structured and active approach to engaging with local FinTech and start-up communities. “We have already launched multiple Hackathons, Accelerators, and innovation challenges, within the bank and externally,” says Al-Majed.
Boubyan is proud to have sponsored almost 80% of the FinTech applicants to the Central Bank of Kuwait’s Regulatory Sandbox. In addition, Boubyan has multiple ongoing engagements with FinTechs for strategic, implementation and operational advice and support.
Boubyan also provides a wide variety of financial services to FinTechs. In addition to the more traditional services, it continues to invest heavily to ensure it can provide new services like banking-as-a-service, BIN sponsorship, wallet acceptance and embedded banking.
More recently, Boubyan has started engaging with FinTechs and start-ups from a venture capital perspective, from very early to late stage investments. “Boubyan has made significant progress in this space,” says Al-Majed, “and will shortly be announcing key investments, focusing on strategic positioning in sectors that are critical for Boubyan’s core business and long-term vision.”
KEY COMPANY DATA
First half of 2024
Total assets: $28.9bn
Net profit: $161.7m
Capital adequacy ratio: 17.8%
Loan to deposit ratio: 88%