Banks in Saudi Arabia part 1

Banking is a BIG subject in all Gulf areas these days. The newspapers will mention on a daily basis an activity involving a bank transaction/acquisition/merger/IPO..etc. on every other page. Being a banker for 14 years gives me great insight on the games banks play and the reckless low risk high anticipated gain they seek.

Back in 1994 joining SAMBA a leading Saudi bank was a dream come true for me. The idea of joining a bank that is associated with an American giant such as CITIBANK was a WOW!

Considered then as the only rival to ARAMCO in terms of growth and training and sharing ideas across the board. Think twice when you want to join this bank today, training is a thing of the past since 97. Saving is the name of the game, and growth will follow,yeah right! well that's what they told us anyway.

The people who were catapulted to the management level were the savers, and ass kissers( excuse my french!) when it came to ideas, future, brainstorming sessions, teamwork, recognition, risk taking, spending on technology, marketing, investing methods, educating consumers...etc. you were simply frowned upon :-(

Get the Non Interest Bearing accounts and concentrate instead of wasting your time on such ideas was the general reply. This was the norm in the bank for years, when you tell them our customers are educated and need some kind of investment scheme or don't want to keep their money lying in the account and get a hotel service when they visit, they reply why are they growing?!

Gangs started to grow and politics took over. Soon the bank realized it had forgotten about it's middle managers( managers of the future) and was hiring left and right based upon looks, parents, wealth, and connections regardless of growth potential. Believe me I was on the hiring board ( the tough one that stood against region heads and WASTA). what KIND OF Nib's can you get in 1 year was the magic question?

Well to make a long story short, they eventually lost all the good men & women to other banks who could see potential, they were hit at all levels, even entry levels!

If you don't believe me, walk into any SAMBA branch and ask the person about the following investments: Bonds, Options, forwards, treasury products( not the one they are offering at the moment), futures...the old stuff, and you will be surprised. I really mean it, ask him how many years has he/she been with the bank, when he says more than 10 years feel free to ask him.

If you want to know where the answers are, ask the region head(s) they might know!

I will be covering more on this interesting subject soon, stay tuned.

Loyal or Satisfied?

When you look at the service industry in our area of the world,you can tell what kind of opportunities await the fast and nimble!

Take for instance the huge strides Dubai takes to accommodate the fast pace of growth in terms of expats and visitors to the business hub of the Gulf. By looking at neighbours and finding weak points in all areas, eliminating them, then becoming the new benchmark in all of those areas, people flocked and actually relocated to this new haven.

When you combine speed and growth without proper infrastructure the outcome is a disaster, not the case with Dubai. They seek problems that arise from such phenomenal growth,find solutions, promise and deliver. We are of course talking about the country itself, which gave power to the business people to compete against it!

The funny thing with Dubai is that businesses there are the ones who are over promising and undelivering, not the country? could that happen in this time and day? yes, par example the GRAND HYATT DUBAI;

During my last stay at Dubai, the first for my wife, I can sum up my experience at such a landmark as miserable. Not fine, not good, miserable. This has to be said when your paying that amount of money for peace of mind and a fine experience.

What we got for our money was far less than we expected as LOYAL Hyatt members. I personally check in the Hyatt over the Intercon hotels everywhere I travel, and I love the new Park Hyatt chain.

When you said Grand Hyatt only 2 years ago, it was a GRAND experience. Now save your money and just go there for a nice dinner or lunch, don't check in and waste your money save it for someone who really does treat you as a Loyal customer and not a satisfied customer. Oh before I check out of this blog, did I mention I got a phone call,1 phone call to check why I said there service was going south! only 1 phone call, with a message from someone important,more important than me,the customer.