Strengthening the customer base

Our strategy is primarily aimed at acquiring clients of small and medium-sized enterprises and government sectors. The Bank has commenced account planning to enable cross-selling for corporate customers, a concept that will be rolled out to other Divisions. Through a process of cross-team discussions, customer needs are identified, and products and services are developed accordingly.

The Account Management Unit (AMU) was formed to cater to the needs of non-borrowing corporate customers. Each customer was assigned a dedicated and experienced relationship manager who can give him the best advice on using his banking opportunities. Customers are guided on how they can select the options that will give them the optimum results. The Bank offers a range of non-lending products which could be bundled together to suit their needs. In the process potential borrowers will also be identified and assisted to move through the borrowing process.

The main strategic thrusts for the non-borrowing segment are identifying non-lending and cross-sell opportunities for products; increasing product penetration of existing customers; increasing both interest bearing and non-interest bearing deposits; and strengthening the customer relationship and identifying possible future borrowers.

In 2020, we achieved an increase in AMU non-borrowing customers, and cemented our relationships with existing non-borrowing corporate clients.

Digitization

The Bank’s digitalization process is not confined to technology alone. It also involves a holistic transformation of processes and people. Workflow, routines and procedures need to be re-engineered. The roles and accountabilities of staff need to be revised and their skills be upgraded to handle new systems. The changes have to be underpinned by infrastructure and applications.

The Bank is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to proactively anticipate trends in the operating environment. Predictive models are created which use data analysis to predict events such as customer defaults, customer dropouts, product purchases, and digital channel optimization.

The existing services were also streamlined by implementing robotics processing methodologies to take the legacy operating model to a new level. A new business model is being developed that will provide external stakeholders with access to some of the Bank's services.

Partnering with the Government

Riyad Bank has had a history of financing Government projects, which it has aggressively pursued during the year under review. As a result, the Bank has also been able to contribute towards the goals of Vision 2030. Several more potential projects are also under discussion.

• Signing cooperation agreements with the Tourism Development Fund to provide financing for the development of tourism in the Kingdom.
• Participated in financing the Jazlah Water Desalination Project (Jubail 3A Independent Water Project, of SWPC) for the Consortium of Sponsors.
• Participation in co-financing of SAR 9 Bn. for the Saudi Electricity Company.
• Participation in the joint refinancing of SAR 8.6 Bn. for Maaden Waad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company.
• Participation in co-financing worth SAR 1.5 Bn. for Advanced Petrochemical Company.
• Participation in the co-financing of SAR 3 Bn. for the Saudi Polymers Company.
• Murabaha financing of SAR 700 Mn. with the International Polymers Company.

Contributions towards Vision 2030

Despite pandemic-related disruptions, during the year under review, the Bank continued to work with government agencies towards achieving Vision 2030 goals such as building a stronger private sector through many initiatives. This work encompassed support for sectors of the economy and society that have been impacted by the pandemic.

More than 31 initiatives were submitted with 19 governmental and private entities

The following memoranda of understanding and cooperation agreements were signed

	Name of the organization	The name of the initiative
1	Ministry of Finance	Joint financing packages for projects within the Project Support Fund initiative
2	Ministry of Finance	Supporting qualitative projects : a land of opportunity, a loan within the initiative of the Projects Support Fund
3	Tourism Development Fund	Guaranteed facilities
4	Tourism Development Fund	Project financing
5	General Entertainment Authority	Initiatives to support business development in the entertainment sector
6	Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company	Partnerships real estate financing programs

 

Dealing with the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge to corporate banking. Health and safety became a top priority, relation to the Bank’s stakeholders – in particular its employees. Remote working was successfully implemented during the first phase of the pandemic, as well as a smooth return to normal working practices. Except in very few cases, such as for medical reasons, normal work practices were implemented enabling the Bank to maintain employee morale and productivity.

Our relationship managers kept in regular touch with customers, and encouraged them to share with the Bank any business problems caused by the pandemic. The Bank was always willing to go to lengths to render any assistance possible. Corporate Banking launched several new lending schemes to help the private sector surmount the crisis. The Bank also granted customers who were part of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (MSME) Program, a payment delay and an exemption from facility fees for the entire period of the programme.