UBF sets up new committees to support UAE banks’ growth

The banking body says it formed two technical committees on FinTech and consumer protection along with three advisory committees

Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, said the country's banking sector has sufficient liquidity. Pawan Singh / The National

The UAE Banks Federation, a body representing 53 lenders in the country, formed new committees to promote governance and the transformation of the banking sector in the UAE.

The representative body formed two technical committees on FinTech and consumer protection along with three advisory committees on compliance, risk and information security, it said in a statement on Sunday.

“With the introduction of five new committees, we hope to further raise the standards of the industry, and support the UAE’s progressive vision to empower society at all levels,”  Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, said.

“The pillars we have chosen to build on are fundamental to the economy, and by better preparing banks for the future, we are securing a better future for the UAE and wider region.”

The FinTech committee will help foster an environment conducive to product and partnership innovation in the banking industry while the consumer protection committee will look at all issues related to consumer protection in the UAE.

The new committees bring the total number of technical groups operated under UBF to 22, the organisation said.

The compliance advisory committee, risk advisory committee, and information security advisory committee are the UBF’s first advisory committees. These groups will be made up of banking representatives who will advise technical committee members, the UBF added.

The Central Bank of the UAE recently launched a consultation exercise for a new financial consumer protection regulatory framework, which will help it develop and implement new regulations that include more comprehensive requirements for all financial institutions under its supervision, the regulator said last month.

The new framework will include enhancements to the quality of disclosure and transparency standards, ensuring timely responses to customer complaints and will require financial institutions to provide consumers with effective dispute resolution services.

The consultation for the new framework closely follows the central bank’s move setting up a consumer protection department, which has initiated a review of consumers’ experiences with financial institutions in the UAE. The department has also carried out benchmarking exercises with other central banks to follow and implement international best practice in the UAE, the central bank statement said at the time.

The banks’ efforts to improve consumer protection have been effective as research indicates the users have a high level of trust in lenders. A 2019 survey conducted by UBF to measure consumer perceptions and confidence in UAE banks revealed that around three quarters of consumers in the country have high trust in the local banking sector – up from 68 per cent in 2017.

The UAE also had a higher trust score than other developed nations such as the US, UK, China, Japan, France and Germany, research showed.

FinTech is the most active part of the venture funding market in the Middle East and North Africa region, with 13 per cent of the 564 funding deals completed last year involving a company from the sector, according to Magnitt.