‘Bank for Life’: KIB embarks on new chapter of its journey

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New strategy focuses on offering next-level customer experience that delivers much more than just ‘banking’

KUWAIT CITY, April 15: KIB is no stranger to transformation.

In fact, KIB has always recognized that change is not only inevitable, but a vital necessity. In today’s rapidly-evolving world, change is a must to ensure growth, development and sustainability — in individuals and organizations alike.

A pillar of the local banking sector since 1973, KIB has built a stellar legacy by embracing positive change; adapting to the economic landscape and the ceaselessly fickle financial market with precise and forward-thinking strategic development plans. For KIB, life is a journey of continuous evolution, and today, the Bank is embarking on the next chapter of its own journey.

Today, KIB is in the midst of its new strategic transformation: a comprehensive and long-term program which is aimed at transforming the way KIB engages with customers across every touch point and communication channel. This new strategy focuses on offering a next-level customer experience that delivers much more than just “banking” in the traditional sense — but rather establishes KIB as a partner in every aspect of its customers’ lives; a true “bank for life”.

Rooted in legacy … always looking towards the future

It was ten years ago that KIB underwent its first course-altering strategic transformation, when it made the transition from a specialized real estate bank (known then as Kuwait Real Estate Bank), to a full-fledged Sharia-compliant Islamic bank. This was the first transformation of its kind to take place in the Middle East and heralded the dawn of KIB as a force to be reckoned with in the realm of Islamic Banking; a promise that the Bank has more than lived up to since then.

With a distinguished legacy spanning several decades, KIB has always capitalized on its wealth of industry expertise and experience to cater to the diverse needs of the local market with its comprehensive suite of Sharia-compliant financial services and products. From the very beginning, the Bank has focused on offering dynamic, innovative and flexible solutions tailored to suit all segments of the population.

However, as strongly rooted as it is in its rich history and extensive past experiences, KIB has always set its sights firmly on the future.

A visionary outlook, a forward-thinking strategy and a whole new look

KIB’s current transformation focuses on three key pillars: transforming its retail offering by focusing on technological innovation and enhancing its digital services; expanding the corporate banking arm of its business; and finally building upon its rich history in the real estate sector to become a one-stop real estate financing shop, including property management and real estate appraisal.

Although this comprehensive and ambitious transformation is set to continue rolling out over the next few years, it has already resulted in a number of major milestones for KIB. Since the launch of its transformation back in late 2015, KIB has completed a number of pivotal changes within its organization: namely restructuring its core departments, establishing new business units and divisions, as well as adding several talented, experienced and dynamic professionals to its executive management team. KIB has also focused the lion’s share of its efforts on reinvigorating and streamlining internal operations in order to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.

Distributions to depositors’ accounts and overall accounts profitability registered a steady, consistent growth, particularly for Arzaq (KD) deposit and Al Boushra (KD) deposit. KIB continues to offer a well-diversified portfolio of investment accounts, including Al Ithmar Call Account and the savings investment account. The success of its offerings underscores the Bank’s ability in achieving its objectives to enhance deposits profitability and further diversify product offerings.

Yet, the most recent, and arguably most striking, development to take place under the umbrella of the Bank’s transformation has been the launch of KIB’s new brand and corporate identity: a physical manifestation of the grander evolution underway.

More than just being an update to a decade-old logo, the fresh and modern look is reflective of the reenergized, progressive and innovation-focused Bank that KIB has become.

A bank for the digital age

A key component of KIB’s latest transformation is its comprehensive and leading-edge digital strategy.

Amidst the technological changes taking the banking sector by storm, KIB is actively working to remain ahead of the curve by deploying services across all of its digital channels, both online and mobile, designed to enhance and streamline the Bank’s virtual banking experience.

KIB’s strategy is to continuously develop and enhance its banking channels, and as such continues to embrace technology and innovation as the core component of its customer-centric business strategy. The goal is to not only offer pioneering solutions with advanced technical capabilities, but to also provide latest digital solutions that are user friendly and easily accessible at all times.

Recently, one of the most important milestones under the umbrella of KIB’s digital revolution has been the inauguration of the region’s first-of-its-kind omni-channel contact center. This strategic move seeks to completely revolutionize the KIB customer experience and improve service levels. Operating around-the-clock, the center includes an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) portal, and offers centralized monitoring, queuing, routing and reporting solutions.

The new digital strategy also saw KIB launch our innovative Visual IVR service, which provides customers access to most of our services via a visual interface, rather than just a voice self-service interface; enabling the Bank to offer a better self-service call experience.

By incorporating more digital solutions, KIB is focused on becoming a more customer-centric business, delivering greater value to customers, and remaining relevant as a necessary extension to their everyday lives under the ethos of its commitment to being a “Bank for Life”.

This news has been read 9904 times!