SME business is all about managing risks, say bankers

Vibhor Mundhada, senior vice-president business manager, accounting Mashreq, Anil Srivastava, deputy chief executive, Bank of Baroda, Dhiraj Kunwar, managing director, Business Banking, RAK Bank and Shaker Zainal, business finance director, Emirates Development Bank during the panel discussion on How Tech is assisting SMEs and shaping the future of SME Banking at Digibank — banking transformation forum — organised by Khaleej Times in Dubai on Tuesday. Photo by Shihab

Dubai - SMEs are more fast-paced and agile unlike big firms.

Waheed Abbas

Published: Tue 26 Oct 2021, 7:59 PM

Last updated: Tue 26 Oct 2021, 8:01 PM

Customers want to do banking on the go just similar to how they use social media, said senior officials of the UAE banks.

“Today, individual customers want to do everything on the go, similar to how they use Instagram with a flip of their finger. Entire banking is all about convenience,” said Dhiraj Kunwar, managing director for business banking at RAK Bank.

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Citing an example, he said WhatsApp is being used to place orders on groceries with conversational commerce becoming a buzzword.

Highlighting the impact of Covid-19 on small and medium enterprises, he said contrary to popular concepts, SMEs are more fast-paced and agile unlike big firms.

While speaking during a panel discussion at the Digibank 2021, he noted that SME is not a short term business but it’s a cyclical business and the banks have to play long. “SME business is about managing risk.”

Shaker Zainal, business finance director of Emirates Development Bank, said there is a lot of support from the government and banks to the small and medium businesses. “Our mandate is to grow GDP and economy. There is too much collaboration on this front. Banks have to do more towards non-financial issues to support SMEs,” he said.

Anil Srivastava, deputy chief executive of Bank of Baroda, said lending is key for the SMEs growth.

— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com