CEO interview in Durrah, December 2010 - BMI

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL05Our plan is to be able to offer our customers a full rangeof products and services to cater to all their tastes andrequirements.05How do you plan to build on synergieswith your biggest shareholder,BankMuscat, in the next years?We are working very closely together. We aretrying to support each other and I believe thereis much greater strength in the unity than in theindividuals. If we work together as a group we havea much stronger bargaining and negotiating powerthan if we work individually. Today if we need toraise funding in the market place, we work withBankMuscat. If we need support, we work withBankMuscat, if we have a ticket here that is big forus, we try to bring in BankMuscat, or if they havereached their limit with a customer they will askus to take part of it. So the synergy is there. SinceI took over, I made it very clear that I want to workvery closely with BankMuscat because I believethis is my backbone and if I have a shareholderlike that I am very lucky. I see them as a verysupportive, mutually benefitial and strategic partner.Having been the CEO of an IslamicInvestment bank in your previous role,what are your plans for the IslamicBanking division with BMI Bank?Our plan is to be able to offer our customersa full range of products and services to cater toall tastes and requirements of our customers. Ifa customer wants finance or wants a deposit inthe conventional way, we can offer that, and if hewants to do it in the Sharia compliant way, we canalso offer that. By doing that we can really cater tothe vast majority of the population. Whether thisis a better way or that is a better way, we leave tothe customer to decide. My job is to offer him afull range and then he can choose what is best forhim and for his requirement. I think we are luckythat we have an Islamic window that can cater tothis need. So we will look at it carefully, nurturingand expanding it and we are making sure weare bringing the right people into this division toexpand it.Would you say that the globalfinancial crisis underlined the case fora more ethical form of finance?Yes, definitely. I think a lot of banking andtransactions were done in ways that were notprofessional. We have seen so many examplesover the last two years. This industry was supposedto be regulating itself but this latest crisis hasrevealed that this industry cannot regulate itself.There have to be strict regulation in order to protectdepositors and shareholders and I think hopefullywhat they are working on will achieve that. Morethan any other business, this business is based ontrust and if we lose that we don’t have an effectivebanking sector.What exactly is the vision for BMItoday?To be a dynamic and innovative regional bankoffering our customers unique financial solutions overthe next ten years.060705 BMI Bank is a retail bank with eightbranches and 26 ATMs in Bahrain.06 Mr. Al-Hazeem with the Board ofDirectors and CEO of BankMuscatcelebrating 5 years of success inBahrain.07 Mr. Al-Hazeem inaugurates Sami AlKooheji’s boat. BMI Bank is one of theofficial sponsors for Sami Al Khooheji’s2010 Asian Games bid.046 a Pearl of Luxury