RIYADH, 9 December 2004 — Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation (ARABIC), a leading bank of Saudi Arabia, plans to open about 110 model branches next year in an effort to attract high-worth customers.
Plans are also under way to expand Al-Rajhi’s operations, promote electronic banking with new technology especially at the model branches and lure more expatriate workers to remit their funds faster and without any hassle.
This was disclosed by Saeed Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, ARABIC’s general manager for retail banking after holding a meeting with the Philippine Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla at the bank’s headquarters here yesterday. The meeting was attended by many senior officials of the bank including Fahd Abdullah Al-Rajhi, Sami Al-Rajhi, Mohammed S. Al-Yami and Marlon B. Hernandez, local representative of Metrobank of the Philippines.
Al-Rajhi is the second largest listed Saudi bank in terms of market capitalization. ARABIC has more than 370 branches and more than 95 exclusive branches for women making it the largest banking network in the Kingdom. The bank has been a pioneer in providing internal and external express remittance services with 45 years of experience in this field. “And before the end of 2005, ARABIC will open some 110 model branches, which will have added services features”, said Al-Ghamdi.
He also pointed out that these branches, which will be the first of their kind in Saudi Arabia, will be devoted to sales and services. Referring to Al-Rajhi Bank’s relations with the Philippines, Ambassador Guinomla said that “in our meeting today, we discussed as how to improve the services for the Philippine further”. He said that total remittances sent by Filipino workers to their country exceeded $1 billion.
The ambassador also called Saudi investors like Al-Rajhi group to invest in the Philippines. “We have potentials in tourism and trading sectors”, said the diplomat.
Speaking after the meeting, Al-Ghamdi said that “we have 34 remittance centers and more than 41 small remittance units all over the Kingdom”. “This is in addition to 20 new remittance centers and 29 units to be opened next year”, he said. “We have had about 45 percent of the remittance market share”, said Al-Ghamdi adding that the ARABIC has also reported 35 percent growth in the volume of total remittances sent last year.