Brett Maclagan, senior manager consulting at Deloitte Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, said the customer base in the Middle East is growing at a much faster pace than any other region in the world, making it worthwhile to deploy the best customer service model.

Maclagan was speaking at a monthly meeting of the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) at the Gulf Hotel and said it was the right time to implement a more transparent business model for the banks.

According to a report, UAE banks have seen the strongest growth in the GCC in terms of retail banking revenues.

The UAE, which saw a marginal one percent growth in group profit, leads the region's retail banking performance with a 34 percent increase in revenues from last year, 25 percentage points higher than the GCC industry average of nine percent.

Bahrain saw an increase of 19 percent in retail revenues, Kuwait 19 percent and Saudi Arabia two percent.

Maclagan said banks in the West are required by law to post their lending rates on their websites, which was not the case in this part of the world.

"With growing competition the banks in the Middle East are implementing such steps aimed at enhancing transparency across the board. More transparency in customer lending will also help to bring these banks on par with their peers in the West," he added.

"The result of implementing the best customer services norms will help in three ways: Serving the existing customer base properly, attracting new customers and keeping your competitors away from your bank," he said.

Maclagan said it would take time to replace the existing culture at the banks but it would definitely improve revenues and enhance the efficiency of the banks.

Referring to the GCC banks' exposure to the financial meltdown, he said the Middle East region remained well insulated by having huge capital stores. In Qatar, he said, the government had taken on all bad debts and kept the banks afloat despite the crisis.