Commercial Bank of Kuwait: strategy, vision and differentiation

Elham Yousry Mahfouz, CEO of Commercial Bank of Kuwait talks about Commercial Bank of Kuwait, its history, strategy and differentiation.

She says, “Commercial Bank was established in 1960. That’s about 50 years of existence. It opened in this area, the commercial area. Most of the branches were also built in the commercial area, rather than in residential areas. This was corrected later on when the management of the bank realised it was necessary to have a presence in the residential areas. There will be further expansion itno the residential areas of new cities that are coming up.”

“Each bank is different. It’s strategy is ongoing from the beginning. The chairman, the Board, the shareholders make them unique. They are all involved in the culture of a bank. Ultimately though, everyone is looking for a return on equity. No matter what the strategy, the desired end result is return on equity, income. Year to year, they want to see a return. I am sure they will forgive initial  hiccups for a year or two, but after that the shareholders want to see results. No excuses can be given. Shareholders ultimately look at your strategies to see if they are realistic, and secondly, is it bringing in income. All the expenses should result in income. It goes both ways. I have to show the shareholder the basis of my strategy, why I need to spend this to get that. Basic banking is that I must get more than I spend. For now and the near future, we are a local bank. This may change after 3 to 5 years. We are your bank in Kuwait, we can meet all your banking needs from right here in Kuwait. If you want to expand outside, we can be your window to that, through our correspondent banking network of branches with foreign banks,” she adds.