SunTec urges UAE & GCC banks to move towards ‘Lifestyle Banking’

By Shilpa Annie Joseph, Official Reporter
  • Follow author on
Amit Dua SunTec
Amit Dua, President, and Global Head of Client Facing Groups at SunTec Business Solutions

SunTec, the world’s No.1 relationship-based pricing and billing firm, has urged banks in the UAE and the wider GCC area to re-engineer their offerings and adopt a new avatar as a ‘Customer Lifestyle centric bank,’ as opposed to being just a ‘Utility product-centric bank’.

Mr. Amit Dua, President, and Global Head of Client Facing Groups at SunTec Business Solutions, made the remarks during the ‘EFMA World Retail banking Summit’.

During the presentation, Mr. Dua shared the strategies and accrued benefits for UAE and GCC banks by adopting this new evolved approach that utilizes the inherent data resident in the bank for customer benefit.

Amit Dua
Amit Dua
President & Global Head
Client Facing Groups
SunTec Business Solutions

“For instance, it’s time for banks to move away from just being a mortgage provider to a provider of a complete home. Consumers are looking for more personalization and individual attention embedded in the experience. More customer-centric proactivity from large GCC banks and financial institutions, and a complete 360-degree approach is the need of the hour. Traditional products largely remain stagnant, with few changes to how they’ve been managed, priced, or sold. The banking industry should move towards a more holistic product management ecosystem and control over consumption and delivery: subscription models that offer transparency, dynamic bundles that allow for hyper-personalized pricing, and new service partners that expand bundled offers.”

SunTec Xelerate is a platform that is layered on top of the bank’s core system and enables enhanced product administration, enterprise pricing, product revenue management, and ecosystem management.

“If you are providing a mortgage then along with that the bank should be able to offer services that include, interior designing, landscaping, furniture, and all that the customer requires and the customer should just move into their new home with everything in place. A plug-and-play ecosystem. Banks must play on providing experience and empathy to the customer. Banks will do a great service if they can evolve and create this all-encompassed ecosystem to ensure that their business proposition remains relevant in the years to come. This will also mean additional revenue streams for them,” added Mr. Dua.

Within this ecosystem, SunTec adds value by managing the financial contracts of the partner, including revenue sharing, monetization, exposing APIs among other functionalities. “For instance, a bank may offer its customers a discounted subscription to Netflix, or a similar service bundled with its banking products. The customer pays a single fee to the bank, and SunTec settles this fee directly with the partners,” as per the statement.

US-based leading research and advisory firm focused on technology for financial institutions, Celent outlines SunTec Xelerate’s capabilities as a “digital innovation layer” that augments the core and enables banks to bring in ecosystem partners to offer complex bundles and products.

Related: Qatar provides wide opportunities for global fintech companies; Minister

YOU MAY LIKE