A solution to the mediocrity of banks in the UAE | The National

A solution to the mediocrity of banks in the UAE | The National:

"In my previous article I suggested, using scenes from the film A Beautiful Mind that game the­ory could explain why more than 50 banks exist in an economy too small to commercially need such business. The idea is bas­ically that banks choose to be mediocre because competition would harm them to the benefit of customers.

The feedback was tremendous, and I would like to expand on some of the points made. The first is the concern that I might antagonise people in the banking system. I believe that transparency and open dialogue fosters a healthy commercial environment and that most people will listen if your intent is positive. The few people who have a closed mind might react negatively to new or open ideas. One just needs to accept that this exists and hope that the greater good outweighs any personal backlash.

The second point raised is that the simpler explanation for bank behaviour is incompetence. Although possible, I find it hard to believe. First, incompetence leads to bad service, not mediocre service. Second is that I have dealt with a large number of executives and most seem quite competent to me. This seems to be more of a strategy, albeit a possibly unconscious one."



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