The National Bank of Kuwait

Case study: National Bank of Kuwait – All the data under the sun

NBK was formed almost 60 years ago to meet the needs of the Kuwaiti business community. To ensure that it continues to be relevant, in recent years it has undergone a comprehensive IT facelift, a central part of which has been a total revamp of its BI system. Turning your back on customers can prove fatal. It’s hardly groundbreaking news, but sadly the world of commerce is littered with examples of those that ignored the blindingly obvious and paid the price. Legend has it that when the British Bank of the Middle East (BBME) in Kuwait rejected a prominent local merchant’s request to open a Letter of Guarantee for 10,000 Indian Rupees (which is equivalent today to about 750 KWD or $2600) it could hardly have expected what was to follow. The merchant was so infuriated by this apparently unreasonable refusal that he made sure the news spread far and wide. The response, following much discussion within the business community, was to form a national bank that would prioritise Kuwaiti needs and help the economic growth of the country. To this end, an Amiri decree was issued on 19th May 1952 to open the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). It commenced operations six months later and is now the largest private sector institution in Kuwait, having built up market share of almost 40 per cent. BBME, on the other hand, was bought out by HSBC in 1959; the name was consigned to the history books, its new owner having steered it to a better place under the auspices of its Saudi British Bank affiliate group. In 2009, Global Finance magazine named NBK as one of the world’s 50 safest banks. In pure financial terms, by year-end 2008, it was posting $10.27 billion of assets under management and claimed a market capitalisation of $11.2 billion. Its banking activities have grown to cover all areas, including retail banking, corporate banking and international trade, as well as investment banking and private banking. Products...