In our previous article, we plotted the general overview of the banking distribution in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We found out that KSA presents the highest density of physical banking distribution in the Middle East, but it was mainly composed of ATM rather than branches. Banks in KSA are counting on ATM to cover the country and be close to their customers. The number of ATM increased 9% faster than the population growth. We concluded that banking distribution in KSA is f

Building an efficient distribution strategy for a bank in KSA is challenging The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stretches along 2.2 km² where a population of 33MM lives and growing at 2% each year. Any bank would like to build a distribution strategy that provides a maximum coverage of its targeted customers at a minimal cost, which in the case of a bank operating in KSA is quite challenging given that the average density of the population is less than 15 individuals per square kilo

Once, branches were the only channel to distribute banking services and products, but it was a very long time ago. Since then, technology has enabled the development of more channels: call centers to answer clients’ inquiries, and automated teller machines (ATMs) to automate money withdrawal. The first ATM was installed at a Barclays branch in the north of London in 1967. These new channels made branchless banks possible, and the first one was launched in the UK in 1989. Dist

I remember few years ago, I was arguing with a friend about Amazon’s strategy and whether it was wise to invest all its available cash flow to increase its market share. The main disagreement was about when is the right time for Jeff Bezos to cash the fruits of his success. For me, Bezos had already more money than he could ever spend, so why not pursue his strategy to make history. Last year, he passed ahead of Bill Gates as the richest man on earth and as it may seem as a c

Most commercial banks in Egypt have ongoing projects to open new banking branches. Beyond just opening new branches, banks apply specific strategies for their distribution. Each bank follows the most efficient distribution strategy to reach its target customers. So, variances in the distribution strategy means targeting different customers’ segments. A big part of the global strategy of any bank can therefore be identified by analyzing its distribution strategy. Following our

Egypt offers an enormous potential for banking services favored by 1) a large adult population reaching 60 Mn people, with less than 20% declare having a bank account, 2) encouraging GDP growth predictions of 5% for 2018 by the World Bank and 3) a set of deep ongoing reforms orchestrated by the Central Bank of Egypt. These are the main reasons for Egypt being one the fastest growing markets for banking services. According to the World Bank, only 14.6% of Adult Egyptians decla

On Thursday November 2nd Orange launched Orange bank, its own 100% mobile full-fledged bank. France was their pioneer market, but does Orange target Egypt for rolling out its banking services? Of course, Egypt is one of the main development markets for Orange. At the end of 2016, Orange reported 33,87M users in Egypt. In addition, the group already offers digital financial services in Egypt via its mobile wallet “Orange Money”, acquiring 34M customers in Africa and Middle Eas