The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic will drive a change in consumer behaviour, leading to more rapid adoption of many innovations, Commercial Bank Group CEO Joseph Abraham has said.
According to Abraham, the health crisis has been causing numerous disruptions in people’s day-to-day lives, hence different technological advancements have come to the fore as the society tries to cope with the impact of the pandemic.
“I believe what the Covid-19 pandemic has done is make consumers try different technologies,” Abraham told Gulf Times during a recently-held video conference with the media to announce two of the bank’s latest technological products.
“Commercial Bank has always been investing in technology because, to me, this is going to be the key to the future across many industries, particularly in the banking sector; so this is an ongoing journey for us,” he continued.
Abraham noted that Commercial Bank has been “a leader in the digital field.” In the last three- to four-and-a-half years, he said the bank has been “investing heavily” in its digital capability to provide customers the means to do most of their transactions online.
“This provided us a very good foundation in which to progress two products that are very much suited to the national need,” Abraham said, referring to the CB Household Worker PayCard’ and the ‘CB Smart Payroll’.
The ‘CB Household Worker PayCard’ is the country’s first digital solution offered to manage household workers’ salaries and remittance, while the ‘CB Smart Payroll’ is for company workers' payments and remittance, Abraham said.
According to Abraham, “the need of the moment” is to enable isolation and preventive measures, but at the same time, allow the working population in Qatar to be able to continuously send remittances to their families.
Citing some of the government’s preventive measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection, Abraham said exchange houses have closed their branches to avoid face-to-face transactions, hence the sending of remittances, among other services, must be done digitally.
“Because we built up our digital skills, Commercial Bank has a rapid action task force that has worked to bring these initiatives to fruition. This, among other initiatives, shows how we are committed to meeting the national needs and providing products that meet what is required at this moment in time,” Abraham stressed.
Commercial Bank EGM and head of Retail Banking Amit Sah also said, “As the world changed in the past weeks, so have been the needs of our customers and society, in general.
“We have to respond to the needs of our customers, as well as to the needs of the State of Qatar and the Qatar Central Bank, which we thank for being supportive and for giving us directions as to how we can collectively meet the requirements of society to maintain as much of the normal business as possible.”
He added: “The basic objective at this point in time is to ensure that the large migrant population of Qatar is able to continue to send money back to their families, who depend on monthly remittances.”
“I believe what the Covid-19 pandemic has done is make consumers try different technologies,” Abraham told Gulf Times during a recently-held video conference with the media to announce two of the bank’s latest technological products.
“Commercial Bank has always been investing in technology because, to me, this is going to be the key to the future across many industries, particularly in the banking sector; so this is an ongoing journey for us,” he continued.
Abraham noted that Commercial Bank has been “a leader in the digital field.” In the last three- to four-and-a-half years, he said the bank has been “investing heavily” in its digital capability to provide customers the means to do most of their transactions online.
“This provided us a very good foundation in which to progress two products that are very much suited to the national need,” Abraham said, referring to the CB Household Worker PayCard’ and the ‘CB Smart Payroll’.
The ‘CB Household Worker PayCard’ is the country’s first digital solution offered to manage household workers’ salaries and remittance, while the ‘CB Smart Payroll’ is for company workers' payments and remittance, Abraham said.
According to Abraham, “the need of the moment” is to enable isolation and preventive measures, but at the same time, allow the working population in Qatar to be able to continuously send remittances to their families.
Citing some of the government’s preventive measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection, Abraham said exchange houses have closed their branches to avoid face-to-face transactions, hence the sending of remittances, among other services, must be done digitally.
“Because we built up our digital skills, Commercial Bank has a rapid action task force that has worked to bring these initiatives to fruition. This, among other initiatives, shows how we are committed to meeting the national needs and providing products that meet what is required at this moment in time,” Abraham stressed.
Commercial Bank EGM and head of Retail Banking Amit Sah also said, “As the world changed in the past weeks, so have been the needs of our customers and society, in general.
“We have to respond to the needs of our customers, as well as to the needs of the State of Qatar and the Qatar Central Bank, which we thank for being supportive and for giving us directions as to how we can collectively meet the requirements of society to maintain as much of the normal business as possible.”
He added: “The basic objective at this point in time is to ensure that the large migrant population of Qatar is able to continue to send money back to their families, who depend on monthly remittances.”