Client Situation

Our client is a leading financial institution in the UAE offering a wide range of customer focused services offerings in the retail and corporate banking spaces. The client bank has a branch network of 27 branches. Cedar has a past relationship with the client, having previously worked on several projects including addressing IT readiness and governance, in the areas of strategy and helped formulate the bank’s strategy map under the balanced scorecard framework. In the case of this project, Cedar worked with the bank to realign its distribution footprint including branches and ATM covering location, format, and operating model as part of the bank’s ongoing strategy.

Cedar’s Approach

In this program, Cedar was mandated to assist the bank in the re-alignment of their distribution footprint.

  • Reviewed key internal information with regards to the existing branch and ATM distribution model.
  • Reviewed and ranked 46 offsite ATM’s based on transaction and profitability and analyzed 101 micro-markets, identified 40 new micro-markets.
  • Assessed branches and ATM performance against key metrics and benchmarks by conducting a comparative analysis against competitor bank along several parameters.
  • Realigned existing distribution footprint to suit industry best practices.
  • Identified potential areas for relocation of branches and ATM’s based on key filter criteria.

Outcome

This program resulted in the successfully providing a way forward for the retail distribution footprint comprising the ATM and branch areas.

  • Recommended the closure of 7 branches after conducting thorough performance and location analysis bringing the total number down to 20.
  • Simultaneously suggested the strategic shift of 4 branches to top micro-markets.
  • Recommended an enhanced wholesale banking coverage with the potential opportunity to penetrate 8 key micro markets.
  • Identified potential 5-year cost savings of branch closures to be up to ~$20mn.
  • Recommended realignment of 83 ATM’s of which 24 were onsite and 59 offsite.
  • Further recommendation of a realigned 57% ATM presence in Dubai.
  • Identified a yearly cost impact of approximately ~$500-750k

Relevant Client Cases