Wanted: wealth manager for Arab Bank’s 25,000 customers

Arab Bank is seeking requests for proposals to partner it in building a wealth management offering for its burgeoning customer base.

Arab Bank’s senior manager of corporate and investment banking, Anthony Jamour, said Arab Bank was not interested in manufacturing its own wealth management products, but by the same token wanted to do more than simply ‘spot and refer’ customers to a third-party. “;We’re looking to appoint an organisation that can provide us with professional advice and recommend an ideal operating model to the board, and help with any variation to our AFSL that’s required,”; Jamour said. He said Arab Bank would possibly ‘white label’ an existing dealer group’s offer, although the Bank developing its own financial planning network was not out of the question. Arab Bank’s insurance offering to its 25,000 customers is currently on a ‘spot and refer’ basis with Allianz. Arab Bank has 10 branches throughout NSW and Victoria, but is planning more, and an expansion into Queensland, as its home loans, business cheque accounts and term deposits rack up industry awards and customers. Jamour said that 80 per cent of Arab Bank’s depositors were people outside Australia’s Arabic community, attracted by rates he said were consistently 15 to 20 bps above the major banks.