Bader Qamhieh

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait aims to offer its customers world-class financial solutions. As such, the bank continues to enhance its banking services provided through its branch network that covers Kuwait districts and via its various e-channels. To further illustrate its leadership in providing technology based solutions, the bank announced the launch of Swift Global Payment Innovation (SWIFT gpi) service to become the first bank in Kuwait that took the lead to join this advanced service and the second in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Commenting on the launch of the new service, Bader Qamhieh, Acting General Manager - Information Technology Department in Commercial Bank of Kuwait, said that transfer tracking service via "gpi tracker" is the modern tool that will be used for tracking end to end transfers among banks. This covers all payments sent thru Swift, and it allows the banks involved in this service to track the status of the transactions. Qamhieh went on explaining that this service went live last week, emphasizing that the Bank routing transfer will be able to view the fees and commissions charged and deducted by all banks for each transfer, enhancing thereby the transparency between banks and the customer. Mr. Bader added that in the future, through this service, the bank will be able to provide its customers with the option to track all their electronic transfers (thru SWIFT network) from triggering the transaction to its credit to the beneficiary.

Qamhieh further mentioned that the "gpi Tracker" also helps to make a more accurate and easier reconciliations of electronic funds transfer and with it banks will be able to better manage their liquidity and optimize the use of their fund for investment. It can also reduce exposure to FX risks by making it possible to process the payments in the same day and within the timelines agreed upon for the beneficiaries, added Qamhieh. Being a cloud hosted service, it is possible to connect the "gpi Tracker" to the Bank's systems via Application Programming Interfaces "API" to be in line with computer systems at all banks over the globe.

According to Qamhieh, the number of transactions routed via this network and tracked through this service is increasing day after day to represent 10 percent of Swift's cross-border payments traffic.

It is worthwhile to mention that funds transferred among the banks that joined this service amounted to more than $100 billion sent daily across 220 international payment corridors for sending and receiving payments among countries. The number of banks involved in this service exceeds 155 around the globe and it is on the rise and this will encourage all banks to join.

Concluding his statement, Bader Qamhieh commended the innovative e-banking services introduced by Al-Tijari to its customer base denoting that the Bank took the lead to bring this service to Kuwait. In addition to adopting the best technology standards to develop the models and channels used for offering banking services to its customers. The bank steadily takes step forward to accentuate this concept by introducing the Self-Service approach within its branches as well as the e-payment channels and the most updated services via smart phones and tablets.