Behind the scenes

We quizzed Faris Saddi, CIO of Commercial Bank International about life as a CIO.

BM. What are the greatest challenges you face day-to-day?
FARIS SADDI. CBI went through restructuring where more than half the employees are new to the bank. They come with a wealth of experience. This causes a challenge to unify requirements and parameterize the system to please all users from different banks.

BM. What are your greatest achievements as CIO?
FS. During the short tenure I have selected and is in the process of implementing an integrated core banking system. Other systems include document management and workflow, call center, internet trading, treasury, help desk, and other head office and infrastructure systems. I am part of the executive management and strategy committee of the bank, which puts me in the right position to align technology with business strategy.

BM. What does a typical day's work entail for you?
FS. The challenge to train and educate IT division to achieve the highest industry standards. The most of my time currently is consumed in putting the final touches on the core banking system that is due to go live before end of year.

BM. With more and more banking occurring in the virtual online world, the rise of cyber criminals continues and potentially massive rewards continue to encourage hackers all over the world. So how can the financial services industry respond adequately?
FS. Each financial institution must deploy a penetration testing on any new application, or whenever any changes to the infrastructure occur.

BM, What is the greatest obstacle to technological or business progress in the Gulf region? How are you working to overcome this?
FS. The greatest obstacle is the lack of developers in the region. Financial institutions have to rely on western or foreign banking systems that charge huge consultancy charges plus travel and accommodation cost, making the cost of ownership very expensive.
The region is on the receiving edge of technology. Some infrastructure vendors don't have experienced staff to migrate infrastructure.

BM. Is the leverage of technology key to your success?
FS. Yes – most banking these days depends on delivery channels which are technology based. The bank has undertaken a major systems upgrade to Silverlake; a fully integrated banking system including back office, trade finance, treasury, internet banking, loans origination and back office processing, CRM, data warehousing, money laundering and Islamic Banking. CBI has also developed an electronic document management system and workflow to streamline its processes automatically. Our new call center is based on Avaya switches, and there is Internet trading of our brokerage subsidiary, based on TradeNet.

BM. Are there other technologies are you investing in to help you do business in a more seamless and convenient manner?
FS. We will continue to develop the document management and workflow system to touch automate all the processes where documents currently travel to different units.
Will invest heavily in mobile banking, chip and payless cards.

BM. What does the future hold for you and the company?
FS. Future banking trends are for automated transactions with less processing cost. This requires continuous investment in technology. The more customers can do banking outside the bank premises from their own peripherals, like own PCs, mobiles, iPods, and handhelds, the more convenient it is for the customers and less costly for the bank. This demands creative use of technology and investments in software. CBI will move into the direction of as much automated delivery channels as possible.

About Faris Saddi
Faris Saddi has 30 years of IT experience covering almost all the functions of IT. Starting out as an operator, later he moved back to IT where he has been working on an international scale ever since. His last job with NBAD was to establish the IT Services Unit which entailed running all the delivery channels, back office of all operating systems, user desktop support and operations and IT help desk. Currently, he is the CIO of Commercial Bank International (CBI).