From mobile apps, scanning and electronic chips, payment methods have gone through massive changes over the years. One of the top financing companies in the Bahrain market, Credimax, has been at the forefront of the evolution of making payment accessible to everyone. With cards still being a dominant force with names ranging from Visa Debit, Visa Electron, Visa Infinite, Mastercard and more, Credimax has introduced revolutionary products and created easier ways for people to spend their money. BTW speaks with CEO Mr Yousif Ali Mirza to learn more about the advancement in their card products and the financial habits of Bahrainis.
Tell us a bit about yourself, your professional background and the history of CrediMax
I’ve been in the card business by profession, being
in this industry for more than 32 years meaning
that my background and professional life is overwhelmed with this industry which has witnessed a dramatic transformation from being very small, intensively manual to very large and mostly electronically operated.
My association with CrediMax began in 2007 when I joined as a senior manager heading the customer services department. Back in 2011, I moved to the bigger business support department which dealt with complex processes and different kinds of functional responsibilities and in 2013, the board of directors decided to appoint me as CrediMax chief executive.
CrediMax, formally established in 1999, operates under a financing company licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain. It is a fully owned subsidiary of BBK and is engaged in card business activities, be it from issuance of various card products to acceptance of cards on different channels like Points of Sale and payment gateways.
It is a homegrown brand or what some people may call an indigenous brand. To create such a brand, it takes
a lot of effort and time and we have worked extensively hard to bring CrediMax to everybody in Bahrain be it locals or expatriates resident in Bahrain. Everyone
knows CrediMax!
We issue products, provide various services ranging between classic conventional cards to
products that fulfil the needs of a more affluent customer base. These meet their lifestyle requirements and the way they go by their purchase and their
service requirements in their day-to-day affairs. Like Internet cards, corporate cards and student cards.
What have been your challenges so far ?
Cash is still dominant in this part of the world and in Bahrain as well according to statistics and information. If you look into your wallet, you will always have a few dinars wherever you go. This presents a challenge and
an opportunity.
Our challenge is to convince people to use the card for their day-to-day needs as some people believe that it is
only to be used for things such as travel, entertainment or dining out.
Also, the Bahraini market is relatively small compared to the larger GCC markets but there is a lot of opportunity due to the dominance of cash. We are in an industry where we take efforts to transform cash into card and other secure modes of payment.
How is CrediMax geared up against competition posed by prepaid cards and other debit cards?
The payment landscape is rapidly changing driven by technology. Many people say in conferences and discussions that actual plastic will disappear in the medium to long-term and you’ll have everything stored in, say for example, your mobile phones.
The competition from debit cards and others will always be there and that will only make us continue our efforts to maintain our position as market leaders, keep up the quality of services we provide and come up with new innovative products & services to help us grow & provide added value to our customers .
You will have other players and new technological advances which you need to embrace to advance and we’ve been doing just that over the years.
What are CrediMax’s security measures to ensure that there’s no fraud during transactions?
In making people feel safe, comfortable and have peace of mind in using CrediMax products and services, we take a lot of effort. We were the pioneers and leaders in bringing 3D security to do online shopping where you are subjected to a rigorous process to get a PIN and use it every time you do a transaction. This ensures that it is done securely. This was introduced by us a few years ago and it has helped tremendously in reducing online fraud and misuse of our products.
This is just one of the many tactics we employ to promote security.
Where do you see CrediMax in the next five years?
I see CrediMax continue to take leadership in this industry in the Bahrain market and we have announced some plans to explore opportunities to move geographically outside
the kingdom.
We studied a couple of markets and were engaged with consultants to explore such opportunities. As far as Bahrain goes, we are committed to work hard to stay ahead and will continue our mission to bring innovative products & services to the market.
Recently we launched two new products whose uptake has been very well received by our clients as the numbers show. We also introduced sending PIN through SMS where we had to design a platform and system where they are exchanged safely.
What is your message to the people of Bahrain?
Our message is of confidence and trust. We see a lot of opportunity in the market with many big malls, events and exhibitions coming up. We’ve been at the forefront
of providing investors who come to Bahrain to see that there is a robust, solid and secure payment acceptance network in the kingdom which makes them comfortable to conduct business.
We provide payment acceptance machines to major events such as Jewellery Arabia and the Bahrain International Airshow and have our staff be present there to promote us. Whenever there’s a big venture, we are there to tell suppliers and participants of such events that we’ll be able to provide them with our services.
We have seen growth in the business and can see optimistically, its continuity as we move into 2017.