Power Letters 2023: Mohammed Qasim Al Ali, group chief executive officer, National Bonds

While 2021 was viewed by the business community as a year of revival, 2022 was considered the year of consolidation by many.

While globally there have been looming uncertainties, on the back of a successful Covid-19 response, forward-looking regulatory changes and a sharp influx of foreign direct investment, the UAE has experienced a new wave of growth and a fresh impetus that is driving businesses and the community.

Another step in the right direction is the recently announced ‘We the UAE 2031’, which offers a comprehensive overview of the social, economic and humanitarian changes the UAE’s government wants to drive at the highest levels and chart the country towards a more prosperous and sustainable future over the next decade.

These bold moves naturally percolate through the entire business world and give us confirmation that we’re in safe hands.

According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released earlier this quarter, the UAE’s gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow 5.1 per cent this year as compared to its previous forecast of 4.2 per cent—which will be the highest growth in the past seven years and further serves as a testament to the momentum of the economy.

As one of UAE’s Shari’a-compliant savings and investment companies, National Bonds is unique. At the very core, we believe economic and social stability stems from a financially secure population. This is where we have identified our niche and are building on years of experience and capabilities to provide the people of the UAE with a holistic menu of products and services that enable the public to start their savings journey.

Since our inception, this approach has been our north star and has helped us achieve tremendous success. However, it’s safe to say that the year 2022 trumps the previous years. The year was marked by several new and innovative product launches that cut across all sectors of society, lucrative partnerships and a concerted effort from our team to build awareness of the importance of saving.

Notably, our customer savings and investments portfolio as of November 2022 reached Dhs12.5bn – denoting a 15 per cent increase. We were also able to exercise positive influence as shown by the 16 per cent year-to-date increase in the number of customers with regular savings and built more awareness among women, whose deposits have increased by 12 per cent year-to-date.

Key highlights of the year include the unveiling of our Golden Pension Scheme, an employee retention scheme that created waves in the UAE. Under this offering, corporates registered with us create a systematic pension plan that benefits their employees and helps with employee retention. In addition, we’re giving employees of the corporates enrolled with us the opportunity to save regularly and earn profits, which are added to their end-of-service benefits.

Beyond customers and their savings portfolio, what we’re particularly proud of is our ability to maintain a balanced and well-diversified investment portfolio with a low to medium-risk profile. This has certainly benefitted our customers and other stakeholders, while also allowing us to move to the next level.

As we progress through 2023, at National Bonds, we expect to keep up the pace we’ve built in 2022 and focus our efforts on product development to be even more relevant in the customer’s life cycle, new investment avenues with geographical exposure both locally and internationally as well as investing in the fixed-income domain, and income generating real estate that provides sustainable cash.

At a macro level, we will renew our financial literacy efforts in line with the UAE’s vision and take a more active stance in the local economy through our fund deployment strategy and Sukuk trading platform.

We believe the UAE is ripe with opportunity. By helping nationals and expats discover their journey toward financial independence, we have a real opportunity to make a difference and support the UAE’s vision to build a happy and prosperous nation.