E-banking activities will continue to be a driving factor for growth across the Middle East, according to EastNets, a leading provider of electronic payments solutions and services.

The firm also revealed that it has fortified its product portfolio as part of its growth strategy for 2009, focusing on delivering enhanced online solutions.

“EastNets has been deeply studying regional and global trends as part of our strategy to ensure the highest level of reliability and security in our products and services,” said Hazem Mulhim, CEO, EastNets. “We believe that enhancing our knowledge and understanding of the dynamics that affect the regional market will enable us to remain highly responsive to the needs of our customers, particularly in this time of unprecedented global economic challenges.”

A Madar Research report pointed out that in the UAE Switch, which routes ATM transactions over a single network, financial transactions carried out electronically increased by 16 per cent in 2007, while the value of transactions carried with Gulf switches through the UAE Switch increased by up to 12.46 per cent from $96 million in 2006 to $108 million in 2007.

In the UAE alone, the total number of electronic banking service units rose 83 per cent from 24 in 2006 to 44 in 2008, while more than 40 per cent of all domestic financial transactions are done online, as compared to just 10 per cent in 2005, the report said.

“Although the global financial crisis has affected several financial institutions, we believe that the region's long-term growth prospects remain strong because of sound fundamentals and judicious technology investments. In this regard, EastNets' growth strategy for 2009 will focus on supporting the region's growing adoption of ICT-enabled services and introducing products and services that extend the electronic banking capabilities of our clients.” Mulhim concluded.- TradeArabia News Service