Mashreq Bank UAE Introduction of the company (write about the company and its activities)

Mashreq Bank is the oldest bank in the United Arab Emirates. It has provided banking services and financial solutions to its valued customers and enterprises since its inception in 1967. The Mashreq Bank, formerly known as Bank of Oman, was established in Dubai under decree of the Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum; this occurred before the UAE was formed.

The bank renamed itself as Mashreq Bank in 1993 and became one of the biggest banks in the UAE. It is a household name in the corporate banking sector and retail segment of the Middle East, having branches in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Egypt. Mashreq Bank is the most inventive of banks in the Middle East having robust customer-centric business policies. The Mashreq Bank network is spread all over UAE with as many as 50% of the households being aligned with this bank. Its branches are found in all prime retail locations, and it provides the biggest ATM networks in the region. Apart from that, the bank has branches in 11 nations including many in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. From a historical standpoint, Mashreq Bank has funded economic projects in a variety of industries in the UAE. However, it remains cautious in its approach and uses risk management policies while funding projects. The Mashreq Bank has had high profile growth in the last 46 years in the UAE region. The success of Mashreq Bank and UAE are synonymous (World Finance, 2013).

2. Overview of corporate finance and investment strategy of the company

With the help of an able Corporate Governance structure, Mashreq Bank aims to balance the elements of accountability, controls, transparency, and success. Mashreq Bank is an authority over matters of credit and administrative approvals. Authority is assigned expertly on the basis of performance, experience, track record and individual's position. Acts of negligence and exploitation of authority are revealed via consistent audits; credit reviews are taken up to the board of directors in case issue(s) become critical. Mashreq Bank has well-set policies and procedures in place with documented manuals backed by both desk-top and Standard Operating procedures (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013)

Mashreq Bank has been on the receiving front in cases of regional and domestic equity offerings that consist of:

• Dividends

• Rights issues

• Initial public offerings

The bank leverages its long time experience in collection, as a provident investor database having a state-of-the-art accumulation platform. During the past two years, Mashreq Bank has amassed $22 billion in offerings. Hence, it is now the first choice for public offerings (Mashreq Bank Website).

The business ideology of Mashreq Bank in all arenas of its business is formed on the principal of the bank meeting the needs of its clients. The Mashreq Bank is well aware that each business client has separate needs and/or demands, and seeks to provide optimal services and products to said client. Hence, the bank aspires to know the requirements of its business clients from the inside out in order to fully meet their requirements (World Finance, 2015).

3. How they make capital investment decisions and which rules are followed

While finalizing capital investment decisions, Mashreq Bank employs the Basel III framework. Basel III is an add-on to the Basel framework that banks employ for outlining the capital requirements. Simultaneously, Capital Standards and the International Convergence of Capital Measurement still hold true. With these new amendments in place in bylaws by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the aim is to provide:

• A bank/financial reservoir that works like as a stabilizing instrument on the economy during periods of monetary crisis, particularly those of Credit Crunch Type situations;

• Encouragement to adopt better risk management policies by the entire banking industry;

• Protection and/or risk aversion from any arising anomaly / inequality in the banking industry (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013).

To attain these objectives, the Basel Framework is founded on three building blocks:

First block -- Minimum Capital Requirements

This outlines the method by which banks compute their regulatory capital requirements for safeguarding themselves against credit risk, operational risk and market risk. The new amendment has outlined three different approaches for computing credit risk: Foundation Internal Rating Based (FIRB); Standardized, Advanced Internal Rating Based (AIRB); market risk (two approaches -- Internal Model Approach and Standardized Approach); and lastly, operational risk (three approaches -- Advanced Measurement Approach, Standardized Approach and Basic Indicator Approach) (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013).

Second block -- Supervisory Review Process

This provides the policymakers with a framework to determine the capacity of a bank to control the credit...

Pillar III is satisfied by this injunction (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013)
4. What investment appraisal methods/techniques are used by the company?

Mashreq Bank employs numerous unique appraisal methods and/or approaches (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013).

A. This bank makes use of Credit Metrics methodology for the credit capital model. Hence, the capital requirement for all forms of material risk is determined and calculated in terms of an overall monetary capital platform.

B. The Economic capital computation includes every banking operation for gauging risk bearing assets, such as investment portfolios, loans, real estate assets, and equity. In this case, a bottom up methodology is used so as to allocate capital at three levels:

• Business unit

• Bank-wide

• Obligor level

C. The bank has worked on and developed its Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) model during the last two years. This system regulates the economic fees of business transactions as well as settling on a risk-adjusted cost in wholesale division. The proposed model is for all relationship managers, and rigorous training has been given in this regard. The primary aim is to focus continuously on relationships having high Risk Adjusted Profitability.

D. ICAAP calculation is performed with the help of monetary economic platform for determining the capital demand of the bank. The financial resource, the capital surplus over capital demand, is put under test in multiple situations to ensure its reliability. The results are submitted to the UAE Central Bank. ICAAP assessments finalize the bank's capacity to secure itself against all forms of risk. This is, in particular, past the minimum regulatory requirements and takes into consideration the size, location, diversification, concentration, and complexity of the bank's many banking units.

E. The Economic Capital team organizes seasonal Capital Adequacy evaluations reports, including a wide range of unfavorable scenarios.

F. The risk tolerance limit of the bank has been set. This incorporates a set of internal and regulatory limits, taking into consideration key elements of liquidity, capital management and credit management. Limits of concentration are set for managing high risk areas such as real estate.

G. At present, the bank is on its way to finalizing a Three-year Capital Adequacy Assessment. The Mashreq bank has a huge capital, capable of absorbing any unanticipated inconsistency in credit quality portfolio (Mashreq Bank Annual Report, 2013).

In order to make any investment, a bank must first determine different forms of risks that might arise with such an investment. Mashreq Bank uses the several different approaches in case of operational risk and credit risk:

1). The bank works with the Standardized Approach in accordance with UAE Central Bank guidelines. Mashreq bank has been using its models of PG and LGD since 2005. Apart from that, a strong credit-risk simulation model is deployed for credit risk calculation as per RAROC.

2). Market Risk -- Mashreq Bank uses the Standardized Measurement Approach for determining market risk. This method estimates the capital requirements using the Standardized Measurement Approach, in particular, as well as customary rate risk, equity risk, and foreign exchange risk.

3). Operational Risk -- Mashreq Bank uses the Standardized Approach for operational risk. An ORM (Operational Risk Framework) is put into practice along with a complex IT (information technology) system in order to record and transmit the extensive amounts of data. RCSA (Risk and Control Self-Assessment) process and other associated processes are all connected to the business units throughout the bank.

5. Project Appraisal and analysis - select any one example (case study) to answer the questions

Case study chosen: The Mashreq Bank Upgrades Core Applications with Microsoft Technology Center Engagement

The policymakers of the company wanted to understand the pros and cons concerning implementation of this technology, as well as any impact it might have upon the bank. Mashreq Bank underwent notable growth recently. Hence, the policymakers sought a solution that would accommodate this growth, and provide sustaining support given the high volumes of transactions generated due to this growth. Mashreq Bank processes a daily average of 1.5 million transactions; therefore, it required a heavy-duty system capable of withstanding such a load. The bank executives wanted to expand and chose not to resist change, as inactivity would diminish future…