Bahrain Financing Company appoints new general manager

Mr. Errol Fonseca has been appointed by Bahrain Financing Company (BFC), the Kingdom’s oldest and most reputed money transfer and foreign exchange group, as its new General Manager.  In this new role, Mr. Fonseca will be responsible for executing BFC’s overall business strategy in Bahrain, and guiding growth as BFC continues to increase its presence.

Mr. Fonseca has been with BFC for close to two years, moving within the company a number of times to manage different aspects of the business.  He began as the Global Sales Head of EzRemit, and then moved to Head – Sales and Customer Services before being appointed as the Deputy General Manager of BFC in October 2011.  Mr. Fonseca holds an MBA in Business Administration from Massey University in New Zealand, and has over two decades of experience in the banking and finance sector.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Ebrahim Nonoo, Managing Director and CEO of BFC Group Holdings said, “We are very excited about Mr. Fonseca taking on this new role.  He has been with BFC now in multiple capacities, and is well qualified to take the helm and lead us into a new era of growth.”

Commenting on BFC’s future plans, Mr. Fonseca said, “This is an exciting time for BFC, as we continue to grow our global network through new branches in new geographies, and through partnerships with existing and established remittance service houses.  In 2011, for example, we upgraded our presence in Bahrain with an additional two branches bringing the total number of branches in Bahrain to 27, as well as strategic agreements with Banque du Caire and the National Bank of Pakistan.  With these upgrades and agreements, we are able to guarantee better service to our customers with competitive rates to an ever growing network of locations around the world, and we will continue with these growth efforts in the coming months.”

Mr. Fonseca also elaborated on some of BFC’s differentiating factors that have helped encourage customers to use their services, “BFC is the oldest money transfer and foreign exchange company in Bahrain, with a very strong performance track record spanning its entire history.  With this history of efficiency and customer care comes a certain amount of loyalty and brand recognition, which we are very enthusiastic about maintaining through our customer centric approach to this business.

We also pride ourselves on the comprehensive range of services and products that we provide to our customers.  We strive to ensure our offerings are conveniently accessible, competitively priced for both retail and commercial customers, and that they serve our customers needs.  Our success in this respect has been due, in part, to our ability to predict our customer’s needs, sometimes before they were even aware of those needs!”

“Another customer pull-point is our regular promotions, which target customers using our services, whether they be in-branch or online.  We try to tailor these promotions to directly address the needs of customers, and this has helped us to acquire and retain a large proportion of the remittance and currency exchange market share in Bahrain,” continued Mr. Fonseca.

Mr. Fonseca also touched on some of the plans he has as GM of BFC, “We have been able to identify some key growth areas in terms of the services we offer our customers, and I plan on addressing these in the coming year.  Most significantly, is the importance of educating our customers on what services they have available to them, how they can benefit from them thereby making their lives easier.  Ensuring customers are aware of where their money is going is intrinsically linked to them feeling comfortable with our offerings.”

As the first foreign exchange company established in Bahrain in 1917, BFC specialises in moving money smartly and efficiently with the best rates in the market. With an extensive global reach covering over 100 countries, BFC offers customers unparalleled service, a vast array of innovative retail products and unbeatable exchange rates.