Strategic Planning for the Bank crowns the long list of Khalid Shoman's achievements in the Arab Bank. Preparing the Bank to meet the challenges of the changing times was a primary concern of his. He was correct in his assumption that the profound and consecutive changes in the financial industry, particularly since the early nineties of the last century, imposed on the Arab Bank the urgent need to keep abreast of a current age that is witnessing major transformations in the market realities and where competition had become extremely fierce.

He was correct in believing that in times of great flux, the Bank had to implement long term planning. In other words, the Bank had to intensify its efforts at forecasting the future and to work towards overall long term planning; strategic planning that would cover all the aspects of the Bank's operations for several years to come; not merely short term planning such as setting up annual budget estimates.

Khalid Shoman started contacting international consulting firms as far back as the early eighties, when the concept of long term strategic planning was alien to most Arab institutions. He became convinced that for this vital undertaking, the Arab Bank had to draw up its own strategic plan, using the expertise of qualified officers from its own workforce who are better equipped and more informed regarding the Bank, its culture, its strengths and its weaknesses.

In 1991, Khalid asked an international consulting firm to organize a seminar in strategic planning for the regional heads of the Arab Bank around the world. As a result, a number of regional managers of the Bank started adopting strategic planning in their areas.