Across retail, corporate, business, private banking and wealth management, the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has demonstrated growth, development and regional leadership in the service it offers clients, making it Euromoney’s best Islamic bank in the Middle East.
This was demonstrated across all its key banking business areas and the five regional markets – UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq – that it operates in. It was also in evidence in other related areas, such as sustainability, digital and in its overall financial performance.
Its acting group chief executive is Mohamed Abdelbary.
The bank posted record net profits of Dh5.25 billion ($1.42 billion) last year – up 45% on the prior year – following a 36% rise in annual revenues to Dh9.3 billion. This was driven by expanding transaction volumes and improved margins.
This had a positive impact on shareholder returns, with the bank’s return on equity hitting 27% for the year – the highest among banks in the Middle East region.
Part of this was driven by the strong underlying performance in ADIB’s retail banking business, which benefitted from a strong market position and digital development drive. It attracted about 206,000 new customers in 2023, boosting the total number to about 1.27 million.
Product innovation and development played a key role too, with the bank launching multiple new products and services last year. Among them was the Cashback Visa Covered Card – offering 4% cash rewards when customers use the card – the UAE’s first long-term, fixed-rate mortgage, electric-vehicle financing and a series of enhanced features on international transfers via its mobile app and internet banking platform.
These were among 54 new features added to the bank’s mobile app and internet banking platform last year. All were part of the digital innovations and enhancements made across its entire digital platform, some of which were market firsts.
The investment that the bank is making in digital is impressive – and is paying off
For instance, ADIB became the first bank in the UAE to offer small and medium-sized enterprises remote account-opening services through a mobile app by deploying face-recognition technology. The bank also introduced Business Souq, an innovative digital marketplace designed to provide comprehensive support to SMEs.
ADIB also invested in artificial intelligence, implementing GitHub Copilot for Business, an AI-powered tool to support operational productivity and efficiency by harnessing generative-AI capabilities in code generation, error identification and to optimize recommendations across various business functions.
Blockchain is another potentially transformative technology ADIB is exploring; it became the first Islamic bank to go live on the UAE’s KYC Blockchain Platform, a national ecosystem for the exchange of verified diligence data between licensing authorities and financial institutions.
