Best bank: Al Salam Bank
Al Salam Bank (ASB) executed an ambitious and multi-pronged expansion strategy in 2025, helping to position the bank as the best in Bahrain.
Its 2024 acquisition of Kuwait Finance House’s (KFH) existing operations in Bahrain – after KFH acquired Ahli United Bank – increased ASB’s balance sheet by 28.7% and was one of the fastest banking transitions in the region. In the space of just six months, ASB successfully migrated former KFH Bahrain clients to their new ASB Finance platform, demonstrating an ability to absorb significant retail scale without disrupting client experience.
Alongside this migration, the bank continued to develop ASB Capital (ASBC), its asset management arm. Launched in 2024, ASBC offers capital markets services for clients, with origination, structuring, execution and investor engagement across the Middle East. AUM reached $5.7 billion in 2025 and is on course to become one of the largest asset managers in the region in the coming years.
Solidarity Group Holding (SGH), ASB’s takaful subsidiary, also acquired Bahrain National Insurance Company and Bahrain National Assurance Company in 1H25. Coming soon after SGH’s acquisition of a 29% stake in Alliance Insurance (UAE) in 2024, these acquisitions reflect the firm’s position as a leading M&A player in the takaful space. They also bolster ASB’s positioning as a major regional insurance group, with presence spanning Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and the UAE.
These strategic expansions complement the bank’s focus on customer experience and digital capabilities, with multiple new verticals launched in 2025 such as the One open-banking app, the Al Salam Business app and the Shariah-compliant digital point-of-sale (POS) solution ASB Pay Business.
Best bank for ESG: National Bank of Bahrain
National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) stood out for embedding ESG into its core banking activity in 2025, with measurable progress in decarbonisation, governance and sustainable finance market developments in the country.
Over the review period, the bank moved ESG from strategy to execution. Its sustainable finance framework, launched in late 2024, was operationalised through a full classification of assets and liabilities in 2025, creating a defined perimeter for green and social activity.
ESG considerations were also integrated into credit risk through updated policies and a dedicated risk assessment toolkit, ensuring environmental and social factors directly influence lending decisions across Bahrain’s economy.
Operational delivery was equally tangible, with energy consumption falling by 8% and energy use per employee declining by 7% year to date, while a net-zero, solar-powered branch with LEED Platinum certification reflected a more energy efficient approach to building design in Bahrain. These outcomes were further supported by a 20% reduction in fuel consumption, significantly exceeding initial targets and demonstrating credible progress against national decarbonisation objectives.
Client impact was strengthened through both products and market innovation. Retail financing such as solar and housing loans enabled households to adopt more sustainable behaviours, while SME and supply chain finance improved liquidity and resilience in Bahrain’s broader economy.
The execution of the country’s first sustainability-linked interest rate swap extended ESG into treasury solutions, linking financial terms to performance targets and establishing a new reference point for ESG-linked risk management.
Best bank for corporate responsibility: Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain
Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Bahrain stood out for delivering measurable, far-reaching social impact in 2025 through a structured corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme closely aligned with national development priorities.
During the review period, the bank allocated $1.2 million to CSR activities, supporting 41 organisations across Bahrain. This approach enabled support for a wide range of beneficiaries, including the elderly, people with disabilities and children in need of medical care, while also funding youth development and financial literacy initiatives. This breadth ensured that CSR investment translated into tangible, economy-wide benefits, combining immediate social support with longer-term capability building.
Financial inclusion remained central to the bank’s CSR delivery. Social housing finance reached $281 million by the end of 2025, an increase of 10% year-on-year. By offering financing of up to 110% of property value and extended repayment terms, the bank reduced structural barriers to home ownership. This approach enabled lower- and middle-income households to secure housing while maintaining affordability.
Complementing this, KFH Bahrain expanded access to banking services for underserved segments. Low-minimum savings products and credit solutions designed for lower-income customers widened participation in the financial system, while tailored in-branch support and accessible service channels ensured that individuals with additional needs could engage confidently with banking services.
CSR delivery was further reinforced through employee volunteering and partnerships with local NGOs, while the bank also supported the afforestation of Bahrain and mangroves conservation via the government-led National Initiative for Agricultural Development.
Best bank for D&I: SICO Bank
SICO Bank’s consistent focus on measurable inclusion outcomes – from hiring to leadership representation – has reshaped workforce participation and progression within Bahrain’s banking sector.
In 2025, SICO embedded diversity and inclusion into its operations through a structured ESG framework, with clear priorities around gender balance, cultural diversity and employee wellbeing. This translated into measurable change: women accounted for 46% of employees at the end of 2025, up from 44% a year earlier, and represented 47% of new hires.
Within leadership pipelines, progress was equally evident. Female representation in senior and executive roles rose to 28.9%, supported by the bank’s targeted development programmes, such as the women’s empowerment initiative. Designed using internal survey data, the programme focused on practical skills – including leadership visibility and career progression – ensuring that investment addressed specific barriers to advancement and translated into improved promotion outcomes.
Retention outcomes were closely linked to flexible working policies. The bank’s hybrid model, allowing up to 50% remote working, was used predominantly by women, who accounted for more than 60% of uptake. This alignment between policy design and employees’ needs supported workforce continuity, particularly for working parents, and helped sustain progression into mid- and senior-level roles.
Inclusion was also embedded across core business functions in Bahrain. Women led key revenue-generating areas – including brokerage, overseen by the country’s only female chief broker, and market making, where teams were predominantly female.
Further support came through mandatory bias training, enhanced parental benefits exceeding local requirements, and inclusive workplace design.
Best investment bank: SICO
SICO’s investment banking franchise is defined by its central role in Bahrain’s deal cycle, combining advisory depth with consistent execution across a concentrated domestic market.
Its platform is anchored in mergers and acquisitions, which account for the majority of revenue, while also demonstrating excellence across capital markets, shareholder realignments, delistings and strategic restructuring.
The bank led several of the market’s most relevant transactions, spanning public listings, exit offers and large-scale stake transfers. It acted on the IPO of Silah Gulf, a deal that saw notable market traction, and advised on complex public-to-private activity, including the Nass Corporation exit.
Its role in the restructuring of Aluminium Bahrain’s shareholder base further underscores its ability to execute sizeable, politically and strategically sensitive transactions involving regional counterparties.
Alongside execution, SICO has advanced Bahrain’s capital markets through product innovation. It structured the market’s first Shariah-compliant tier-1 preference shares and is developing a securitisation-backed sukuk linked to microfinance assets, introducing new funding channels to the ecosystem.
These initiatives, combined with a balanced mix of new and repeat mandates, point to a franchise that couples origination with sustained client engagement while extending Bahrain’s structuring capabilities.
Best retail bank: National Bank of Bahrain
National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) delivered a strong retail banking performance, underpinned by a clear focus on digital delivery, product relevance and financial inclusion, supporting its recognition as Bahrain’s best retail bank.
The bank’s retail strategy focuses on digital empowerment and customer-centric journeys, designed to give customers secure, end-to-end access to everyday banking. Over the review period, NBB continued to simplify onboarding and servicing, reducing paperwork for account opening and lending. These changes improved turnaround times and eased friction for customers across core retail journeys.
Product innovation was a key differentiator. The launch of Tas’heel+, developed with Bahrain’s Ministry of Housing, expanded access to social housing finance while streamlining processes for existing housing products. In deposits, the bank enhanced its time deposit offering to provide periodic returns, responding directly to customer demand for income flexibility.
The Thara’a Prize Account was strengthened through digital management and gamification features that encourage consistent saving and improve transparency around prize eligibility, helping to deepen engagement in a competitive deposits market.
NBB also invested heavily in digital lending and investments. Customers can now complete personal loan applications through digital channels, supported by automated underwriting and digital signatures. Government securities were digitised for retail customers, broadening access to traditionally complex investment products and reinforcing the bank’s role in supporting national financial initiatives.
Inclusion and long-term customer development remained priorities. The Yalla! family banking proposition was expanded with savings tools designed for minors, supported by financial literacy initiatives delivered through school outreach programmes.
Alongside this, the bank enhanced fraud prevention and security through advanced digital identity and authentication measures, strengthening trust while maintaining regulatory alignment.
Best digital bank for consumers: ila Bank
Ila Bank was Bahrain’s leading digital retail bank in 2025. As the region’s first exclusively cloud-native, mobile-only retail bank, ila has evolved into a digital innovation engine, combining growth, deep engagement and strong financial outcomes.
Within five years of launch, ila has captured more than 35% of Bahrain’s bankable population, a significant achievement for a branchless bank. During the review period, this scale translated into continued deposit growth, sustained triple-digit engagement growth since 2023, and strong customer satisfaction, with an app rating of 4.8 out of 5.
Ila’s digital strategy is anchored on cloud-native scalability, data-driven engagement and ecosystem integration. In 2025, investment focused on end-to-end digital journeys, AI-enabled service and expanded savings and payments ecosystems. This strategy delivered measurable outcomes: customer numbers grew by double digits, with the strongest growth coming in credit-card customers and deposits.
Product innovation remained central to ila’s proposition over 2025. Features such as three-minute digital onboarding, multicurrency accounts, culturally resonant savings products including Hassala and Jamiyah, and the Al Kanz prize-linked savings account have driven engagement and financial wellbeing. Meanwhile, Fatema – MENA’s first 24/7 AI-enabled multilingual digital-human assistant – delivers customer service through intelligent, always-on support.
Beyond Bahrain, ila functions as a scalable blueprint retail expansion across MENA, transferring proven digital capabilities into diverse markets. This combination of market leadership and country wide impact positions ila Bank as the best digital bank for consumers in Bahrain.
Best bank for customer experience: Bahrain Islamic Bank
Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) demonstrated a clear and measurable commitment to improving customer experience in 2025 across every stage of the retail banking journey, combining digital innovation with targeted human support.
A central pillar of BisB’s strategy has been the removal of friction from onboarding and account opening. BisB launched a fully digital account-opening feature for Gulf Cooperation Council nationals through its mobile app. This fully digital process uses real-time verification to eliminate manual hand-offs. According to the bank, 91% of new customers in 2025 were onboarded digitally, reducing customer effort at the first point of engagement.
The bank has also invested heavily in customer service delivery. Dedicated customer experience managers were introduced across the branch network to guide customers towards digital self-service tools. This model reduced waiting times while allowing staff to focus on more complex needs.
In parallel, the bank launched “Al Murshid,” Bahrain’s first AI-powered Shariah advisory engine, providing customers with instant access to guidance drawn from thousands of rulings issued since 1979. This removed the need for lengthy consultations and gave customers faster answers aligned with their values.
Digital journeys have been expanded end to end through the BisB mobile app, which now hosts more than 200 services. Customers can complete personal finance applications, access instant finance top-ups in as little as four minutes, and convert credit card spending into monthly instalments directly in-app. In savings, products such as Save Plus and instant pledge-based financing have been fully digitised, contributing to 80% of total transactions being completed through digital channels.
Customer feedback plays a direct role in product development, including initiatives such as expanded Tejoori savings options and the launch of the Swap Properties solution. This focus on responsiveness helped lift customer satisfaction to 83% and supported a 9.8% increase in the retail customer base within a year.
Best personal investing platform: Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain
KFH Bahrain wins Bahrain’s best personal investment platform for KFH Trader, a platform that combines long-standing market access with a clear focus on accessibility, integration and responsible investing.
KFH Trader is embedded directly within KFH Bahrain’s mobile and internet banking channels, allowing customers to move from day-to-day banking to investing through a single sign-on journey. This integration removes traditional onboarding barriers and has been central to widening participation among retail and first-time investors. The platform offers access to 36 markets, covering the Gulf Cooperation Council region alongside the US, Europe and major Asian exchanges.
A defining feature of KFH Trader is its automated Shariah-compliant screening aligned with AAOIFI standards. This enables customers to filter eligible instruments automatically, supporting ethical and faith-based investing without restricting global reach or requiring manual checks. The combination of global access and embedded Shariah screening addresses a clear regional demand and reinforces confidence and transparency for investors.
Performance data underlines the platform’s impact. In 2025, KFH Trader recorded a 264% year-on-year increase in new accounts, rising from 207 in 2024 to 754. This growth was achieved while trading activity and volumes remained broadly stable despite softer regional market conditions, indicating sustained engagement rather than short-term inflows. Average monthly trades reached 925 in 2025, with customers executing an average of 3.79 trades each.
Operationally, the platform benefits from banking-grade security, high-availability infrastructure and integrated funding that enables instant settlement and real-time execution. Transparent pricing, unified dashboards and multi-currency portfolios support informed decision-making and diversification. Alongside this, guided onboarding and educational content help new investors participate responsibly and build long-term investing habits.
Best bank for SMEs: Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain
Kuwait Finance House (KFH) strengthened its SME proposition in Bahrain in 2025 by combining dedicated relationship coverage, government-backed financing programmes and advanced digital capabilities.
As competition for Bahrain’s small business segment intensifies, the bank has focused on helping SMEs access financing, streamline operations and digitise treasury processes through a platform traditionally associated with larger corporates.
The bank’s commitment to the segment was demonstrated by the launch of a dedicated SME team within corporate banking. The specialist unit was created to provide tailored advisory support, deepen client relationships and develop solutions based on direct feedback from Bahrain’s SME community.
Alongside this investment in coverage, KFH expanded its partnership with Tamkeen, one of Bahrain’s most important economic development institutions, providing $35 million of financing through programmes designed to improve SME access to capital.
Digital adoption has been a key driver of growth. SMEs accounted for close to 80% of all new clients onboarded to KFH’s B2B digital banking platform in 2025, highlighting the segment’s appetite for digital services and the bank’s ability to meet those needs. The platform provides more than 400 functionalities, giving SMEs access to capabilities including payments, payroll, collections, trade finance, supply chain finance and virtual account management through a single interface.
KFH also continued to support initiatives that strengthen Bahrain’s business environment. It became the first bank in the kingdom to integrate with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority’s Wage Protection System, enabling SMEs to automate salary processing and regulatory compliance through API connectivity.
The bank further expanded its physical reach by converting eight branches into dedicated retail and corporate centres, improving accessibility and service levels for business customers across Bahrain.
These initiatives translated into tangible momentum in the SME segment. The combination of dedicated coverage, Tamkeen-backed financing, advanced transaction banking capabilities and early adoption of national digital infrastructure positioned KFH as one of the most active and innovative supporters of Bahrain’s SME sector in 2025.
Best bank for large corporates: National Bank of Bahrain
National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) sits at the centre of many of the kingdom’s most important corporate and government-related relationships, giving it a role in transactions that help shape the national economy. The challenge for NBB is no longer winning relevance but expanding the value it delivers to an already entrenched client base.
In 2025, it did exactly that by deepening its transaction banking, treasury and advisory capabilities around its core lending franchise.
That strategy continues to deliver results. During the review period, the bank expanded its corporate client base, grew ancillary revenues from transaction banking and other fee-generating products by 17% year-on-year, and maintained its position as Bahrain’s leading fee income generator. Deposits and lending continued to grow, while NBB increased its market share in a segment where it already holds a commanding presence.
The bank’s influence was evident across some of Bahrain’s most significant transactions. During the review period, NBB acted as the only local bank on the Bapco Energies sukuk, deployed approximately $3 billion through its corporate banking business, executed sophisticated interest-rate hedging mandates for major government-related entities, and played a leading role in Bahrain’s only asset monetisation transaction of the year. These mandates demonstrated the bank’s ability to combine balance-sheet strength with increasingly sophisticated advisory and risk-management capabilities.
Alongside these mandates, NBB continued to invest in practical treasury solutions. DigiCorp, its corporate banking platform, was enhanced with 24/7 US dollar processing through international payment network integrations, making NBB the first bank in Bahrain – and among the first in the region – to offer the capability. The platform also incorporates enterprise liquidity management, open banking functionality, and API connectivity, helping corporate treasurers manage liquidity and payments more effectively. Transaction volumes and values processed through DigiCorp increased by more than double digits during 2025.
Rather than relying on a single product or headline transaction, NBB’s advantage comes from the breadth of its relationships. The bank has leveraged its position with Bahrain’s largest corporates and government-related entities to expand beyond traditional lending, capturing a greater share of treasury, payments, liquidity management and risk management business.
