First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, has teamed up with IBM Consulting to support the bank’s ongoing digital transformation journey.
IBM will work to enhance FAB’s digital platforms in a hybrid cloud environment to help deliver a seamless digital experience to the bank’s customers.
As part of this arrangement, IBM Consulting aims to provide FAB with deep industry expertise in the areas of banking, hybrid cloud and application modernisation to enhance the bank’s ability to faster develop new products and digital services. IBM’s team of experts will work with FAB to modernise existing applications and further enhance the digital footprint of FAB’s customers.
Forefront of the industry
Over the past few years, FAB has undergone a transformation designed to put the bank at the forefront of the industry by digitising retail banking products and services. Today the bank has rolled out a wide range of digital banking new offerings to meet customers’ digital needs, which has positioned the bank for future growth and ongoing agility.
Srinivasan Sampath, Acting Group Chief Technology Officer – First Abu Dhabi Bank commented: “As we accelerate into the future of banking, we need to leverage the latest innovations to underpin our ongoing digital transformation efforts to meet our customers’ increasing digital needs. IBM has been essential in our services’ delivery for the past years, and this agreement maintains our relationship to allow us to continue innovating and transforming the way we interact with our customers.”
The digitalisation of the UAE’s financial services sector has accelerated during the pandemic, as consumers increasingly relied on the convenience of mobile apps to access their banking services. Today, banks turn to modernising their applications and create cloud-native development environments facing the rapidly evolving customer behaviours and expectations in the increasingly digital world. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), 71% of banks in the UAE have realised substantial or significant value from modernising business processes and applications.
Leading-edge capabilities
Christian Noll, the Managing Partner for IBM Consulting in the Middle East and Africa commented: “IBM is bringing its leading-edge capabilities, deep industry experience and leadership in financial services, and understanding of the specific regulatory compliance, security and resiliency needs for the banking industry to help FAB transform and bring innovative experiences to its customers. We are proud to be on this digital transformation journey with FAB, an innovation leader in the banking industry in the UAE.”
Embracing end-to-end digitisation as a means of driving innovation was one of several top banking industry imperatives outlined in IBM Institute for Business Value’s 2022 Global Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets.
