ADIB enhances its digital banking ecosystem

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has announced that it will continue to develop its digital banking ecosystem and be at the forefront of banking innovation as more customers switch to digital.

In 2021, ADIB saw an 11 per cent rise in digitally active customers. Currently, the bank has more than 700,000 digitally enabled customers, which represents a record of 75 per cent of customers who are active on a daily or weekly basis.

ADIB has invested heavily in areas that will help it grow further in the future, in line with its vision to become the world’s most innovative Islamic bank, including launching new products and advancing digital capabilities.

Over the past two years, ADIB has introduced innovative features and services that provide easy and convenient banking services to customers. Currently, around 40 per cent of new customers open their accounts digitally, through the facial recognition feature. ADIB was the first bank in UAE to provide this service, which provides the opportunity to conduct immediate and secure verification before opening the account, and through direct access to the customer database in the UAE government.

Around 30 per cent of customers obtain instant and digital personal finance through the bank's application. Meanwhile, digital remittances accounted for 98 per cent, while the process of updating customer profiles digitally recorded 79 per cent. Cash withdrawals and check deposits decreased by percentage within branches. In the meanwhile, more than 98 per cent of withdrawals are conducted digitally, which represents an increasing reliance on digital payment services.

Digital adoption in corporate banking has also witnessed strong growth, with Wholesale Banking Group’s daily transaction clocking a high of 21,000 in June 2021, representing a 95 per cent increase over the same period last year. Around 90 per cent of corporate transactions are completed digitally, up from 60 per cent last year in 2021. Similarly, the Business Banking department recorded 56,000 transactions in June 2021, up 27 per cent year-on-year. Around 92 per cent of these transactions were concluded digitally, up from 75 per cent in 2020 last year.

Sameh Awadallah, acting global head of Retail Banking, said: “ADIB has been consistently moving towards digitalization and have achieved milestones in this area. We have now a solid digital infrastructure that we can capitalise on for our customers. We are proud to see fast digital adoption across our retail and corporate segments. Our teams have consistently worked hard to deliver the best digital banking services and tools to our customers to ensure they have everything they need to make easy and simple financial decisions. Our customers can expect more simplicity and convenience this year as we ramp up our digital offerings and capabilities.”

Over the past year, ADIB has launched a set of new digital initiatives which are aimed at meeting customers’ evolving needs.

The bank rolled out ADIB Chat Banking in August, the UAE’s first Emirati customer care chatbot. The service, which is accessible through WhatsApp, supports customers with general requests, offering instant access to key information about their account and finances. There are now 150,000 customers with a verified chatbot account.

ADIB’s integrated digital kiosks – branded ‘Smart Tellers’ by ADIB – offer the services of a mini-branch and are available all days of the week, allowing customers to access a wide variety of banking services and products that are not typically available through traditional ATMs, such as instantly obtaining a personalised card and updating account details.

The bank’s digital ecosystem for auto- related needs, “Turbo”, brings together several auto- industry partners on one digital platform to facilitate and centralize all consumers’ car-related needs, such as buying and selling cars, takaful car insurance and car finance.

Amwali is ADIB’s ground-breaking proposition that brings together an entire suite of banking products and innovative technology to enable young customers to enjoy a whole new way of banking that is paperless, signatureless and branchless.

ADIB launched the Al Ghaf Paperless Programme, an initiative aimed at eliminating paper usage at branches through digital banking solutions. Set to conclude by the end of 2022, the first phase of implementing Al Ghaf paperless strategy involves minimizing the consumption of more than two million sheets of paper across ADIB’s branches by the end of 2021.

In addition, the bank has been deploying AI technology and bots to clear cheques and automate certain processes. The aim is to have 65 per cent of cheques cleared digitally and 90 per cent of processes automated which will result in operational efficiency due to reduction of cheque processing time, better risk management and fraud prevention.

business@khaleejtimes.com