Meet the winners of the Digital Banking and Finance Excellence Awards

On Wednesday, the Khaleej Times Digital Banking and Finance Excellence Awards honoured banks, financial institutions and technology providers bringing evolutionary changes in the financial spectrum.

Top leaders in the banking sector took part in the third edition of Khaleej Times DigiBank 2022 – the Banking Transformation Forum.

The one-day event, which took place on September 14, saw participation from influential figures in the banking and fintech industries. The day’s activities ended with a glittering award ceremony.

Recognising these rapid changes and evolving financial services landscape, here are the top winners of the 2022 edition of the award.

The winners

The winners of the Digital Banking and Finance Excellence Awards are:

Winners in other categories are:

Commenting on winning the title of Best Bank for Wealth Management, Faizal Kundil, the head of consumer banking at Ajman Bank, said, “At Ajman Bank, we feel proud of being awarded the title of the best wealth management bank in the Middle East at the DigiBank 2022 event. It is a great honour, and we highly appreciate this recognition.”

Kundil added: “The core of our growth strategy includes a broad and diverse array of services customised to our customer's requirements, strategic market tie-ups and global insights, perspectives and network. We are also launching new services that will be provided for the first time in the Sharia-compliant segment.”

Commenting on how wealth management trends in the UAE transpired in a post-pandemic and economic recession environment, Kundil said, “The UAE has a strong concentration of high net worth individuals. Launching our first dedicated wealth management branch in Dubai is part of Ajman Bank’s strategy to serve this premier segment, boasting locals and expatriates. It differentiates our bank clearly from others.”

At a time of global uncertainties and increased market complexity, the wealth segment requires greater guidance, expertise and solutions for building a robust financial portfolio.

Hence it is the right time for us to expand in this direction with plans to develop more such facilities.”

Policybazaar.ae took home the title of Best Insurance Brand; Neeraj Gupta, the company's CEO, told Khaleej Times: “It is an absolute privilege and honour to receive this award, especially at the start of our journey. I believe we have only begun our journey in the UAE even though we have been here for four years.”

“When you are starting out fresh", he added, "you face several setbacks. Receiving this award feels like we are doing something right.”

Gupta noted that the presence of a large Indian diaspora in the Emirates aided Policybazaar’s entry into the UAE market. Commenting on customer requirements in a post-pandemic world, he said: “The entire ecosystem was forced to look and adapt digitally. Moreover, healthcare products took greater precedence among UAE customers.” Gupta also said that in some cases post the pandemic, employers began purchasing more comprehensive healthcare policies than what their companies were providing and billed that portion to their company.

“Some companies also provided the budget to their employees and allowed them to choose the kind of care packages they wanted. SMEs have also opted for more comprehensive care packages,” he stated.

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