Emirates Islamic has won the ‘Best Digital Innovation in Islamic Banking’ award at MEA Finance Banking Technology Summit & Awards 2021, in recognition of its commitment to service excellence and digitisation.
The regional award honours the UAE’s leading provider of Islamic banking and Shariah finance that has, through digitisation, created products and methods which add value and services in unique ways to this important financial services space.
Commenting on the award, Farid Al Mulla, Deputy Head of Consumer Banking and Wealth Management at Emirates Islamic, said, “We are delighted to be named the ‘Best Digital Innovation in Islamic Banking’ at MEA Finance Banking Technology Summit & Awards. The award is testimony to our product and service innovations, which have been fundamental to our distinction in the region’s Islamic banking sector. As a pioneering Islamic bank in the UAE and a key supporter of the leadership’s vision to make the UAE a global hub for Islamic banking, we have always embraced innovation as one of our core strategic pillars. We were the first Islamic bank to launch a Mobile Banking app in the UAE, first Islamic bank to launch Apple Pay in the UAE and the first Islamic bank in the world to launch Chat Banking through WhatsApp.”
He added: “While no one could have predicted the pandemic, our strategic focus on digital banking, customer engagement and a service culture enabled us to offer safe banking, stability and business continuity, uninterrupted to our customers throughout changing circumstances for consumers during COVID-19. We saw a marked increase in the usage of our digital banking channels in 2020, with 73% of customers now banking through online and mobile banking and an increase of 26% in digital transactions from March 2020 to March 2021.
We also launched our first Digital Branch at Mall of Emirates in Dubai in December 2020, marking a new milestone in the bank’s digitisation journey aligned with our customer-centric philosophy.”
MEA Finance was established with the ultimate goal to serve the regional banking and financial services sector. It recognises the pioneers in the financial and banking sector including commercial, retail, and investment banking, Islamic banking, technology and wealth management. MEA Finance Banking Technology Awards celebrate the achievements of the region’s leading banks, financial institutions and technology providers, at the forefront of digital transformation who have worked together to build smarter, more effective and efficient financial systems for new age banking customers.
