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EXTENDED SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: 05 JUNE 2026 | AWARDS GALA: 03 SEPTEMBER 2026
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About

The Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards,  organised by The Digital Banker, exist to honour and celebrate the region’s preeminent and ground breaking financial institutions and their distinguished individuals’ contribution to retail banking. To that end, The Digital Banker welcomes you to participate in the program to showcase how your institution has been leveraging innovation in maintaining personal and consumer banking relationships through the delivery of superior product & services portfolio as fast-changing operating conditions test the capability and resources of your bank.

The Digital Banker Awards are accolades of excellence and distinction, attributed to outstanding players – they provide objective benchmarks for the global and regional banking industry. This program exists to celebrate the region’s most cutting-edge financial services providers that are pioneering new standards and capabilities – those that are transforming the industry by setting new milestones by digitally transforming to deliver a consistent banking experience to retail customers.

What's New This Year?

This year’s awards programme has been refreshed with new categories and refinements to reflect evolving customer behaviours, technology priorities and changes across the banking and financial services industry.

Key updates include two new Retail Product Innovation titles: Best Expat Product of the Year and Best Digital Nomad Product of the Year, recognising the growing expatriate and digital nomad population. The Technology Awards now include Best Mobile Banking App of the Year, while the Vendor Awards introduce Best Cloud Security Offering.

The Service Innovation Awards have replaced Best Bank for Millennials with Best Bank for Early Banking Journeys. The Frictionless Awards add Best Identity Verification Experience and the Marketing and Customer Engagement Awards expand with Best Sustainability Marketing Initiative, Best Inclusivity Marketing Initiative, and Best Marketing Initiative for Next-Gen Customers.

Two new People and Employee Awards have been introduced: Trailblazer of the Year and the Banking Visionary Award (lifetime achievement).
 Finally, the SME Banking Awards now replace Micro Finance Product of the Year with three focused categories: SME Micro Loan, SME Micro Savings, and SME Micro Insurance Product of the Year

Submissions Close In

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2025 Awards Highlights

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Why Nominate?

Retail banking in the Middle East & Africa continues to undergo rapid change that is redefining customer engagement models. Characterized in large part due to digital innovation across payments and adoption of digital channels, retail players are seeking to actively rollout digital-first strategies that facilitate financial access and inclusion, while augmenting seamless client journeys.

The embrace of digital transformation powered by infrastructure modernization and strategic collaboration with fintech has enabled retail entities to advance service offerings and elevate customer experience. However, with ensuing economic uncertainties, regulatory pressures and rising geo-political tensions, retail banks across the region are having to navigate a complex operating landscape.

If you identify your organisation as an industry leader that is pushing the boundaries and pioneering unsurpassed innovation to overcome these challenges in the retail banking space, then we welcome you to send in your nominations.

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that financial service firms deliver exceptional retail finance solutions through innovative business models and services.

Who Can Apply?

The Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards  is open to all institutions operating across the retail finance ecosystem in the region.

We welcome submissions from retail & SME banks, Islamic banks, neo/digital/challenger banks and technology service providers.

Past Winners

Best Retail Bank - Egypt
Winner
Best Digital Bank - United Arab Emirates
Winner
Best SME Bank - United Arab Emirates
Winner
Best Digital Bank - United Arab Emirates
Highly Acclaimed
Best Digital Banking Initiative - Mobile Banking Experience
Winner
Digital Lending Product of the Year
Winner
Standard Chartered
Excellence in Digital Innovation -Middle East
Winner
Best Digital Bank Initiative - Overall
Winner
Best Self-Service Banking
Winner
Best Retail Bank for a Frictionless Banking Experience
Winner
Best Pure-Play Digital Account Opening Solution
Winner
Outstanding Marketing Initiative for a New Product
Winner
Best Sustainability Marketing Initiative
Winner
Outstanding Omnichannel Integration by a Retail Bank
Winner
Best Digital Bank - Middle East
Highly Acclaimed
Best Digital Bank - Middle East
Winner
Best SME Bank - Middle East
Winner
Standard Chartered
Best Retail Bank - Middle East - by an International Bank
Winner
Best Digital Bank - Middle East
Highly Acclaimed
Best New Product Launch of the Year - Qatar
Winner
Credit Card of Year - Co-branded
Winner
Best New Product Launch of the Year
Winner
Best Savings Account
Winner
Loan Offering of the Year
Winner
Best Expat Product of the Year /Best Digital Nomad Product of the Year
Winner
Best Mass Affluent Banking Offering
Winner
Best Internet Banking Initiative
Winner
Outstanding Digital Innovation in SME Banking
Winner
Best AI Initiative
Winner
Best Mobile Banking App of the Year
Winner
Best Digital Wealth Platform
Winner
Best Hybrid Wealth Management Offering
Winner
Best New Wealth Management Product of the Year
Winner
Best Mobile App for Wealth Management
Winner
Standard Chartered
Wealth Hub of the Year - Middle East
Winner
Best Digital Transformation Program
Winner
Digital Lending Product of the Year – Cards Installment Program (Tasaheal)
Winner
Excellence in Digital Innovation
Winner
Best Pure-Play Digital Initiative
Winner
Best Contact Centre Initiative
Winner
Best Mobile Banking Initiative - Egypt
Winner
Best Mobile Banking Initiative - Middle East
Winner
Best Payments Innovation
Winner
Outstanding Customer Service Innovation by a Retail Bank
Winner
Best Savings Account
Winner
Best New Product Launch of the Year
Winner
Islamic Credit Card of the Year - Travel
Winner
Loan Offering of the Year
Winner
Consumer Finance Product of the Year
Winner
Islamic Credit Card of the Year - Cashback
Winner
Credit Card of the Year - Travel
Winner
Mortgage Product of the Year
Winner
Best Retail Bank-Saudi Arabia
Winner
Best Retail Bank-United Arab Emirates
Winner
Best SME Bank-United Arab Emirates
Winner
Best Digital Bank-United Arab Emirates
Winner
Outstanding Customer Relations & Brand Engagement Initiative
Winner
Outstanding Marketing Initiative for a New Product
Winner
Best Customer Loyalty Program
Winner
Best Lifestyle App
Winner
Best Social Media Marketing Initiative - Middle East
Winner
Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening
Winner
Best Pure-Play Digital Account Opening Solution
Winner
Best Data Analytics Initiative
Winner
Best Retail Bank-Middle East
Winner
Best SME Bank-Middle East
Winner
Best Digital Bank-Middle East
Winner
Best ATM Innovation
Winner
Standard Chartered
Best Digital Wealth Platform
Winner
Standard Chartered
Best Hybrid Wealth Management Offering
Winner
Standard Chartered
Best Wealth Manager for the Mass Affluent
Winner
Standard Chartered
Wealth Hub of the Year
Winner
Best New SME Product of the Year
Winner
Best Smart Payments Solution By an SME Bank
Winner
Outstanding Digital Innovation in SME Banking - Africa
Winner
Outstanding Digital Innovation in SME Banking
Winner
Outstanding Growth of MSME Clients
Winner
Best Deposit Product of the Year
Winner
Consumer Finance Product of the Year
Winner
Consumer Finance Product of the Year
Highly Acclaimed
Credit Card of the Year (Cashback) – SAB Visa Cashback
Winner
Credit Card of the Year (Cashback)
Highly Acclaimed
Credit Card of the Year (Travel)
Winner
Credit Card of the Year – Co-branded
Highly Acclaimed
Islamic Credit Card of the Year
Winner
Loan Offering of the Year
Winner
Best Financial Inclusion Initiative – Egypt
Winner
Best Mobile Banking Initiative – Middle East
Winner
Best Mobile Banking Initiative – Africa
Winner
Best Payments Innovation
Winner
Outstanding Customer Service Innovation by a Retail Bank
Winner
Outstanding Customer Service Innovation by a Retail Bank
Highly Acclaimed
Best Digital Banking Initiative
Winner
Best Digital Banking Initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Best Digital Transformation Program
Winner
Best Pure-Play Digital Account
Winner
Excellence in Digital Innovation
Winner
Excellence in Digital Innovation
Highly Acclaimed
Best Customer Loyalty Program
Winner
Best Digital Sales Initiative
Winner
Best Social Media Marketing Initiative
Winner
Outstanding Customer Relations & Brand Engagement Initiative
Winner
Outstanding Marketing Initiative for a New Product
Winner
Best CSR Initiative
Winner
Best Retail Bank for Employee Experience
Winner
Best Digital Bank – United Arab Emirates
Highly Acclaimed
Best Islamic Digital Bank – United Arab Emirates
Winner
Outstanding IT Transformation by a Retail Bank
Winner
Outstanding Machine Learning Initiative
Winner
Best Digital Wealth Platform
Winner
Best New Wealth Management Product of the Year
Winner
Best Islamic Digital Bank – Middle East
Winner
Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening – Retail Banking
Winner
Best Islamic retail bank in South Africa
Winner
Best digital bank in Saudi Arabia
Winner
Best digital bank in Egypt
Winner
Best SME bank in Egypt
Winner
Best retail bank in UAE
Winner
Best SME bank in UAE
Winner
Best digital bank in UAE
Winner
Best Islamic retail bank in UAE
Winner
Best retail bank in Egypt
Winner
Best digital bank in Qatar
Winner
Best digital bank in Zambia
Winner
Best digital banking initiative
Winner
Digital lending product of the year
Winner
Excellence in digital innovation
Highly Acclaimed
Best digital transformation program
Winner
Outstanding digital transformation by an Islamic retail bank
Winner
Best digital wallet of the year
Winner
Best pure-play digital initiative
Winner
Excellence in digital innovation
Winner
Best mobile banking initiative
Winner
Best financial inclusion initiative
Winner
Outstanding customer service innovation by a retail bank
Winner
Best bank for Gen-Z
Winner
Best customer centric business model
Winner
Best payments innovation
Winner
Consumer finance product of the year
Winner
Credit card of year - Egypt
Winner
Debit card of the year
Winner
Best Islamic loan offering of the year
Winner
Credit card of year
Winner
Best self-service banking
Winner
Outstanding client onboarding & account opening
Winner
Outstanding client onboarding & account opening
Highly Acclaimed
Best frictionless customer relationship management
Winner
Best retail bank in the Middle East
Winner
Best SME bank in the Middle East
Winner
Best digital bank in the Middle East
Winner
Outstanding staff training, learning & development program
Winner
Best CSR initiative
Winner
Best new wealth management product of the year
Winner
Best hybrid wealth management offering
Winner
Best Islamic SME banking initiative/product of the year
Winner
Outstanding digital innovation in SME banking
Winner
Best lifestyle app
Winner
Best digital bank – South Africa
Winner
Best digital bank – Saudi Arabia
Winner
Best SME bank – Egypt
Winner
Best digital bank – Qatar
Winner
Best retail bank – Qatar
Winner
Best wealth manager – Mauritius
Winner
Best mobile engagement of the year – Africa
Highly Acclaimed
Best mobile engagement of the year – Africa
Winner
Best new product launch of the year
Winner
Credit card of year
Winner
Digital lending product of the year
Winner
Credit card of year
Highly Acclaimed
Best savings account
Winner
Digital lending product of the year
Highly Acclaimed
Credit card of year
Highly Acclaimed
Mortgage product of the year
Highly Acclaimed
Best digital banking initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Best pure-play digital initiative
Winner
Excellence in digital innovation
Winner
Best digital financial inclusion initiative
Winner
Best pure-play digital initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Outstanding digital acceleration in response to COVID-19
Winner
Best digital banking initiative
Winner
Best graduate employment program
Winner
Outstanding staff training, learning & development program
Winner
CEO of the year
Winner
Retail banker of the year
Winner
Best E-KYC
Winner
Outstanding client on-boarding and account opening
Winner
Best frictionless customer relationship management
Winner
Best financial inclusion initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Best financial inclusion initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Best mobile banking initiative
Winner
Best financial inclusion initiative
Winner
Outstanding financial inclusion in response to COVID-19
Winner
Outstanding personalised 1:1 marketing initiative
Winner
Best customer loyalty program – Middle East
Winner
Outstanding response to COVID-19 – branchless banking
Winner
Outstanding digital innovation in SME banking
Winner
Best SME bank - Africa
Winner
Best hybrid wealth management offering
Winner
Mortgage product of the year
Winner
Digital lending product of the year
Winner
Best payment merchant services of the year
Winner
Best new product launch of the year
Winner
Consumer finance product of the year
Winner
Excellence in SME banking
Winner
Credit card of the year
Winner
Outstanding response to COVID-19, SME loans
Winner
Best digital wallet of the year
Winner
Best savings account
Winner
Debit card of the year
Winner
Loan offering of the year
Winner
Best pure-play digital current account
Winner
Best API initiative
Winner
Best digital transformation program
Winner
Outstanding digital acceleration in response to COVID-19
Winner
Best digital banking initiative
Winner
Best digital payments initiative
Winner
Best digital banking initiative
Highly Acclaimed
Outstanding digital innovation in SME banking
Winner
Excellence in digital innovation
Highly Acclaimed
Excellence in digital innovation
Winner
Best digital financial inclusion initiative
Winner
Excellence in digital wealth management
Winner
Best digital bank – Egypt
Winner
Best SME bank – Nigeria
Winner
Best digital bank – UAE
Winner
Best digital bank – KSA
Winner
Best retail bank – Egypt
Winner
Best digital bank – Qatar
Winner
Best retail bank – Qatar
Winner
Best frictionless credit evaluation
Winner
Outstanding IT transformation
Winner
Best data analytics initiative
Winner
Outstanding client onboarding & account opening
Winner
Outstanding customer service transformation
Winner
Best digital account opening
Winner
Best graduate employment program
Winner
CEO of the year – Egypt
Winner
CEO of the year – Qatar
Winner
Best CSR initiative
Winner
Best AI initiative
Winner
Best application of IoT
Winner
Best chatbot service
Winner
Best RPA initiative
Winner
Outstanding digital marketing initiative
Winner
Best social media marketing initiative
Winner
Best lifestyle app
Winner
Outstanding response to COVID-19, branchless banking
Winner
Best ATM innovation
Winner
Best mobile banking
Winner
Best financial inclusion initiative
Winner
Best customer centric business model
Winner
Best payments innovation
Winner
Outstanding cloud offering
Winner

Judges

Olivia Jeavons 

Senior Manager, Financial Services Strategy and Consulting 

Accenture

Asad Ahmed

Managing Director

Alvarez & Marsal Middle East

Manfredi de'Mozzi

Senior Partner, EMEA head of SME Banking and Corporate Banking sectors and SEE head of Financial Services practice. 

Bain & Company

Jeff Tijssen

Partner, London

Bain & Company

Zeeshan Khwaja

Partner

Kearney

Ben Kilpatrick

Partner, Banking & Capital Markets Consulting

KPMG Australia

Nick Cowell

Strategy Leader for Banking

Monitor Deloitte

Nontobeko Lubisi

Director: Financial Inclusion

Simon-Kucher

National Treasury (RSA)

Joshua Koh

Partner

Simon-Kucher

Corry Mccruden

Winners Case Study

Emirates NBD: Customer Intelligence is the Impetus for Value Creation
READ CASE STUDY
ADCB: Crisis is No Excuse for Digital Transformation
READ CASE STUDY
How Mashreq Al Islami Reshapes Islamic Banking in UAE
READ CASE STUDY

FAQ'S

Request for Nomination Pack

Do I Have to Submit a Nomination?

All awards participants are required to submit nominations through The Digital Banker’s online submission portal. The portal is where you will find the questions that need to be answered in order to be considered in the current year’s program. Institutions will be unable to participate in our awards programs without a fully complete submission(s).

Can One Project/Initiative Be Considered for Multiple Awards?

You may nominate one project or initiative across numerous awards. Please note however, these submissions are likely to compete with one and other. You must submit separate entries for each award.

Are There Any Costs Involved in Making A Submission?​

There are no costs involved in making a submission.

May I Submit More Than One Nomination?​

The Digital Banker does not place a limit on the number of submissions per institution. Please be aware that multiple submissions by a single organisation for a single category will compete with each other. A separate submission is required for each category.

If I cannot Access The Judging Portal, May I Submit My Entries Via Email?​

If your institution has firewall restrictions and you are unable to submit entries via our portal, you may request for the PDF questionnaire.

Contact Us​

For further information, please contact The Digital Banker Awards Team at [email protected].
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            The world’s preeminent Private Banks and Wealth Managers are demonstrating a committed drive in innovation, advisory, new products and services to meet the sophisticated needs of their clients.

            COVID-19
            Amid economic activity revival on the back of the Covid-19 vaccine program, organisations moving from business continuity plans to stable working environments, together with the slightest improvement in unemployment numbers, forced the world to adjust to new realities. Coming to terms with the “new normal”, global investors are now on the look-out for attractive and stable investment opportunities.

            Needs of Private Wealth customers and families worldwide have drastically changed due to the pandemic and banks have had to accelerate efforts to deploy a multi-channel service strategy and safeguard clients’ businesses and wealth against negative impacts of economic uncertainly.

            The Global Private Banking Innovation Awards will recognise the world’s best private banks, wealth managers and asset managers that are championing innovation across advisory, service, products, customer experience and more.

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