BrazilTwo major UAE banks select IBM Consulting for digital mandate
IBM Consulting has been awarded two new mandates in the UAE’s banking landscape, with both Dubai Islamic Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank selecting the firm as the lead delivery partner for a digital transformation program.
Dubai Islamic Bank
With assets in excess of $80 billion, Dubai Islamic Bank is the largest Islamic bank in the UAE and the second largest of its kind in the world.
With the help of IBM Consulting, Dubai Islamic Bank is seeking to uplift the digital services it provides its customers across different channels. Underpinning the client-facing enhancement is a digital transformation overhaul, which is seeing the bank adopt cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence, advanced customer analytics, cloud, and more.
“We are on a journey to help build a robust foundation and data roadmap required to support Dubai Islamic Bank’s vision of becoming the most progressive Islamic financial institution in the world,” explained Noman Rasheed, Chief Information Officer at Dubai Islamic Bank.
“In doing so, we recognize the need to leverage industry-leading expertise. IBM Consulting has been an important partner in delivering strategic services over the years, and we are proud of our achievements thus far. We look forward to continuing our journey of innovation and business transformation together.”
This specific project will see IBM Consulting build and develop a customer journey analytics engine that will enable more personalized offers to its customers, which down the line will improve customer onboarding and retention. The consultants are also helping its client enhance the way digital services are delivered, and with ensuring regulatory compliance.
“This program is a significant milestone in our long-standing relationship with Dubai Islamic Bank,” said Bishu Panigrahi, Managing Partner, Gulf, Levant and Pakistan at IBM Consulting. “We are delighted to lead Dubai Islamic Bank’s transformation journey using our deep expertise in banking and capabilities in data, integration and cloud transformation.”
First Abu Dhabi Bank
Meanwhile, in parallel another IBM Consulting team is working for the UAE’s largest bank overall: First Abu Dhabi Bank (total assets of $323 billion – four times the size of Dubai Islamic Bank).
First Abu Dhabi Bank has tapped IBM Consulting to support a cloud transformation program. Currently in the initial stage of the journey, a joint client-consultant team is exploring the state of the application landscape, including an assessment exercise on which applications should be migrated to the cloud and in what manner.
The analysis will provide First Abu Dhabi Bank input for its cloud migration strategy, as part of its evolution journey to modernize its application portfolio and core technology infrastructure.
Srinivasan Sampath, Acting Group Chief Technology Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank, commented: “We are proud to be progressing steadily with our digital transformation journey, positioning us for further agility and growth. IBM Consulting will help us facilitate our cloud migration initiatives, allowing us to continue to provide a seamless digital experience to all our customer groups, develop new digital offerings in an agile manner and reduce our data center footprint.”
Liaquat Parkar, an Executive Partner at IBM Consulting, added: “As the UAE’s financial services landscape continues to evolve and digital transformation initiatives continue apace, banks are accelerating their digital initiatives. We look forward to building on our achievements with First Abu Dhabi Bank to advance the bank’s ambitious cloud transformation journey.”
