Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Partners with IBM to Launch Innovative Digital Studio

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and ARMONK, NY - 16 Dec 2015: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) today announced that it will fundamentally transform how it interacts and provides services to customers by building a new Digital Studio with consulting services from IBM (NYSE: IBM). The new design studio builds on the bank’s efforts to innovate and digitize its products and services to enhance customer experience. The project also includes new IBM MobileFirst for iOS banking apps supported by IBM Cloud that empower the bank’s financial advisors to deliver a more dynamic, engaging customer experience. The studio will be the first of its kind in the region.

The rise of FinTechs -- smaller, non-traditional firms using technology in the financial services industry -- and digitally-empowered customers are triggering an upheaval in how banks reassess their customer experience and customer retention. This is especially true for traditional banks as they fight to improve the cost of customer acquisition and improve their own agility in responding to the market with new products in less time.

To meet these challenges, ADIB needed to evolve its culture and decision-making process to fast-track development of new, elegantly-designed banking apps. Working with IBM to build a Digital Design Studio, the first of its kind in the region, the bank is building a multi-disciplinary digital team . This will include experts from IBM Design and IBM Interactive Experience, the industry's largest hybrid digital agency and consultancy, who will work side-by-side with ADIB to create personalized and engaging digital experiences such as new mobile banking apps for consumers.

“ADIB aims to be the best digital bank in the UAE and continuously invests in cutting edge technologies to enhance customer experience and introduce innovative new products and solutions to meet the evolving needs of its customers,” said Sagheer Mufti, COO, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. “The introduction of digital studio at ADIB means we now have access to a team of dedicated IBM digital experts with proven experience designing compelling financial services and solutions. This studio will also play a major role in driving the various initiatives and projects across the bank to accelerate its digital transformation.”

Bluemix – IBM’s cloud platform -- allows developers to accelerate the deployment of next-generation apps that capture the disruptive potential of cognitive computing, analytics and IoT. IBM launched Bluemix with a $1 billion investment in 2014, growing rapidly to become the largest public Cloud Foundry deployment in the world. The open-standards-based Bluemix catalog includes over 120 tools and services spanning categories of big data, mobile, Watson, analytics, integration, DevOps, security and Internet of Things. The Cloud platform will enable ADIB to accelerate the development and deployment of these next-generation apps that leverage these innovations to offer clients a truly differentiated digital experience.

“In today’s fast moving world, one ¼ inch swipe is all it takes to lose a customer forever” said Paul Papas, Global Leader, IBM Interactive Experience. “Working with ADIB we will be utilizing IBM Design Thinking to take a human centric approach to create experiences that are personalized, elegant, and empowering. Our Agile and Studio based model will enable IBM and ADIB to innovate together with speed and scale.”

The Bank will also deploy the IBM MobileFirst for iOS Trusted Advice app, allowing their financial advisors to easily and securely access and manage client portfolios from their iPads. The app empowers advisors to address the full gamut of client needs, from testing recommendations against sophisticated modeling tools all the way to complete, secure transactions. Powered by analytics, the Trusted Advice app provides predictive information that enables advisors to gain quick insight for devising client scenarios and conduct more interactive client planning sessions. Using their iPads, advisors can share graphic-rich data with clients for more engaging, personalized presentations that can be delivered wherever they meet with clients.

About Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

ADIB is a leading bank in the UAE with more than AED 110 billion in assets. Its 855,468 customers benefit from the third largest distribution network in the UAE with 88 branches and more than 757 ATMs. The bank also offers world-class online, mobile and phone banking services, providing clients with seamless digital access to their accounts 24 hours a day. ADIB provides retail, corporate, business, private banking and wealth management solutions. The bank was established in 1997 and its shares are traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

ADIB has a presence in six strategic markets: Egypt, where it has 70 branches, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Sudan, Iraq and Qatar.