The Banking Executive Magazine - April 2022 Issue

FAB FAB TEAMS UP WITH IBM TO ACCELERATE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest and safest financial in- stitutions, has announced a collabo- ration with IBM Consulting to support the bank’s ongoing digital transformation journey. IBM will work to enhance FAB’s digital plat- forms in a hybrid cloud environment to help deliver a seamless digital ex- perience to the bank’s customers. As part of this arrangement, IBM Consulting aims to provide FAB with deep industry expertise in the areas of banking, hybrid cloud and appli- cation modernization to enhance the bank’s ability to faster develop new products and digital services. IBM’s team of experts will work with FAB to modernize existing applications and further enhance the digital foot- print of FAB’s customers. Over the past few years, FAB has un- dergone a transformation designed to put the bank at the forefront of the in- dustry by digitizing retail banking products and services. Today the bank has rolled out a wide range of digital banking new offerings to meet customers’ digital needs, which has positioned the bank for future growth and ongoing agility. Srinivasan Sampath, Acting Group Chief Technology Officer - First Abu Dhabi Bank commented: "As we ac- celerate into the future of banking, we need to leverage the latest inno- vations to underpin our ongoing dig- ital transformation efforts to meet our customers’ increasing digital needs. IBM has been essential in our serv- ices’ delivery for the past years, and this agreement maintains our rela- tionship to allow us to continue in- novating and transforming the way we interact with our customers.” The digitalization of the UAE’s finan- cial services sector has accelerated during the pandemic, as consumers increasingly relied on the conven- ience of mobile apps to access their banking services. Today, banks turn to modernizing their applications and create cloud-native develop- ment environments facing the rapidly evolving customer behaviors and ex- pectations in the increasingly digital world. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), 71% of banks in the UAE have realized sub- stantial or significant value from modernizing business processes and applications. Christian Noll, the Managing Partner for IBM Consulting in the Middle East and Africa commented: “IBM is bringing its leading edge capabilities, deep industry experience and lead- ership in financial services, and un- derstanding of the specific regulatory compliance, security and resiliency needs for the banking industry to help FAB transform and bring inno- vative experiences to its customers. We are proud to be on this digital transformation journey with FAB, an innovation leader in the banking in- dustry in the UAE.” Embracing end-to-end digitization as a means of driving innovation was one of several top banking industry imperatives outlined in IBM Institute for Business Value’s 2022 Global Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets. For additional insights and solutions, visit www.ibm.com/finan- cial-services. the BANKING EXECUTIVE 22 ISSUE 160 APRIL 2022