Select the country award in the table of contents.
Bahrain
Al Salam Bank
Al Salam Bank has held on to its title of Bank of the Year for Bahrain for a second consecutive year. The bank’s expanded use of artificial intelligence impressed the judges, as did the launch of its new asset management subsidiary.
Building on the advances in AI that helped it to victory in last year’s awards, Al Salam has introduced a new engine tracking various data points such as customer financial behaviour and navigation patterns with the mobile app. The bank has also implemented an AI-led approach to personalised marketing, curating deals to customers without any human intervention.
Al Salam has also introduced an instant personal finance digital offering directly integrated with Bahrain’s National Credit Bureau and electronic know-your-customer platform. A substantial portion of financing facilities booked during the year were initiated solely by the bank’s in-house AI sales engine.
The launch in the Dubai International Financial Centre of ASB Capital, an asset management firm licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, has been a particular highlight for the bank.
With initial assets under management of $4.5bn, ASB Capital is collaborating with partners including State Street and Arqaam Capital to launch innovative and diversified products targeting high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporations and institutional clients throughout the Middle East and Africa region and beyond.
Another highlight has been the launch of open banking app One App, offering services including financial planning, salary advance options, buy-now-pay-later capabilities, and access to investment and savings products — including access to sukuk issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain.
Jordan
Jordan Kuwait Bank
After losing its title in 2024, Jordan Kuwait Bank has regained the Bank of the Year award in recognition of its strong financial performance, and the launch of its new payment and wallet solutions.
“Receiving this recognition from The Banker is a proud testament to our continued commitment to innovation, sustainability, customer-centric growth and excellence,” says Haethum Buttikhi, the bank’s CEO.
“Over the past year, we have focused on strengthening our digital capabilities and expanding access to sustainable finance in support of Jordan’s economic development. Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to creating long-term value for our clients, shareholders, and the communities we serve.”
A key achievement has been the launch of the bank’s new payment hub solution, which serves as a centralised engine for processing all payment types, including Swift, domestic, and instant transactions, offering real-time payment tracking. A hallmark of the new hub is its seamless interoperability with external banking systems — a feature that has allowed JKB to open new corridors with international institutions, enhancing its competitiveness in foreign remittance, trade finance and cross-border personal banking.
The bank was the first in the country to enable CliQ — Jordan’s instant-payment rail — on a commercial website and app, and was the first to implement one of Jordan Open Finance Standard-compliant APIs for pre-authorised request-to-pay and one-time-password orchestration. This lets merchants trigger bank-issued OTPs inside their checkout flows, eliminating app-switching, reducing abandonment, and pushing conversion rates above 95 per cent.
Other highlights of the review period include a partnership with Mastercard and fintech Foo to introduce multicurrency payment tool eliWallet, together with the introduction of account-to-account settlements via the bank’s acquiring platform JKB Pay.
Kuwait
Kuwait Finance House
For the third year in a row, Kuwait Finance House has been crowned Bank of the Year for Kuwait, prevailing amid strong competition due to pioneering service launches and the incorporation of AUB Kuwait’s tech stack.
Among KFH’s key achievements for the review period is the launch in May 2025 of its gold-collateral personal financing product. This helps customers obtain sharia-compliant financing by pledging their physical gold holdings — particularly gold bars held in secure bank custody — as collateral. By leveraging gold as collateral, the product minimises credit risk while providing customers with immediate liquidity, allowing for better risk-adjusted returns for the bank.
KFH has developed a dedicated back-end system to seamlessly manage the digital line over the pledged gold until loan repayment is completed. This ensures full traceability, efficiency, and compliance with internal control and governance frameworks.
The initiative has reinforced KFH’s reputation as an innovator in Islamic retail finance while delivering tangible business value — enhancing portfolio diversification and attracting a new asset-rich customer base.
The period also saw the completion of the integration of AUB Kuwait into KFH Kuwait, as part of the merger agreement between the two entities. The integration involved the complete decommissioning of AUB Kuwait’s legacy systems and the seamless migration of its operations, products and services on to KFH Kuwait’s advanced digital and core banking platforms. This required meticulous mapping of all AUB systems ranging from core banking, digital channels, and payment systems to back-office operations on to KFH’s unified infrastructure.
By retiring AUB’s legacy systems, the bank has significantly reduced its IT overhead, licensing costs and system redundancies. AUB Kuwait customers now benefit from KFH’s superior digital banking ecosystem, including mobile banking, instant payments, and AI-powered customer service, resulting in an increase in digital channel usage.
Oman
National Bank of Oman
National Bank of Oman regains the award for Bank of the Year for Oman, which it last held in 2023, in recognition of a successful first year for its NBO Fintech Accelerator Program.
The initiative is the country’s first fully integrated banking accelerator, providing start-ups with direct access to the lender’s banking infrastructure, regulatory guidance and industry expertise.
Over a structured six-month programme, five high-potential fintech start-ups participate in a journey of innovation and transformation. They benefited from close collaboration with banking professionals and regulatory advisers, hands-on experience with NBO’s APIs and digital tools, one-on-one mentorship, market readiness training, and networking opportunities with potential investors.
In the first round, the five participating start-ups each secured $100,000 worth of investment, with 15 of the bank’s internal teams engaging in mentorship, testing and evaluation roles.
In line with its accelerator programme, the bank relaunched its NBO Hackathon, which attracted more than 300 applicants.
Other highlights of the period included the introduction of a first-of-its-kind Eid Note Dispensing Machine in Oman, providing a unique and innovative way for customers to access smaller denominations of currency during the festive season.
The initiative was designed to simplify the tradition of “Eidiya”, the practice of giving money as gifts during Eid, by making it easier for people to obtain OR0.1 ($0.26) and OR0.5 notes.
Strategically positioned in five key locations across the sultanate, these dedicated machines have eliminated the usual hassle of finding smaller notes during peak festive periods.
NBO has also upgraded its mobile banking app with features including digital credit card application, digital loan top-up and instant digital onboarding.
Qatar
Qatar Islamic Bank
Qatar Islamic Bank has prevailed against strong competition in the Middle East’s most competitive category, regaining the Bank of the Year award it last won in 2023. QIB takes this year’s award thanks to its new product portfolio, strong financial performance and increased integration of artificial intelligence.
Two of the key product launches that most impressed the judges during the review period are QIB Auto Marketplace and QIB Junior. Auto Marketplace, which launched at the end of 2024, is directly integrated into the bank’s app and enables customers to browse vehicles offered by authorised dealers. Customers can compare real-time offers, promotions and insurance options, and secure instant finance approvals and finalise purchases end-to-end.
QIB Junior, launched in June 2025, is also integrated within the QIB mobile app, and enables users aged from eight to 17 to manage savings pots, complete task-based rewards and track spending, all under full parental control. Developed through focus groups with families, the platform promotes early financial literacy and is designed to strengthen the bank’s role as a life-long banking partner.
The bank also expanded its Direct Remit network to include Nepal, extending its instant international money transfer services. Customers can now send account-to-account transfers in seconds via the QIB Mobile app, benefiting from competitive rates and 24/7 access.
On the technology front, QIB has deepened the integration of artificial intelligence across its app to personalise user journeys. Highlights included real-time product recommendations using behavioural data, dynamic segmentation to tailor offers for lifestyle, travel or spending behaviour, and AI credit risk models to power instant approvals for finance and cards.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Awwal Bank
Saudi Awwal Bank has once again triumphed in the hotly contested Bank of the Year award for Saudi Arabia, regaining the title it last won in 2023. The country’s fourth-largest bank by assets was the judges’ pick for both the country and the Middle East region’s Bank of the Year, given its dominance in the trade finance space, significant upgrades to its payments and digital banking offerings, together with a robust financial performance.
The bank’s financial performance was one of the most impressive of the entries received by the judges, with double-digit increases in assets, Tier 1 capital and pre-tax profits for 2024. This was accompanied by an increased market share for loans, together with a steady improvement in asset quality since 2022.
SAB continues to be the leading provider of trade finance in Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest economy, holding a market share of around a quarter at the beginning of the review period. The bank continues to make strides with its global trade and receivables finance digital strategy, designed to significantly improve the overall experience and banking options for its transaction banking clients. To that end the bank introduced several updates to its digital business banking platform iCorp, including signatory ID, know-your-customer checks, and address and email updates.
A significant milestone during the review period was the bank’s strategic partnership with China’s UnionPay, signed in July 2024, allowing the bank to enable acceptance of UPI payments via point-of-sale terminals, as a precursor to a rollout across the bank’s ATM and ecommerce platforms.
The bank also struck a partnership with PayerMax in September 2024, aiming to streamline the onboarding experience for local merchants, thereby facilitating more seamless global transactions.
UAE
Mashreqbank
The Bank of the Year award for the UAE — the Middle East’s second-largest economy and one of the region’s most prominent banking hubs — is always a keenly contested accolade. In the midst of very strong competition from some of the region’s biggest names, Dubai’s Mashreqbank stands out as the country winner for 2025, in recognition of the ongoing success of its pioneering digital strategy in the country and the wider Middle East.
“This prestigious award reflects years of strategic focus, the outstanding dedication of our people, and our relentless commitment to elevating customer experience,” says Mashreq’s group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal.
“We’ve made significant strides in digital transformation, broadened financial inclusion, and successfully expanded into new markets. Moving forward, we will continue to push boundaries in innovation while delivering sustainable, inclusive growth across all our business lines.”
The success of the bank’s NeoPay digital payments arm, first launched in 2022, was underscored during the review period by the sale of 65 per cent of the business to a consortium including Dgpays and Arcapita for $385mn.
The deal strengthened the platform’s foundation while allowing Mashreq to retain significant minority ownership and continue participating in future growth. A tangible result of the transaction was the launch of a point-of-sale lending solution for small businesses using Neopay’s platform, illustrating how strategic capital can translate into customer-facing innovation that supports Mashreq’s target segments.
The review period also saw Mashreq launch its Neo Corp AI-led, API-first digital banking platform, involving a comprehensive digital overhaul of its corporate banking infrastructure. The bank transitioned from a monolithic legacy environment to a cloud-native, microservices-based, composable business-as-a-service architecture, enabling modular scalability, faster deployment cycles, and seamless API-driven integration into client ecosystems.
