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Press Release.

Manama, Bahrain: ila Bank, Bahrain’s fast growing digital, mobile – only bank, wins “Digital Banking Experience of The Year” award at Seamless Middle East 2020. The awards ceremony was held on 16 November 2020 on the side-lines of the Seamless Middle East 2020 Conference, which brings together the regional payments, banking and fintech ecosystem for two days of creative exchange and inspiration in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

This major win for the one-year-old digital-mobile only Bank in Bahrain powered by Bank ABC, MENA’s leading international bank, comes as a testament to the revolutionary banking experience offered by ila’s lifestyle banking model and partnership approach. 

Merging state-of-the-art technology, including sophisticated data analytics and AI, with human understanding, ila is designed to listen to its customers, study their financial behaviour and aspirations and address their pain points. Its agile product development capabilities enable it to continuously co-create tailored solutions with customers to meet their fast-changing needs and growing expectations. 

Commenting on this prestigious award, Bank ABC Deputy Group CEO and Chairman of ila’s Advisory Board, Sael Al Waary said: “We are thrilled to win this award after competing against prominent banks from across the Middle East. As it became evident that the financial services industry reached an inflection point a few years ago, we embraced disruption to develop an intuitive digital mobile-only bank that is attuned to the fast-changing needs of modern consumers. 

ila empowers customers with simple, seamless and accessible end-to-end banking solutions that enable their lifestyle experiences while addressing their financial challenges and aspirations. This remarkable award from Seamless Middle East and the widespread adoption of the banking app, which is rapidly accelerating amid the current low-touch environment, prove we have successfully transformed banking for the modern world.

We also share this recognition with the Central Bank of Bahrain for creating an enabling fintech ecosystem that helped us launch our digital disruptive offering. This award reaffirms Bahrain’s fintech ecosystem is well positioned to compete in the international fintech realm and foster innovative fintech players.” added Mr. Al Waary.

ila Bank Bahrain CEO Mohamed Al Maraj remarked: “This important milestone attests to the unrivalled banking experience ila offers and the collaborative effort that went into building this innovative bank. I would like to congratulate the talented ila team, our partners and all those involved in building this truly unique bank, which has raised the benchmark for retail banking in the MENA region. I am also truly grateful for the ila user community for supporting our objective to continuously innovate and evolve with their valuable feedback.”

Built on 20 years of history, Seamless Middle Awards are the most coveted awards for the payments, ecommerce and retail industry with a mission to award future stars, who have demonstrated unparalleled success and excellence.