Transformation at Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD is nominated in the Transformative Innovator of the Year category at the Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2025. We asked the bank to present its strategy and actions in terms of transformation.

What transformation strategy has your organization led in recent years?

Emirates NBD's Retail Banking and Wealth Management (RBWM) division has executed a strategic initiative focused on revenue diversification, significantly strengthening the bank's competitive positioning in the region. Traditionally viewed as a Dubai-centric institution, the bank recognized the imperative to broaden its geographic and business line footprint in response to regional economic shifts and emerging customer needs.

As part of this initiative, Emirates NBD made targeted investments to grow its presence in new domestic and international markets, while also expanding high-potential revenue streams such as wealth management yielding measurable results.


What prompted this strategic transformation?

Wealth management yielding measurable results.

1. Geographic Expansion: Revenues from the Abu Dhabi market surged from under 4% to over 6% of total
RBWM revenues-reflecting successful customer acquisition and deeper engagement with the capital's affluent and emerging affluent segments. Simultaneously, revenues from international markets now account for over 7% of the RBWM top line, compared to 5% a year ago. These gains are driven by sharpened execution in key markets such as Saudi Arabia and, Egypt where tailored offerings and digital-first onboarding journeys have been rolled out. We have been recognized as the Best Foreign Bank in KSA at EMEA Finance Middle East Banking Awards 2024

2. Wealth Management Momenturh: Complementing geographic diversification is the robust growth of Emirates NBD's wealth management business. As of Mar'25 our Wealth AUMs grew by 48% y-о-y demonstrating the division's evolution into a mature, high-conviction business vertical. The result is a significantly broadened investor base and higher wallet share per client as we have seen growth of 8X more digital trade volumes than 2023 .

What have been the most significant changes implemented, and how were they led?

Customer Experience & Digital Engagement: Supporting delivery of the above, Emirates NBD has driven multiple enhancements. in CX and Digital Engagement. CX has amongst others, focused on improving customer journeys, branch productivity and overall service culture which has catalyzed into a material reduction in complaints (10.6 from 13.7 per 1000) and we've also achieved our highest-ever NPS score 49 (Mar'25). Our digital capabilities have seen significant improvements culminating in 25% DAO on ENBDX YoY as well as 91% Digital adoption vs 74% global leaders, evidencing our market leading position in the financial digital space.


What unique or key transformation practices do you follow to ensure success?

Strategic Impact & Evidence of Advantage: This multi-pronged diversification strategy has enabled
RBWM to outperform peers on both growth and resilience. It has reduced over-dependence on a single geography or product suite and built an all-weather revenue engine, supported by critical enablers. More importantly, it reflects Emirates NBD's ability to sense macro trends early and execute with agility-whether it's capturing Abu Dhabi's emerging affluence or serving global clients via digital platforms.

Abu Dhabi: Excellent 40% y-o-y growth in our retail loans, our revenue shares in 2024 from AUH reached to 6.6% vs 6% in 2022, customer base grew by 14% y-o-y and we added 3 new branches focusing on branding, propositions and partnerships

Egypt: We saw major financial improvement from Egypt where our revenue grew by 30% y-o-y, assets grew by 18% y-o-y and deposits grown by 53%.

KSA: Our strategy to make our KSA presence as big as Abu Dhabi is doing well and having said that, our revenue have exponentially grown by 48% y-o-y and card acquisition growing rapidly at 55% y-
о-y

How has your workforce been engaged and transformed through this journey?

People & Culture:
14% to 5%).
• AED 80M invested to recruit 500+ frontline staff, reducing wait times and call center abandonment rates (from • Revamped training, onboarding, recognition, and incentive systems to embed CX excellence across all teams.


What measurable outcomes demonstrate the success of your transformation?

Business Strategy Alignment:
• Focused on driving deposit and lending growth, cost efficiency, and wealth expansion through digital-first strategies.
• GenAl and RPA enabled 25% + reduction in back-office operations headcount.
Innovation Highlights:
• GenAl-powered bots for auto-servicing, compliance, and WhatsApp communication.
• Real-time Enterprise Feedback Mechanism (EFM) with QUALTRICS.
• Enhanced branch ratings (+1.8 stars), and NPS increased from 43 to 49 (UAE Nationals +10 points).
• Complaints per 1,000 customers dropped by 23%.
This transformation embedded CX into every aspect of END's operations, improving satisfaction, reducing complaints, and boosting loyalty through seamless, data-driven, and personalized experiences