Arab National Bank has strengthened its Saudi digital proposition through core modernisation, customer data and service assurance, making performance and continuity a material part of the customer experience
| METRICS THAT MATTER | ||
| 3 million+
Number of customers supported through ANB’s digital service assurance layer |
300+
Number of applications received for the first ANB Innovate cohort |
20
Number of MoUs signed during the ANB Innovate demo day |
Saudi Arabia’s banking sector is evolving rapidly, driven by growing digital adoption and rising customer expectations for seamless, secure and personalised services. For established retail banks, success depends on continually modernising the technology and processes that support the customer experience.
Arab National Bank’s (ANB’s) digital transformation focuses on strengthening the technology and capabilities that support the customer journey. The bank has modernised its core banking platform, established a customer data hub and enhanced its service assurance capabilities, creating a stronger foundation for more consistent digital journeys. These changes support greater personalisation, faster product development and stronger relationship-based engagement.
The programme has supported a shift in how ANB serves customers across onboarding, everyday banking, lending and savings. With a more unified view of customer data, the bank can shape journeys around more relevant prompts, offers and service interactions. The same platform direction has also supported engagement-led propositions for younger and early-lifecycle customers, helping ANB build relationships before customers move into more complex financial needs.
Reliable interface
Reliability has been central to the case. ANB’s digital interfaces support more than 3 million customers, making performance and continuity a material part of the customer experience. The bank’s service assurance work enables it to monitor digital performance more closely during and after infrastructure change, reducing the risk of customer journeys being weakened by system complexity behind the scenes.
The country award reflects the breadth of the programme. ANB’s case was built around infrastructure renewal, data-led engagement and operational resilience, rather than a single digital feature. In a market where customer primacy depends on trust, relevance and ease of use, this gave the bank a stronger platform for digital growth.
| THE JUDGES’ VIEW
The judges recognised the scale of ANB’s digital transformation and the breadth of work across platforms, data and service delivery, with particular focus on the bank’s ability to connect digital infrastructure with customer engagement. |
WINNER: BEST FINTECH COLLABORATION
ANB gives fintech collaboration an operating model
Financial technology (fintech) partnerships can easily remain at the level of access, networking and pilot conversations. ANB Innovate has given Arab National Bank (ANB) a more structured path from start-up engagement to bank relevance, investor access and potential commercial application.
Launched in 2025, ANB Innovate is a four-month accelerator for pre-seed and seed-stage fintechs with live minimum viable products. The programme targets areas linked to banking growth, including digital payments, merchant solutions, embedded finance, business-to-business (B2B) lending, buy-now-pay-later, savings, artificial intelligence and broader financial services.
The model brings together Plug and Play as programme operator, Fintech Saudi for regulatory support, Monshaat for entrepreneurship and SME enablement, and ANB Capital for investment evaluation. Selected fintechs have received access to workshops, mentoring, regulatory and legal guidance, workspaces, investor access and direct engagement with bank teams.
The first cohort drew more than 300 applications, from which 16 fintechs were selected. The programme produced 20 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on the demo day, engaged more than 30 venture capital firms and facilitated 103 targeted investor introductions. ANB also reported an overall satisfaction score of 4.75 out of 5 from participating start-ups, along with a 95% satisfaction rating.
The important feature is the bank-led design. The programme is built around structured selection, business-line engagement and investment review, giving fintechs access to the parts of the bank most relevant to their proposition. Five Saudi start-ups have also been selected for the GOAL programme, extending the accelerator into international exposure and investor-readiness support.
The scale and structure of ANB Innovate move the relationship beyond conventional fintech engagement. By connecting start-ups with bank teams, regulatory and entrepreneurship partners, investors and an international pathway through the GOAL programme, ANB is taking an active role in building the fintech ecosystem and supporting businesses towards investment readiness and potential commercial application.