Business & Money | Wednesday 15 May, 2019 4:19 am |

Emirates NBD, a leading financial institution in the region has bagged four prestigious titles at The Asian Banker's International Excellence in Retail Financial Services 2019 Awards.

Emirates NBD was named ‘Best Retail Bank in the Middle East’ and ‘Best Retail Bank in the UAE’, in recognition of the various milestones achieved by the retail banking division in 2018. Liv., Emirates NBD’s mobile-only bank for millennials and the fastest growing bank in the country was named the ‘Best Digital Bank in the Middle East’. Further, the Emirates NBD U By Emaar Visa Credit Card, Dubai’s most rewarding card program launched last year was recognized as the ‘Credit Card Product of the Year’.

At the awards ceremony held in Dubai recently, Emirates NBD was recognized for its stellar achievements in retail banking over the past year. The bank’s retail banking division registered robust growth in revenues and profits in 2018, gaining market share across key retail products and segments. Several product innovations were rolled out over the course of the year, such as the Emirates NBD Skywards Savings Account and Debit Card programme, offering customers reward miles based on spends, travel and lifestyle benefits. The Family Savings Account was launched for UAE National customers, enabling Emirati families to consolidate their banking relationships and benefit from preferential interest rates and privileges.

Emirates NBD continued to advance its digitisation agenda with expansion of its contactless payment suite to include Apple, Google, Fitbit and Garmin Pay options, as well as extending its paperless tablet based on-boarding process to more products including investments. The bank’s Mobile App was enhanced with the addition of new features on mePay, enabling easier peer-to-peer money transfers while the SkyShopper multi-partner e-commerce portal was augmented with the addition of more partners and capabilities. An automated Decision Management System was rolled out to provide quick loan and card approvals and the popular instant money transfer service, DirectRemit was extended to the UK.

Commenting on the win, Suvo Sarkar, Senior Executive Vice President & Head - Retail Banking & Wealth Management, Emirates NBD said: “Emirates NBD is immensely honored to be recognized, for the third year in a row as the best retail bank in the region at the prestigious Asian Banker awards. We are also delighted to receive awards for the best digital bank in the region for Liv. for the second consecutive year as well as for our newly launched Emirates NBD U By Emaar credit card that has received an overwhelming response from customers. This is a recognition of our ongoing commitment to make banking simple, hassle-free and easily accessible for our customers.”

In the two years since launch, Liv. has become the fastest growing bank in the UAE, acquiring over 10,000 new customers every month and recently crossing the 225,000-customer mark. Liv. provides an intuitive banking experience for customers with features geared towards millennial lifestyle and preferences, such as the Goal Account that enables users to save towards what they want to do. Instant money transfer services were also introduced to top remittance destinations, and Apple & Google Pay options enabled on the app. Liv. recently launched its chatbot Olivia that helps customers obtain information or account updates through natural language based text messages as well as has rolled out a unique campaign offering one lucky customer the chance to win his or her own private island.

The Emirates NBD U By Emaar card allows customers to earn and redeem loyalty points instantly at over 1,500 Emaar touchpoints across hotels, restaurants and leisure assets of Emaar Hospitality Group and Emaar Entertainment as well as at Emaar Malls merchants, Dubai Opera, Emaar’s selected community shopping centres and many more, making it the single largest loyalty programme of its kind in the region. In addition, cardholders will enjoy a host of benefits such as discounts and special offers as well as obtain access to 850 airport lounges worldwide, complimentary local concierge services and airport transfers in the UAE, and multi-trip travel insurance.

The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services programme is one of the world’s most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards programmes for consumer financial services. The programme currently covers the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, aiming to recognize outstanding players and initiatives in the retail financial services sector.