ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) reported significant growth achieved by ‘Amwali’ in the first year of its operation. The world’s first Islamic digital bank account gained high traction with 27% month-over-month growth over 12 months.

With over 8,000 total accounts opened since August 2021, 74% of customers are Emiratis with a ratio of 61% male, 39% female. In addition, 54% of accounts are in the age group between 15 – 18 years.

When Amwali was first introduced in August 2021, it was intended to empower youth to develop financial management skills early in life. Over the past year, ADIB witnessed that youth are inclined towards acquiring the knowledge and skills to build responsible financial behaviour and make informed financial decisions. Amwali enables them to practice sound money management at a young age while building their financial literacy in the process.

Amwali provides tailored banking experience for target customers’ segments with a plethora of niche features including receiving money from parents and family, tracking balance and spending, creating saving goals, paying friends, and more. Customers of Amwali receive a debit card to use for day-to-day shopping, online payments, cash withdrawals, and can even add it to Apple Pay and enjoy exclusive offers on fashion, electronics, gaming, entertainment, online shopping and more to help them grow into financially smart and successful adults.

In line with its digital transformation strategy, ADIB has constantly been enhancing the digital banking experience for the new generation of customers and introduced an AI chat bot for “Amwali” last year. It provides users with services such as balance inquiries, fund transfers, and transaction history via automated responses.

Since its launch, Amwali has been getting a lot of traction among young people and is adding more customers, while maintaining a high retention rate of Amwali users. ADIB recently received the “Outstanding Innovation in Mobile Banking” award from Global Finance for Amwali and its mobile banking app. The digital bank account recorded approximately 800,000 transactions as of August 2022.