Bahrain - BANK ABC, the Manama-headquartered international banking powerhouse, has announced that its innovation and digitisation centre, ABC Labs, has been named among the ‘World’s Best Financial Innovation Labs’ by Global Finance’s 2025 Innovators Awards.

This fourth-time recognition helps underscore Bank ABC’s sustained leadership in translating innovation, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitisation into tangible business outcomes across the group and the wider global financial services ecosystem.

Since its establishment, ABC Labs has served as the engine of the group’s Innovation and Digital Programme, driving enterprise-wide transformation through the design and deployment of high-impact capabilities.

These efforts have consistently delivered regional-first digital platforms and AI-driven solutions that contribute to improved productivity, faster time-to-market, and differentiated customer experiences across Bank ABC’s markets.

Group chief digitisation officer Dr Yousif Almas said: “Winning this award for the fourth time is a strong validation of our strategy and execution.

“ABC Labs plays a pivotal role in enabling value creation across the group by translating innovation into scalable, real-world solutions. This recognition reflects the strength of our people, our disciplined approach to innovation and our focus on delivering real impact for clients, employees and communities as we enter the FinAI era and the emerging agentic economy.”

The lab plays a central role in progressing ideas from concept to production, enabling the group to realise sustainable and scalable value in new ways. Its initiatives have generated measurable gains across customer experience, operational efficiency, and new products/services, reinforcing Bank ABC’s position as a ‘Bank of the Future’. In the realm of AI and automation leadership, the lab launched the region’s first bespoke internal and external AI assistants, leveraging multiple AI approaches to manage intelligence as a strategic asset.

This has resulted in accelerating several internal journeys and delivering productivity improvements of up to 10 per cent. The implementation of advanced intelligent automation at scale is now saving more than 100,000 work hours annually and materially enhancing operational efficiency. The bank has also recently deployed next-generation predictive AI models to enable hyper-personalised engagements, with customer interaction projected to increase by 25 per cent across targeted segments.

In terms of digitisation excellence, ABC Labs delivered the region’s first fully digital institutional onboarding journey – the 24-Hour Benchmark – which reduces time-to-serve and enables onboarding in less than 24 hours. This is complemented by the rollout of a next-generation digital platform empowering frontliners with real-time insights, holistic views and streamlined workflows. In the field of digital assets, the lab introduced the region’s first tokenised deposit capabilities for high-value cross-border transactions, with instant transactions executed in production while expanding participation in a regulated digital-assets ecosystem.

The bank’s Global Finance publisher and editorial director Joseph Giarraputo added: “Financial Innovation Labs play a pivotal role in propelling the ongoing digital revolution by bridging the gap between theoretical concepts and practical applications. They transform groundbreaking ideas into innovative solutions that reshape industries and redefine financial services. The organisations selected as Global Finance’s World’s Best Financial Innovation Labs 2025 are true pioneers.”

Bank ABC continues to provide innovative wholesale financial products and services, including Capital Markets, Transaction Banking, Specialised Finance, Islamic Finance, Real Estate Finance and Financial Markets. It also offers retail banking through its network in Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, and through its digital, mobile-only ila Bank in Bahrain and Jordan.

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