Customers and Communities - Sustainability

Our ambition is to provide inclusive and innovative financial services to drive sustainable economic growth and enhance the resilience of the Bank

ADCB plays a significant role in the lives of over one million customers and the communities in which they live and work. We are committed to delivering more than just financial support to our stakeholders and our communities.

Our commitments

Improve customer experience and value for money for customers, while improving financial inclusion
Launch digital initiatives to drive mobile banking penetration among new and existing customers

Workstreams

Selected list category

Customer Satisfaction

The needs and aspirations of our customers are central to decision-making at ADCB. Customer satisfaction is one of the most important measures of our success. We take every opportunity to engage with our customers and seek feedback about our services, products and channels to identify areas for improvement.

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Our Approach and Progress

We recognise that effectively understanding and responding to the needs of our customers is essential if we are to achieve our business and sustainability objectives.

At the heart of our approach is the Customer Experience Executive Forum (CX Forum) and Customer Experience Committee (CXC). Together with monthly Service Quality Forums for each Group head, these bodies aim to drive customer experience improvement programmes and initiatives across the Group.

The ADCB Group Service Leadership Framework fosters customer-centricity by linking employee KPIs to customer experience and tracking progress via scorecards. The Customer Experience and Research Department gathers feedback through surveys, while sub-committees like the ‘Voice of the Customer Forum’ analyse social media and complaints to develop action plans.

Customer feedback

A key component of our customer-focused ecosystem is the structured customer feedback journey. This involves gathering detailed feedback through various channels, including frontline interactions, customer surveys, mystery shopping and social media. The aim is to leverage these insights to enhance products and services and reduce the number of complaints.

Ensuring service excellence is a critical part of this strategy, aiming to deliver consistent and high-quality service experiences across all channels. The primary metric used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). ADCB reported an NPS of +77 in 2024, indicating strong customer advocacy. This score has steadily increased from +66 in 2021.

In line with our reputation as a digital leader in UAE banking, we use digital innovation to enhance the customer experience. By driving efficiency and offering seamless digital services, the Bank aims to make banking more intuitive and accessible. This includes leveraging AI for customer engagement and service. We have also introduced a series of accessibility measures in our branches and services to ensure effective access for the UAE’s diverse community.

View our sustainability report for more information on our approach to Customers and communities change and sustainability.

Financial Inclusion

We empower our communities by making banking more accessible to all. Financial inclusion, delivered in a responsible way, makes managing day-to-day living easier and helps families and businesses to achieve their long-term goals.

Our Approach and Progress

ADCB aims to ensure access to innovative, affordable financial products and services for both individuals and businesses, and in doing so, to drive sustainable economic growth.

We enable financial inclusion across several fronts. For lower-income customers, we offer products and services that include benefits like life insurance, free non-ADCB ATM withdrawals, and reduced fees for certain transactions. Our digital onboarding app, 'Hayyak', has significantly boosted access, particularly for the unbanked and underbanked. More than 440,000 digital accounts were opened using Hayyak in 2024, representing 79% of new-to-bank retail customers.

We also serve more than 130,000 SME and micro-business clients, providing essential finance, transaction services, trade finance, and FX facilities, as well as a range of everyday banking solutions.

Over 37,000 new clients were onboarded in 2024 through our small business-focused offerings like the Business First account (more than 29,000 opened in 2024) and the SmartStart account (around 22% of new SME accounts in 2024). A core differentiator of our SME proposition is an assigned dedicated relationship manager for businesses of all sizes. This approach is further strengthened by our ‘hub-and-spoke’ structure, which integrates specialist teams for various services while maintaining a single point of contact for clients.

Ensuring accessibility

Accessibility is ensured through mandatory training to enable staff to better serve people of determination (POD). We also provide voice guidance for ATM transactions, multilingual support in branches (English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi) and telephone banking, and have equipped 10 POD-friendly branches with specific accessibility features like ramps and adjusted ATMs. Financial literacy is actively promoted via a dedicated department and a digital platform providing educational content like articles, videos, and quizzes.

ADCB is committed to enhancing access to financial products and using digital initiatives to boost mobile banking penetration. We partner with initiatives like UAE Ma’an to support social causes, including financial inclusion and SMEs.

View our sustainability report for more information on our approach to Customers and communities change and sustainability.

Digital and Innovative Propositions

Digital and technological advances offer consumers greater control, making banking easier, swifter, and more secure.

We have accelerated the pace of our digital transformation as part of our corporate strategy, providing customers with a wide range of innovative digital products and services.

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New customers acquired digitally

Our Approach and Progress

ADCB has embraced a digital-first strategy to deliver superior products and services through a seamless banking experience. A key part of this involves focusing on customer acquisition and engagement, notably by creating ecosystems through partnerships with external non-banking entities. Our customer-centric approach to digital innovation is a core strength of the Bank’s success and strategy for future growth. Significant investment in technology has enhanced customer experience, resulting in rapid growth in customer numbers and engagement levels.

Central to this approach is the development of a next-generation cloud-based mobile banking platform, which will be the core of our future banking proposition. Over 50% of the Bank's IT workload is now hosted in the cloud. This platform enables scalable digital and AI-driven offerings, supports hyper-personalisation through data analytics, and provides the foundation for expanding fintech and ecosystem partnerships while upholding data privacy and security. Cloud adoption also aligns with our sustainability goals by increasing energy efficiency compared to legacy systems.

Comprehensive AI strategy

We have implemented a comprehensive AI strategy built on five pillars: profitability, hyper-personalised customer experience, data-first culture, agility and innovation, and creating an integrated banking ecosystem. This aims to integrate AI into key business areas for enhanced efficiency, risk management, and growth. Specific AI applications range from fraud detection and contact centre analytics to improving credit underwriting and enhancing customer engagement.

The Bank actively fosters innovation through hackathons with technology leaders like Microsoft, AWS, and Nvidia. We are conscious of the risks associated with AI, such as data privacy and ethics, and are focusing on a responsible AI approach to balance innovation with careful risk management. This commitment to digital transformation is driving ADCB towards becoming a leading digital-first bank.

View our sustainability report for more information on our approach to Customers and communities change and sustainability.

Community Investment

Strengthening community engagement and supporting local causes helps to improve people’s lives and enhance the communities in which they live and work. Community investment through financial support and expertise, charitable work, and volunteering promotes financial inclusion and education while helping society flourish.

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Social contributions in 2024

Our Approach and Progress

We have a well-established history of collaborating with charitable organisations and communities across the UAE to support meaningful causes. Our strategy involves implementing targeted activities, initiatives, and sponsorships designed to foster socio-economic development within these communities. In 2024, our total social contributions, encompassing both sponsorships and donations, amounted to AED 13 million.

ADCB is proud to contribute to the UAE's economic value through the National In-Country Value (ICV) programme. This programme seeks to boost economic performance and support local industries by redirecting higher portions of public spending into the national economy. In 2024 we received an ICV score of 68.93%, up from 67.7% in 2023. ADCB’s certification under the programme was also expanded to include Green ICV criteria.

We support a diverse range of community-focused initiatives, including the continuation of our long-standing involvement in Pink Month to raise breast cancer awareness and raise funds for research and education. We also organise blood donation events in collaboration with health services, inviting employees, customers, and the wider public to participate. A significant strategic agreement was made with the Authority of Social Contribution – Ma’an. Ma'an is responsible for evaluating, managing, and allocating funds for social and environmental projects. Our partnership includes a five-year financial contribution specifically aimed at supporting projects in Abu Dhabi.

In addition, the Bank has launched an employee volunteering programme with the Red Crescent to drive long-term community development through structured volunteering opportunities. We also demonstrated our support for educational advancement by sponsoring events such as the Education Interface and Middle East Youth Conference, in line with the UAE's national vision to cultivate a new generation of empowered students.

View our sustainability report for more information on our approach to Customers and communities change and sustainability.

View our other strategic ESG pillars

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