National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) launches digital banking platform

By Edil Corneille

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) launched its new and improved mobile app designed to transform and elevate the customers’ digital banking experience, thereby making remote banking faster and simpler. The app enables seamless account opening, whereby new customers will be able to join the NBB family within minutes anywhere, anytime.

The new NBB digital App has been developed in collaboration with NBB’s team and technology partners Backbase & Bring, and in partnership with Lenium, a local financial technology (FinTech) company. The developers created a journey consolidating all digitally available services offered via NBB’s branches into an enhanced one-stop-digital-shop.

Yaser Alsharifi, Chief Strategy Officer at NBB said, “With ever evolving customer needs, the continued advancements in digital technologies and the proliferation and adoption of FinTech solutions, financial services have never been more accessible and the need to expand to lifestyle and other demands in an integrated fashion more acute. Our digital strategy focused our attention on developing a platform that can readily address our customers’ needs throughout their life journeys in the most intuitive way possible. In partnering with Backbase, NBB welcomes this fantastic opportunity and our commitment remains to provide our customers with innovative banking and finance solutions.”

The dual-language app boasts key differentiators in product diversity – be it accounts, cards, loans and finances, card promotions and reward system – and user experience. Its competitive advantage lies in the speed, simplicity and convenience of executing transactions, such as digital onboarding and account opening, which are said to meet globally recognised standards.

Subah Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Chief Executive of Retail Banking, NBB said, “Customer-centricity remains our key pillar and before designing this new platform, we made it our priority to gather customer feedback and deliver a smart, flexible and adaptive digital tool that would not only solve pain points and eliminate obstacles, but serve to elevate the banking experience of our existing customers beyond traditional banking. We also invite new customers to join NBB seamlessly and securely with simple state-of-the-art onboarding where they can benefit from the vast array of products and services NBB has to offer. Our primary focus has been on new digital propositions that work towards digitalising existing traditional banking products, as well as introducing new digital products as part of the overall eco-system with a primary impact on each customer‘s lifestyle based on their personal needs, offering the right financial solutions to the right customers at the right time…”

In the existing release, customers will benefit from an improved registration journey, reduced clicks and speedier results, digital onboarding within minutes (anywhere, anytime), biometric login access option as well as a password request for added security for returning users, diverse product opening options, instant issuance of debit cards with the option of pick up or direct delivery, easy money transfers, Al Watani rewards and increased chances of winning, and full management of debit, credit, prepaid cards, among others.