Muscat: Ahli Islamic, a popular choice for Shari’a compliant banking in Oman, has won with the ‘Excellence in Islamic Retail Banking’ Award at the Oman Banking and Finance Awards (powered by Oman Economic Review), held on the sidelines of the action-packed New Age Banking Summit, recently.

This felicitation comes as a validation of ahli islamic’s single-minded approach to retail banking, which has witnessed a sharp growth in the recent past, more so following the expansion of financial services for the retail client segment. According to Yousuf Al Rawahi, DGM and Head of ahli islamic, who received the coveted award from H.E. Tahir Al Amri – Executive President of Central Bank of Oman, this growth of ahli islamic is an outcome of a portfolio of comprehensive banking solutions and services that enabled the Bank to reach a wider customer base across the Sultanate. He quantified the excellence award as a recognition of the bank’s capability to offer innovative banking products and services that introduced value proposition and exceptional banking experience to its retail customers. Al Rawahi emphasized that ahli islamic will continue its offerings for new sharia compliant banking products and services to be inclusive for youth, ladies, children, as well as high net-worth customers, expanded network of modern branches, and edge cutting electronic services to ensure customer convenience.

Explaining further, he said, “What is noteworthy to mention here is ahli islamic’s commitment to economic and social development of both individuals and the society. We aim to contribute to the banking industry by introducing new sharia compliant products and solutions that caters for the financial needs of various customer segments, and  creating newer benchmarks for customer satisfaction – which is why we rely on customer engagements to realize our objective of ‘partnering’ with our customers. We are indeed in the driver’s seat of Islamic retail banking as demonstrated by wining Oman Banking & Finance Award, through our distinctive services, customized products for youth, women and children, varieties of financing facilities including commercial financing for retail customers, expanding distribution network of 15 branches, efficient call center services, and state of the art internet and mobile banking.”

The ‘Excellence in Islamic Retail Banking’ Award marks a new chapter in ahli islamic’s success story, which has witnessed dramatic changes to make it one of the fastest growing Islamic banks in the country. With an expanding portfolio of products and services, ahli islamic is on a fast trajectory to grow its retail banking offering. This reaffirms the bank’s commitment to a customer-first approach, which is based on a systematic customer feedback process to continuously provide enhanced retail offering. The bank’s products & services are made available to customers through an expanding network of technology enabled solutions and a growing branch network across the Sultanate of Oman.

Furthermore, the resounding success of ahli Islamic’s 2021 Qitaf scheme is endorsed by the wide base of its winners and the generous rewards that they have won under these popular Shari’a-compliant draws till date. The unique benefits, in the form of cash prizes, under the Qitaf scheme are a benchmark in Oman’s Islamic banking industry. Qitaf is a testament to ahli islamic’s undeterred approach towards retail innovations and bringing Oman’s diverse customer segments under its ambit.

Organized in compliance with the social distancing protocols set by the government, the 2021 edition of the Summit, held at Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz Carlton Hotel, was designed to empower local banks to discuss strategies that help them keep pace with the evolving financial ecosystem, while adopting digital strategies to be future-ready. Supported by Oman Banks Association, the event was presided over by H.E. Tahir Al Amri, who also gave the keynote address. It was hosted by H.E. Shaikh Salim Bin Mustahail Al Mashani and attended by an august gathering of banking and finance industry officials, including senior-to-mid level bankers, fin-tech experts, finance and investment professionals, insurance experts and business consultants. 

The event was made available for over 200 industry professionals on Zoom platform and the proceedings were live-streamed on YouTube for the benefit of several others from the industry.