Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT region, today announced a partnership with Appro, a fintech platform launched by SC Ventures, to significantly enhance its retail banking onboarding process, significantly reducing application times from hours to just three minutes.
Appro digitises the retail banking user journey, allowing customers to complete a single application per product. Emirates NBD can then utilise the data to perform necessary onboarding activities, including Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, customer due diligence, credit assessments, and fraud checks.
Integrating Appro into Emirates NBD’s processes provides the potential to deliver significant gains in efficiency and customer experience, including accelerating onboarding, demonstrably reducing fraud risk and ensuring robust compliance. Customers benefit from a faster, more transparent application process, leading to increased satisfaction, greater trust, and ultimately, stronger customer relationships.
Marwan Hadi, Group Head Retail Banking & Wealth Management at Emirates NBD, said: “Our partnership with Appro exemplifies Emirates NBD’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge fintech solutions to streamline processes and enhance customer experiences. By transforming our onboarding experience, we are not only improving efficiency but also strengthening our fraud prevention capabilities.”
Tarek Osman, Co-Founder & Commercial Director at Appro said: “Appro is dedicated to revolutionising the customer banking experience and making their onboarding as seamless as possible. We are delighted to partner with Emirates NBD and enhance their customer experience.”
Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region with a presence in 13 countries, serving over 9 million active customers. As of 31st March 2025, total assets were AED 1 trillion, (equivalent to approx. USD 272 billion). The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Türkiye, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia with a total of 839 branches and 4,539 ATMs / SDMs. Emirates NBD is the leading financial services brand in the UAE with a Brand value of USD 4.54 billion.
Emirates NBD Group serves its customers (individuals, businesses, governments, and institutions) and helps them realise their financial objectives through a range of banking products and services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage operations. The Group is a key participant in the global digital banking industry with 97% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The Group also operates Liv, the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD, with close to half a million users, it continues to be the fastest-growing bank in the region.
Emirates NBD contributes to the construction of a sustainable future as an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and sustainability initiatives, including financial wellness and the inclusion of people of determination. Emirates NBD is committed to supporting the UAE’s Year of Sustainability as Principal Banking Partner of COP28 and an early supporter to the Dubai Can sustainability initiative, a city-wide initiative aimed to reduce use of single-use plastic bottled water.
For further information on Emirates NBD, please contact:
Ibrahim Sowaidan
Senior Vice President
Head - Group Corporate Affairs
Emirates NBD
e-mail: [email protected]
Burson
Dubai, UAE
Email: [email protected]
