April 2020

SABB, the Kingdom’s 3rd largest bank, saw its monthly App downloads soar 27% following a campaign encouraging customers to go digital and avoid branches. The bank acted as part of an industry-wide push, encouraging customers to avoid unnecessary branch visits to reduce the risk of Coronavirus infection. The bank targeted customers who weren’t active on their App or online banking through social media and over 500k SMS’.

Naif Alabdulkareem, Deputy Managing Director, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, SABB, said: “I’d like to thank all our customers who made the switch to digital and helped reduce unnecessary traffic at our branches. We’re all in this together, so I’m really proud of and grateful to our customers for answering our call. Right now, our priorities are keeping people safe and providing access to critical services.”

Like all banks in the Kingdom, SABB is operating a reduced branch network to reduce the risk of Coronavirus infection. The reduced network will support urgent transactions that can only be made at branches. While many customers have already switched to the convenience of digital banking, there are still some using branches for things they could do on their phone. The bank will continue its campaign to raise awareness of digital services to reduce traffic at branches.

SABB now has a top-rated banking App following a recent upgrade, adding over 30 new services, such as face ID, Apple pay and an improved dashboard for better money management. The upgrade came after SABB legally merged with Alawwal bank, where it promised to connect customers to the best digital banking experience in the Kingdom.

Alabdulkareem added: “Innovation is a core value for our newly combined bank and we’re excited about having greater resource to invest in the best of banking technology for customers. This pandemic is teaching us all the value in building digital capability and will only accelerate our plans to digitise our business further.”