Abu Dhabi, 21 February 2022: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading Islamic financial institution, announced that it has saved five million sheets of paper in 2022 through its ongoing Al Ghaf paperless programme. This initiative supported the bank in eliminating paper usage significantly at branches through
digital banking solutions. As part of ADIB's 2025 growth strategy, Al Ghaf Programme underlines the bank's commitment to pioneer climate action in Islamic banking as well as optimise banking operations and enhance customer experience.
With the goal to eliminate paper usage at branches through cutting-edge digital banking solutions , ADIB was able to reach the target without additional budget by focusing on improving the bank's operations , such as the ADIB's unique private banking feature that allows customers to instantly
open a personal bank account.
Commenting on the milestone,
Samih Awadalla, Acting Global Head of Retail Banking Group at ADIB, said: “This initiative is a significant part of ADIB's environmental and sustainable business strategy. It reinforces our commitment to reduce carbon footprint as well as enhance our customer experience and ensure further security and efficiency in banking operations."
“With the UAE's focus on sustainability this year, this result is a timely step forward for ADIB in contributing to the national efforts to achieve net-zero. We are confident that through our strengthened business model, we will continue to build on this positive momentum in the year ahead. Sustainability is a core pillar of our 5-year growth strategy and Al Ghaf Programme is an important instrument in embedding sustainability into the bank's DNA."
Al Ghaf initiative is an ongoing process to optimise the bank's operations and make branches paperless. A vital component of this project is implementing the necessary technology to enable paper-free transactions by emphasising on services such as teller cash transactions and e-statements, among others. The key pillars of the ongoing initiative include - Process Improvement by redesigning and simplifying process workflows, Automation of sales and service processes by digitising document management, and Migration of traditional processes to mobile or chat banking services.
The first year of launching Al Ghaf Paperless Programme saw ADIB minimising the consumption of more than 2 million sheets of paper across the bank's branches by the end of 2021. Lately, ADIB was recognised as the Best Islamic Bank by Financial Times', entrenching the bank's position as an industry leader as ADIB continues to push its digital transformation strategy and is a testament to ADIB's innovative products and Sharia compliant business model which provides the right banking solutions for its customers.