MENA Banking Excellence Awards reveals retail, digital and SME winners

Banks from 11 nations recognised for excellence throughout retail, digital and SME banking

The winners of the MENA Banking Excellence Awards 2026: Retail, Digital and SME Banking have been introduced, with banks and monetary establishments from 11 nations recognised for excellent efficiency throughout the Center East and North Africa (Mena).

The awards honour excellence in retail banking, digital banking, funds, buyer expertise, monetary inclusion, Islamic finance and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) banking. Winners have been chosen by means of an unbiased judging course of involving senior trade consultants and banking specialists.

The breadth of this 12 months’s outcomes displays how competitors within the area has fragmented throughout a number of fronts, reasonably than concentrating on a single theme. Progress is now not outlined by digital transformation alone: the strongest entries confirmed banks combining expertise, product design, service supply and management to handle particular buyer and enterprise wants – whether or not by means of monetary inclusion, improved buyer expertise, SME help or tailor-made propositions.

As competitors intensifies, the outcomes counsel establishments are more and more being recognised not merely for launching new initiatives, however for demonstrating relevance, sturdy execution and measurable affect within the markets they serve.

“What stands out this year isn’t any single trend; it’s how many fronts banks across 11 countries are now expected to compete on at once,” stated Sarah Rizvi, occasions and editorial director – Banking & Finance at MEED. “The institutions recognised here aren’t just investing in digital or SME banking; they are proving it changes outcomes for customers and businesses. That’s a higher bar than the market was setting even two years ago.”

The MENA Banking Excellence Awards kind a part of MEED’s wider Banking and Finance portfolio, which brings collectively trade leaders by means of awards programmes, government boards, analysis and editorial protection centered on the way forward for banking within the area. The total record of winners is on the market right here.