innovators

Topping the priority list for our Innovators class of 2025 are addressing uncertainty, improving customer experience, and leveraging technology for broader applications.

Uncertain times call for innovative thinking and a greater focus on both future-proofing and resilience. Accordingly, many of the innovations this year’s award winners are putting in place focus on two imperatives: minimizing the risk of obsolescence or failure when facing unforeseen circumstances and developing greater agility to adapt and thrive in the face of future uncertainties and disruptions.

APIs continue to provide banks with ways to increase efficiency and improve customer experience, lowering the entry barrier for creating new services and introducing new business models. This year’s winners include API-based embedded-finance and open-banking solutions.

AI remains a critical enabler, driving innovation in areas such as chatbots, risk monitoring and detection, algorithms, automation, and internal GenAI customer service assistance.

Banking-app enhancements include budget management, onboarding processes, and the use of telemetry to enhance business management and data utilization.

Digital assets, encompassing a broad spectrum from conventional bonds to instruments backed by unique items like violins, are the rare emerging field that extends beyond the boundaries of traditional finance. Expanded use of digital assets is transforming payment processes. This year’s winners have been active in such areas as tokenization, integration of assets typically financed with bitcoin, and development of crypto-custody services.

Banking innovations are opening doors to expanded opportunities. Hyper-personalized lifestyle banking can now encompass services such as mobile phone access, insurance, mortgages, and even estate-management support. Broader applications of finance, including the linking of operational weather forecasts with commodity prices and improved monitoring of ESG performance, demonstrate how technology is expanding finance’s remit. Innovations addressing financial accessibility, unclaimed benefits solutions, and simplified access to credit underscore how financial inclusion remains a hotbed of innovation. Among our nonbank winners, meanwhile, are firms that support banks in everything from compliance to payments.

Banking innovation is by no means confined to the largest and most mature markets. Indeed, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East reported the highest number of financial innovations this year, thanks to a focus on meeting unmet needs, the ability to leapfrog legacy systems, a strong mobile-first culture, and a potentially supportive regulatory approach. These regions are likely to remain fertile ground for financial innovation as they strive for greater financial inclusion and leverage technology to address their specific economic and social challenges.

Innovation is proving a process of evolution for all banks, wherever they are located, leaving no margin for complacency if they want to remain competitive. Innovation for innovation’s sake, however, should be avoided as it is only by understanding user needs that banks can adopt and integrate new technologies that deliver innovations to genuinely benefit users and improve the customer experience.

The 2025 Innovator Winners

Over the past year, banks embraced innovative technologies like APIs, AI tools, and mobile solutions to enhance efficiency, customer service, and risk management. Global Finance announces the 2025 Innovators from Middle East.

Regional Winners

Most Innovative Bank in Middle East| ARAB BANK

Acabes, Arab Bank’s in-house development factory, enabled the bank to launch an updated version of its Reflect banking app in 2024. Reflect benefits from a host of new digital features, including multicurrency subaccounts for deposits, savings, and payments. Customers can also use Salary Transfer and instant transfer features with these currencies. Arabi Shopix, another Acabes product, is an e-commerce website creation service.

Acabes empowered Omnify, Arab Bank’s embedded finance and open-banking platform, toward its official launch, leading to Omnify signing and/or going live with third-party providers. Omnify has solidified its position as the region’s leading one-stop shop for embedded finance and open banking, preparing for the next era of banking as a service. Partnerships with key innovators like MoXey and Menaitech have improved the platform and let partners quickly develop custom financial solutions.

Most Innovative Financial Technology Company in Middle East | GEIDEA

The first payment provider in the Middle East and North Africa region to offer instant merchant onboarding, Geidea enables businesses to start accepting payments within minutes, thanks to substantial investments in automation, AI, and digital verification.

Geidea’s instant onboarding solution is particularly significant due to the rapid growth of digital-payment adoption across the region and the increasing number of microenterprises entering the formal economy. By facilitating quick onboarding for businesses of all sizes, Geidea supports scalable growth.

Furthermore, Geidea has set a new benchmark for innovation by becoming the first fintech in the region to develop and launch its own proprietary point-of-sale terminal. This establishes a new standard for flexibility, security, and technological integration in payments. By eliminating reliance on thirdparty hardware manufacturers, Geidea has disrupted traditional payment solutions and introduced a model that empowers businesses with unprecedented control and customization.

Innovations In Finance Globally From Middle East

Cash Management Forecasting in ATMs Project | BANK MUSCAT

Oman’s Bank Muscat became the first Middle East bank to leverage AI and machine learning for predictive analytics in cash management, creating an efficient, non-manual ATM cash forecasting and replenishment process. By analyzing historical data for cash withdrawals and deposits along with external factors like seasonality and local events, the new forecasting system ensures optimal cash levels at ATMs, solving the problem of cash outs, which can be an annoyance for customers, and minimizing idle cash in the ATM, which is not ideal for the bank.

Musaed – Elevating Conversational Banking | BOUBYAN BANK

Boubyan Bank’s chatbot, Musaed—”helper” in Arabic—has undergone a series of recent enhancements. One such, Boubyan Playback, provides customers with a personalized “Year in Review” of their interactions with the bank, encouraging high customer engagement. Additionally, Boubyan has become the first bank in Kuwait to offer AI-powered recruitment assistance through Musaed’s Job Interview Service. During Boubyan’s internal job fair, Musaed streamlined the interviewing and hiring process by facilitating over 1,000 CV submissions and aiding HR in efficiently identifying potential candidates.

AI-powered Reconciliation Platform | BANQUE SAUDI FRANSI

In February, BSF partnered with Deben, a Saudi SaaS platform that automates cash flow management and generates instant reports for financial managers, to launch an innovative AI-powered reconciliation platform. As the first of its kind in both the kingdom and the region, the platform uses AI to deliver intelligent reconciliation, forecasting, anomaly detection, and real-time financial insights. Businesses can customize transaction categorization to meet their specific needs and automation streamlines processes for increased efficiency, cost savings, and an enhanced user experience.

FABeAccess Electronic Direct Debit (eDDS) API Suite| FIRST ABU DHABI BANK (FAB)

FAB’s eDDS API Suite is transforming the way businesses manage their receivables. The solution offers real-time, secure, automated collection processes while ensuring regulatory compliance. eDDS API Suite streamlines collections for billers and enhances convenience for payers through features including mandate registration, cancellation, collection requests, realtime status updates, and pre-collection reports. By eliminating manual processes and reducing administrative costs, businesses gain end-to-end visibility over their receivables. As the first API-driven electronic direct debit solution in the United Arab Emirates, eDDS API provides scalability, seamless integration with ERP systems, and a customer-centric approach.

PULSE Mobile App| MASHREQ

PULSE Mobile, a pioneering corporate banking app in the Middle East, provides relationship managers with a comprehensive, 360-degree view of client information. The innovative tool enables instant access to critical client data, transaction approvals, and call report submissions, directly from mobile devices. Additionally, the app’s news alerts feature ensures that relationship managers stay informed of key industry events, enabling them to proactively manage their portfolios and respond to market changes in real time.

QIC App| QATAR INSURANCE CO.

he QIC App is Qatar’s premier comprehensive mobile platform, delivering an array of services tailored for motorists and vehicle proprietors over a platform set up to streamline their daily routines and enhance road safety. By integrating both insurance and auxiliary non-insurance offerings, the QIC App addresses a critical issue: the disjointed and protracted procedures associated with overseeing diverse automotive requirements. Concurrently, QIC Reads operates as Qatar’s exclusive digital repository dedicated to insurance education, aiming to foster a robust culture of insurance awareness and simplify the understanding of everyday insurance needs in Qatar.

Fawran Corporate| QATAR ISLAMIC BANK

Qatar’s first Sharia-compliant, real-time corporate payment service, Fawran Corporate launched last November. The service allows instant transactions, including payroll, supplier payments, and intercompany transfers, improving liquidity and streamlining operations. Adherence to Sharia principles fosters trust and expands the service’s reach within the Islamic finance sector. Fawran Corporate marks a major milestone in Qatar’s financial development, promoting innovation, efficiency, and inclusivity.

RAK Telemetry (Real Time Dashboard)| RAKBANK

RAK Telemetry, a groundbreaking suite of 32 real-time and near real-time dashboards, offers a centralized platform to track and monitor essential business processes, integrating key data points and metrics to provide a comprehensive overview of onboarding journeys, service requests, transactions, and IT tickets status. By eliminating the need for multiple, disjointed tracking systems and manual data correlation, RAK Telemetry streamlines operations, enhances decision-making, and boosts overall efficiency. Businesses can leverage the tool to gain valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational performance, enabling them to respond swiftly to changing conditions and optimize their strategies.

Innovations in AI, APIs, and digital tools helped banks improve operations, customer engagement, and financial inclusion in the last year. Global Finance announces the 2025 Innovators from North America.

Regional Winners

Most Innovative Bank in North America | BANK OF AMERICA

Bank of America’s (BofA’s) dedication to improving customer experience is evident in the 12% increase in digital interactions by clients last year, reaching a recordbreaking 26 billion interactions. Corporate clients made over $1 trillion in payment approvals on the bank’s CashPro app in 2024—a 25% increase year on year.

Notable CashPro Data Intelligence innovations include CashPro Search with Investigations—the first comprehensive search-and-investigation tool across transaction types. Another innovation is CashPro Capital Markets Insights, which is the first integrated capital markets experience available in a treasury mobile app, offering access to investment-grade secondary bond pricing alongside treasury information.

The bank also launched Virtual Payables Direct, an innovative solution that combines BofA’s card-issuance, merchant-acquisition, and payment capabilities. For the first time, buyers can benefit from the working capital advantages of a card transaction while paying suppliers who prefer direct bank transfers: Payments begin as card transactions but are delivered to suppliers as bank transfers, ensuring that suppliers get paid quickly while buyers benefit from extended payment terms.

Most Innovative Financial Technology Company in North America | BATTERY FINANCE

In November 2024, Battery Finance executed a pioneering financial transaction by establishing a bitcoin reserve with shared appreciation benefits for both borrower and lender. This innovative approach was integrated into the collateral package for the refinancing of Project Bank Street Court, a seasoned multifamily mixed-use asset located in Center City, Philadelphia.

This groundbreaking transaction effectively enabled borrowers to leverage Bitcoin as collateral for loans. The structure of the deal was unique in its dual-collateralized nature—by combining Bitcoin with traditionally financeable assets, Battery Finance offered borrowers uncorrelated downside protection and enhanced the overall collateral package. This novel approach to collateralization mitigated risks associated with the volatility of Bitcoin while still allowing borrowers to capitalize on its potential for appreciation. 

Innovations In Finance Globally From North America

Lumi Assistant | BMO

BMO uses an employee-assisting Gen AI solution, incorporating Amazon Web Services and Anthropic’s large language model, to read, interpret, and summarize complex documents including policies, procedures, operating manuals, and regulatory documents in a user-friendly format. Launched in March to support 200 employees, Lumi Assistant was expanded in April to support some 8,500 Canadian front-line bank employees. By the end of this year, BMO plans to make the solution available to over 14,600 Canadian personal and business banking employees.

Virtual Account Based Solutions (VABS) | BNY

In January, BNY launched VABS, a cash management solution that promises to provide clients with improved control and access to cash administration activities and reporting capabilities. VABS is one of the first cash management systems to offer instant access to robust, real-time transaction and balance reporting at the individual virtual account level and ACH allocations at the virtual account level. Virtual accounts can be linked to physical accounts within BNY and payments are reflected in real time.

Tokenization of the 1708 Stradivarius Violin, “Empress Caterina” | GALAXY DIGITAL

Galaxy Digital’s groundbreaking tokenization of the 1708 Stradivarius violin “Empress Caterina” last year established a new paradigm for high-value collectibles in the digital financial landscape. By enabling on-chain ownership tracking, the NFT ensures an immutable record while unlocking the potential for decentralized finance backed by real-world assets.

Asset Tokenization Studio| HEDERA

Hedera’s Asset Tokenization Studio, launched last September, is an open-source toolkit that streamlines the tokenization of bonds and equities. By integrating ownership records, compliance features, document management, and notifications directly on-ledger, it eliminates the need for off-chain data management, thereby reducing operational risk. The end-to-end solution improves upon the ERC-1400 standard, enabling full lifecycle management of tokenized assets.

TPRM Accounting Fintech, aka Sustainability Accounting Fintech (SAF)| LELE-HCM

SAF uses AI to enhance financial analysis and risk management via two platforms: Fintech V1 and Fintech V2. V1 generates reports for banks and third parties, helping to calculate risk-weighted assets. V2 allows for continuous monitoring and control, facilitating on-balance-sheet netting. Basel III regulations have shifted focus from the internal ratings-based approach to standardized methods for recognizing credit risk mitigation, a shift supported by SAF’s platforms.

Zenus Embedded Banking| ZENUS BANK

Last November, the Puerto Rico-based digital bank launched a first-of-its-kind, fully embedded banking platform. The API-driven solution enables other financial institutions around the world to set up dedicated US dollar accounts, process international payments, and offer cross-border Visa card issuance.

Banks accelerated digital transformation by adopting customer-focused platforms, AI-driven services, and advanced data analytics. Global Finances announces the 2025 Innovators from Western Europe.

Regional Winners

Most Innovative Bank in Western Europe | SOCIETE GENERALE

Societe Generale’s Global Transaction and Payment Services division has launched several new innovations to reduce their corporate clients’ workload. These include IKAR, a Gen AI chatbot for cash management product-documentation inquiries; and the Digitrade Tool, which uses advanced data analytics, including algorithms and pattern recognition, to personalize the document-checking process. The Digitrade Tool identifies and extracts key information from documents, adapting to the specific requirements of different transactions. By eliminating the need for paper checks and offering digital tools with multiple features, the tool provides users with a more convenient and tailored experience, aligning with their preferences for efficiency and accuracy.

Additionally, the bank’s X-Border API enables other banks to automatically send payment instructions to Societe Generale in 40 different currencies from a single account, benefiting from a guaranteed rate for 20 minutes after obtaining the quotation.

Most Innovative Financial Technology Company in Western Europe | REDCOMPASS LABS

AnalystAccelerator.ai is the world’s first multiagent AI solution engineered specifically to accelerate payments transformation. Developed by RedCompass Labs and launched in November 2024, this innovative tool leverages the extensive knowledge and experience gained from over 300 payment projects undertaken for leading global banks. It also utilizes the most comprehensive library of global payments documentation available.

Using AnalystAccelerator.ai, a business analyst can reduce manual work on a typical payment modernization project by up to 68%. Regulatory and project documentation updates that used to take weeks can be completed in under a day, saving banks millions of dollars and months of work. This leads to improved project outcomes and enhanced compliance with regulatory requirements.

In April this year, RedCompass Labs unveiled AnalystAccelerator.ai v2.5, an enhanced version fine-tuned on the largest collection of payments rulebooks in the world and outperforming leading general AI models. It delivers 13% better performance on complex payment-related tasks than GPT-4o and achieves a perplexity score 10 times lower than open-source AI models.

Innovations In Finance Globally From Western Europe

ADA (Analytics + Data + AI) Platform | BBVA

BBVA ADA, the first global data platform to fully integrate all countries in which the BBVA group has a presence, launched last November in Europe and Uruguay. The platform streamlines the end-to-end analytics process, utilizing 100% of the bank’s data and Amazon Web Services’ advanced managed services to optimize data processing, machine learning, and analytics. The combination improves the strategic capabilities and decision-making expertise of data scientists, analysts, and reporting teams throughout the organization.

New Signature for Operations in CaixaBank Group Applications | CAIXABANK

By consolidating the signing process on a single platform, CaixaBank has effectively eliminated the need for its customers to navigate multiple applications or interfaces to complete their banking tasks. The streamlined approach not only saves time but reduces the potential for error and enhances the overall user experience. The new authorization method incorporates advanced security measures to safeguard customers’ sensitive information and financial assets, ensuring they can conduct their banking activities knowing their transactions are protected by robust security protocols.

Mind Money Weather Model | MIND MONEY (FORMERLY ZERICH)

Mind Money Weather is the first quantitative model to connect operational weather forecasts and commodity prices. Typically, factoring weather data into trading strategies involves detecting significant patterns and combining these with meteorologists’ informal impact assessments, considering the economic context (demand, supply, stocks) but without a clear mathematical model. Instead of focusing on forecasting, Mind Money Weather centers on the formal, quantitative assessment of how weather affects commodity pricing.