Our stories
Banking on PwC
We were asked to help two banks become one, creating the second largest in the Middle East. This was a complex, multi-faceted endeavour that required experts from across our global network to create the First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Setting the scene
In 2016, a step toward the United Arab Emirates leadership’s vision of being a major player in the global financial market started to take form. We were asked to act as the lead integration partner for what was to be the largest banking merger to date in the Middle East.
The challenge was to bring together two leading financial institutions, First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi to form First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). We had strong relationships across the two banks being merged. Consulting led relationships with First Gulf Bank, while we were statutory auditors for National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
How we helped
While we had an understanding of both businesses and an end goal of creating the new bank, this was a huge undertaking. We had to align their vastly differing technology platforms, with key components of the integration including personal banking and wealth, corporate banking, global markets and technology infrastructure.
The scale of the task which lay ahead involved migrating around 400 digital applications and two million customers’ worth of data onto a new platform - not to mention the transition of working within a new business and technology framework.
The benefits of a strong global network were in evidence as teams from our UK, India, Switzerland and Middle East firms were deployed. More than 60 people were involved over a 22-month programme to run the technology integration, business operations integration, communication and branding strategies, and the cutover (the design, architect, orchestration and delivery of a new system).
There were demanding deadlines, with five dress rehearsals each lasting 96 hours run in the last six months before go-live.
“One of the most important features was feeling that the PwC team that came here was part of us. We really felt like we were working with our extended team. The sheer collaboration they brought to it was very welcome.
When you engage consults you expect they will hold a mirror up to you. I found the candour with which the team operates to be refreshing. They don’t just take instructions - we had healthy discussions about what it is we could do to meet our objectives.”
Making a difference
The integration of the two banks was announced in July 2016 and it fully opened in December 2018. First Abu Dhabi Bank is now the biggest bank in the UAE and the second-biggest in the Middle East.
The platform First Abu Dhabi Bank runs on supports the bank’s conventional and Islamic banking operations across the board, ie, retail, corporate, investment, and has allowed it to launch its first commercial banking operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.