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Media release

Media release

Absa wins two Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2026

3 September 2026

Absa has won two awards at the Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2026, recognising the Bank’s progress towards becoming a digitally led bank through initiatives focused on strengthening cyber defense and simplifying customer onboarding.

Absa received the Best AI Initiative award for Nia, its AI-powered phishing agent, and the Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening award for its Optimised Digital Onboarding platform.

“For us, technology only matters when it changes customers’ experiences. As we build a more digitally led Absa, our focus is on using technology and AI in ways that protect customers, improve service, strengthen how we manage risk and support responsible growth,” said Johnson Idesoh, Group Chief Information and Technology Officer at Absa Group.

This year’s Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards recorded the largest field of participants in the programme’s history, bringing together international banking groups, leading regional institutions, digital challengers and innovation-led financial services providers from across the Middle East and Africa.

Using AI to help security teams act faster

Nia combines AI with human oversight to help Absa’s security teams assess reported emails more quickly. Once a suspicious email is reported to Absa, Nia analyses it and assesses whether it is benign or suspicious, helping analysts identify cases that require further investigation.

The result is a significant improvement in response times. Phishing threats are now resolved in an average of one hour, down from seven hours, while users can receive AI-generated feedback on reported emails within minutes.

“This award reflects our commitment to building a secure, digitally enabled bank where trust is at the centre of everything we do. Nia demonstrates how we are harnessing advanced AI to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats, while delivering protection that is seamless for our colleagues and customers. It is a powerful example of purpose-driven innovation, built in Africa, for Africa, supporting our ambition to become a pan-African digital bank” Said Manoj Puri, Chief Security Officer at Absa Group.

Making it simpler to start banking

Absa’s second award, Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening, recognises its Optimised Digital Onboarding platform, which has transformed the onboarding experience for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) from a fragmented, manual process into a seamless, end-to-end digital journey.

The platform brings together automated processing, real-time identity verification, compliance checks and connections to external data sources, reducing repetitive data entry and manual steps. As a result, onboarding turnaround times have been reduced by more than 95%, from approximately 420 minutes to under 20 minutes, enabling SMEs to start transacting sooner and with greater ease.

Together, the two awards highlight the breadth of Absa’s digital transformation, from strengthening the systems that support and protect the bank to simplifying the way business clients begin their relationship with Absa.

3 September 2026

Absa has won two awards at the Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2026, recognising the Bank’s progress towards becoming a digitally led bank through initiatives focused on strengthening cyber defense and simplifying customer onboarding.

Absa received the Best AI Initiative award for Nia, its AI-powered phishing agent, and the Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening award for its Optimised Digital Onboarding platform.

“For us, technology only matters when it changes customers’ experiences. As we build a more digitally led Absa, our focus is on using technology and AI in ways that protect customers, improve service, strengthen how we manage risk and support responsible growth,” said Johnson Idesoh, Group Chief Information and Technology Officer at Absa Group.

This year’s Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards recorded the largest field of participants in the programme’s history, bringing together international banking groups, leading regional institutions, digital challengers and innovation-led financial services providers from across the Middle East and Africa.

Using AI to help security teams act faster

Nia combines AI with human oversight to help Absa’s security teams assess reported emails more quickly. Once a suspicious email is reported to Absa, Nia analyses it and assesses whether it is benign or suspicious, helping analysts identify cases that require further investigation.

The result is a significant improvement in response times. Phishing threats are now resolved in an average of one hour, down from seven hours, while users can receive AI-generated feedback on reported emails within minutes.

“This award reflects our commitment to building a secure, digitally enabled bank where trust is at the centre of everything we do. Nia demonstrates how we are harnessing advanced AI to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threats, while delivering protection that is seamless for our colleagues and customers. It is a powerful example of purpose-driven innovation, built in Africa, for Africa, supporting our ambition to become a pan-African digital bank” Said Manoj Puri, Chief Security Officer at Absa Group.

Making it simpler to start banking

Absa’s second award, Outstanding Client Onboarding & Account Opening, recognises its Optimised Digital Onboarding platform, which has transformed the onboarding experience for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) from a fragmented, manual process into a seamless, end-to-end digital journey.

The platform brings together automated processing, real-time identity verification, compliance checks and connections to external data sources, reducing repetitive data entry and manual steps. As a result, onboarding turnaround times have been reduced by more than 95%, from approximately 420 minutes to under 20 minutes, enabling SMEs to start transacting sooner and with greater ease.

Together, the two awards highlight the breadth of Absa’s digital transformation, from strengthening the systems that support and protect the bank to simplifying the way business clients begin their relationship with Absa.