Alizz Islamic Bank has won the “Islamic Bank of the Year in Digital Customer Experience” title at the DLive Awards 2026 in Muscat, a recognition that places the lender’s technology-led retail push at the centre of Oman’s increasingly competitive Islamic banking market.
The award was presented at the JW Marriott Hotel Muscat and comes as banks across the sultanate race to deepen mobile services, automate customer support and shift more routine transactions away from traditional branches. For Alizz Islamic Bank, the accolade reflects a strategy built around digital delivery, faster service response and a broader payments ecosystem aimed at retail customers who now expect banking to be available at any hour and on any device.
The bank said the honour recognised a multi-year transformation drive that has reshaped both its digital channels and physical service points. Among the projects highlighted were the rollout of the Alizz X mobile banking application, an expansion in digital payments through Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards, and the introduction of what the bank described as Oman’s first Shari’a-compliant multi-currency prepaid card. It also cited the launch of an intelligent chatbot for around-the-clock support, a shift to a cloud-based call centre system, and the opening of smart branches in Bawshar and Al Khoudh 6.
Khalid Al Hoqani, head of transformation at Alizz Islamic Bank, said the award reflected the bank’s effort to build services around innovation, agility and customer needs while remaining aligned with Shari’a principles. His remarks underlined a wider theme running through banking in Oman and the Gulf, where Islamic institutions are trying to prove that faith-based finance can compete not only on compliance and pricing, but also on user experience and digital convenience.
That matters because customer experience has moved from being a branding exercise to a commercial battleground. Banking customers in Oman, particularly younger users and small business clients, are becoming more comfortable with mobile onboarding, instant transfers, digital cards and app-based support. Institutions that can make these services work reliably are more likely to retain customers who might once have judged a bank mainly by branch access or personal relationships.
Alizz Islamic Bank has been positioning itself around that shift for several years. Its earlier technology initiatives included upgrades to its mobile application, digital remittance services and a revamped corporate website, each framed as part of a broader attempt to reduce friction between the bank and its customers. After the completion of the merger process involving Al Yusr Islamic Banking in 2020, the bank also emphasised the expansion of its service network and digital reach, suggesting that scale and technology would be central to its post-merger identity.
The timing of the award is also notable because Oman’s banking sector is under pressure to balance efficiency with service quality. Digital transformation can cut operating costs and reduce dependence on brick-and-mortar infrastructure, but customers quickly lose patience when apps are unreliable or automated systems replace rather than improve human support. Awards for digital experience therefore carry value only if they reflect measurable improvement in how customers actually interact with the bank.
For Alizz Islamic Bank, the smart branch model is one part of that calculation. Such outlets are designed to preserve a physical presence while steering users towards self-service technology, reducing queue times and shifting staff into more advisory roles. That hybrid model has become more common across the Gulf, where banks are looking for ways to modernise branch networks without abandoning customers who still value face-to-face engagement for more complex products.
The DLive Awards themselves have emerged as part of a wider ecosystem of technology and leadership recognition events in Oman that seek to connect corporate innovation with national digital ambitions. DLive 2026 was organised around digital transformation themes and brought together senior executives, policymakers and technology specialists, reflecting the growing overlap between financial services, public policy and the broader digitisation agenda linked to Oman Vision 2040.
Awards of this kind do not, on their own, settle the question of market leadership. They do, however, help shape perception in a sector where reputation, trust and convenience are tightly linked. For Islamic banks especially, digital experience is becoming a way to appeal to a broader customer base without diluting the principles that distinguish them from conventional lenders.
The award was presented at the JW Marriott Hotel Muscat and comes as banks across the sultanate race to deepen mobile services, automate customer support and shift more routine transactions away from traditional branches. For Alizz Islamic Bank, the accolade reflects a strategy built around digital delivery, faster service response and a broader payments ecosystem aimed at retail customers who now expect banking to be available at any hour and on any device.
The bank said the honour recognised a multi-year transformation drive that has reshaped both its digital channels and physical service points. Among the projects highlighted were the rollout of the Alizz X mobile banking application, an expansion in digital payments through Visa debit, credit and prepaid cards, and the introduction of what the bank described as Oman’s first Shari’a-compliant multi-currency prepaid card. It also cited the launch of an intelligent chatbot for around-the-clock support, a shift to a cloud-based call centre system, and the opening of smart branches in Bawshar and Al Khoudh 6.
Khalid Al Hoqani, head of transformation at Alizz Islamic Bank, said the award reflected the bank’s effort to build services around innovation, agility and customer needs while remaining aligned with Shari’a principles. His remarks underlined a wider theme running through banking in Oman and the Gulf, where Islamic institutions are trying to prove that faith-based finance can compete not only on compliance and pricing, but also on user experience and digital convenience.
That matters because customer experience has moved from being a branding exercise to a commercial battleground. Banking customers in Oman, particularly younger users and small business clients, are becoming more comfortable with mobile onboarding, instant transfers, digital cards and app-based support. Institutions that can make these services work reliably are more likely to retain customers who might once have judged a bank mainly by branch access or personal relationships.
Alizz Islamic Bank has been positioning itself around that shift for several years. Its earlier technology initiatives included upgrades to its mobile application, digital remittance services and a revamped corporate website, each framed as part of a broader attempt to reduce friction between the bank and its customers. After the completion of the merger process involving Al Yusr Islamic Banking in 2020, the bank also emphasised the expansion of its service network and digital reach, suggesting that scale and technology would be central to its post-merger identity.
The timing of the award is also notable because Oman’s banking sector is under pressure to balance efficiency with service quality. Digital transformation can cut operating costs and reduce dependence on brick-and-mortar infrastructure, but customers quickly lose patience when apps are unreliable or automated systems replace rather than improve human support. Awards for digital experience therefore carry value only if they reflect measurable improvement in how customers actually interact with the bank.
For Alizz Islamic Bank, the smart branch model is one part of that calculation. Such outlets are designed to preserve a physical presence while steering users towards self-service technology, reducing queue times and shifting staff into more advisory roles. That hybrid model has become more common across the Gulf, where banks are looking for ways to modernise branch networks without abandoning customers who still value face-to-face engagement for more complex products.
The DLive Awards themselves have emerged as part of a wider ecosystem of technology and leadership recognition events in Oman that seek to connect corporate innovation with national digital ambitions. DLive 2026 was organised around digital transformation themes and brought together senior executives, policymakers and technology specialists, reflecting the growing overlap between financial services, public policy and the broader digitisation agenda linked to Oman Vision 2040.
Awards of this kind do not, on their own, settle the question of market leadership. They do, however, help shape perception in a sector where reputation, trust and convenience are tightly linked. For Islamic banks especially, digital experience is becoming a way to appeal to a broader customer base without diluting the principles that distinguish them from conventional lenders.
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