Cloud-native platforms, AI-driven automation, and robust cross-border payment ecosystems are among the innovations transforming the region.

As financial architectures across the Middle East evolve, leading institutions are transforming transaction banking through digital innovation. By integrating AI-driven automation, strong cross-border payment ecosystems, and cloud-native platforms, these banks are enabling corporate treasurers to streamline operations, optimize liquidity, and transition from reactive functionaries to strategic value drivers in an increasingly complex global market.

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Best Bank for Transaction Banking

Best Bank for Payments

Best Bank for Collections

FABeAccess is a cloud-native, multi-channel hub that uses API banking to embed services into client systems. Through its treasury management services, FAB provides turnkey infrastructure, while its FABePay and eDDS tools automate receivables. FAB’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) model offers white-labeled solutions for smaller institutions. By integrating blockchain, AI, and data analytics, FAB delivers a secure, high-performance environment with digital tools such as the Sofi AI chatbot and Haifin-UAE Trade Connect for trade finance. Real-time transfers, automated clearing, and dynamic compliance monitoring drive efficiency. The platform’s open banking architecture enables seamless integration, while FABeSCF and DTSCF, its supply chain finance portals, optimize working capital. “As a premier global institution, FAB connects the GCC with European, Asian, and African markets, enabling clients to optimize working capital and maintain a truly integrated global treasury center,” a FAB spokesperson says.


Best Bank for Financial Institutions

KFH maintains one of the largest lending and placement portfolios among Kuwaiti financial institutions, underpinned by a self-funded model that ensures balance-sheet stability. The bank operates at the intersection of Islamic finance and global correspondent banking, providing expert services to both Islamic and conventional clients. Through a network of about 145 global partners, KFH supports efficient multicurrency clearing and trade settlement across the GCC, MENA, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Additionally, it is at the forefront of digital payment compliance and connectivity. The bank implemented the Central Bank of Kuwait’s Purpose of Payment requirements early and is actively expanding initiatives to enable faster crossborder payments in corridors such as Egypt and India.


Best Bank for Cash Management

Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management

Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solutions

ABC X, Bank ABC’s unified digital transaction banking platform, “has fundamentally transformed the experience of corporate treasurers,” says Karim Labadi, group head of transaction banking at the Bahrain-headquartered institution. “Historically, treasurers often navigated multiple systems for payments, collections, liquidity management, trade finance, and reporting, resulting in fragmented workflows, duplicated data entry, and increased operational risk.” With a single-window platform supported by single sign-on, ABC X provides treasurers with a consolidated view of cash positions, trade transactions, payment status, and liquidity across entities, geographies, and currencies. “This significantly improves visibility, control, and decisionmaking,” says Labadi, who sees a shift across MENA and Turkey toward a “continuous treasury” model.


Best Provider of Short-Term

Investments/Money Market Funds

Launched in 2004, Banque Misr’s Yom B Yom (everyday) EGP Money Market Fund has become Egypt’s premier shortterm investment vehicle, commanding a 22% market share and holding EGP 36.5 billion (about $730 million) in assets as of March. The fund uses sophisticated digital infrastructure to maintain precise daily net asset values, employing automated, real-time synchronization and error-correction protocols. Underpinned by strong performance, the fund posted a 12-month annualized return of 21% through March, significantly outpacing industry benchmarks and driving a 34% increase in assets under management in 2025. 

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