Emirates NBD first bank to leverage SAP Financial Services Data Platform

Abdulla Qassem, group chief operating officer, Emirates NBD.
Updated 10 September 2019
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Emirates NBD first bank to leverage SAP Financial Services Data Platform

Emirates NBD has partnered with SAP, a market leader in enterprise software, to become the first bank globally to implement the SAP Financial Services Data Platform. It is powered by SAP in-memory data platform, the SAP HANA and can now deliver customer intelligence across all Emirates NBD Group market segments, entities and countries.

The implementation of the SAP Financial Services Data Platform has initially focused on Emirates NBD’s retail banking and wealth management segment. It was completed in 10 months and marks the second phase of expansion for Emirates NBD’s Enterprise Data Platform (EDP). The EDP, which leverages Hadoop Big Data technology, was initially launched in November 2018. As the bank’s biggest flagship initiative in its ongoing 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) digital transformation, it aims to help continuously enhance Emirates NBD’s customer experience by increasingly leveraging data-driven intelligence. 

Abdulla Qassem, group chief operating officer, Emirates NBD, said: “Being increasingly effective and efficient in both harvesting and leveraging our growing critical data is core to Emirates NBD’s digital transformation. We are proud to be the first bank in the world to successfully go live with the SAP Financial Services Data Platform, after initially launching our Enterprise Data Platform in November 2018. Harnessing the power of Hadoop and SAP HANA has brought significantly increased capability to our Enterprise Data Platform, which is ultimately aligned with Emirates NBD’s vision to drive data-driven decision-making holistically across the bank.”

Zakaria Haltout, managing director, SAP UAE, said: “We are pleased to partner with Emirates NBD as it continues expanding its Enterprise Data Platform capabilities. As the first global bank to leverage the SAP Financial Services Data Platform, this is a milestone for both of our organizations. Emirates NBD’s Enterprise Data Platform handles massive volumes of diverse data, and can now derive real-time insights to improve the customer experience, drive growth, optimize risk controls and business outcomes, and automate business processes.” 

With the SAP Financial Services Data Platform now in place, the bank’s EDP provides a standardized, consistent representation of complex data from all Emirates NBD systems and applications. This data can be consumed by data-driven applications and other business intelligence tools.


Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Endowment projects worth SR8bn launched in Makkah

Updated 19 February 2026
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Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Endowment projects worth SR8bn launched in Makkah

Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Real Estate Company has announced the launch of several real estate projects belonging to the Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Endowment system in Makkah, with a total investment exceeding SR8 billion ($2.1 billion). These projects include commercial, residential, and hospitality developments, as well as strategic land plots, as part of the company’s commitment to supporting the Kingdom’s real estate sector and enhancing the quality of life in the holy city.

The announcement was made during a field tour by a delegation of high-level officials including Saleh Al-Rasheed, CEO of the Royal Commission for Makkah City and Holy Sites; Ihsan Bafakih, chairman of the board of directors of Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Rajhi Holding Company; Haitham Al-Fayez, chairman of Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Real Estate Company and CEO of Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Holding Company; Moath Al-Mukhudub, managing director and CEO of Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Real Estate Company; and Anas Mansour Abadi, CEO of real estate at Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Holding Company and representative of the Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Endowment, alongside members of the board of directors of both the holding and real estate companies and the executive team.

The tour included the launch of the Tilal Towers project, with an investment value of SR2 billion, featuring more than 2,500 hotel rooms, strengthening the hospitality sector in Makkah.

The delegation also visited the Tilal Village project, valued at SR2.8 billion. It is one of the prominent qualitative projects within the hospitality ecosystem in Makkah.

Furthermore, the visit covered the residential buildings within Tilal Village, comprising 828 units, with an investment of SR800 million. The delegation inspected the specialized hospital, medical complex housing, and the office and commercial plazas.

During the tour, a contract was signed for the Al-Rajhi Center project, valued at SR250 million, as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan.

The inspection also included the Al-Ukayshiyyah land, spanning 4 million square meters, and the Al-Ghazzawi project land, valued at SR250 million.

The tour concluded with prayers at the Aisha Al-Rajhi Mosque, the second-largest mosque in Makkah after the Grand Mosque, with a capacity for 50,000 worshippers.

This visit underscores the importance of these investments, which represent a clear direction toward enhancing the management of the endowment’s assets through diversification, redevelopment, and strategic expansion, in line with the development goals of the Makkah city and Saudi Vision 2030.

Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Real Estate, a subsidiary of Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Rajhi Holding Company, continues to provide innovative solutions to elevate the real estate sector to international standards.