Manama: Bahrain Development Bank (BDB), the leading bank supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the Kingdom of Bahrain, has established an AI Committee to guide the strategic and responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence across the Bank. The initiative aims to enhance team productivity, strengthen operational efficiency, and improve decision-making to deliver robust customer value.
Chaired by Ms. Dalal Al Qais, Group Chief Executive Officer of BDB, with Ms. Nada Medhat Azmi, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer serving as Vice-Chair, the AI Committee brings together representatives from the Bank’s Executive Management, Strategy & Transformation, Technology, Banking Services, Credit and Risk, Legal Affairs, Human Resources, Compliance, Information Security, and Security Operations functions.
The Committee held its inaugural meeting convening to allow members to align on the Bank’s AI direction, establish a governance framework, and set priorities for the first year. Its work will be driven by a cross-functional AI team, which will collaborate to deliver practical initiatives aligned with strategic goals.
BDB has also developed a phased AI integration roadmap, underpinned by clear supervision, capability building, technology and data readiness, use case development, and value measurement mechanisms. The Bank’s AI vision centres on harnessing the technology to enhance organisational performance and customer experience, empower employees, and further support the growth of SMEs.
“AI presents a significant opportunity to reimagine the way we operate and strengthen the value we deliver to our people as well as our clients. Our AI Committee will provide the strong oversight and responsible implementation needed to direct these technologies towards tangible value-generation prospects for the Bank. We will continue building our capabilities progressively, making AI an effective enabler of better performance and greater future readiness,” Dalal Al Qais, Group Chief Executive Officer of BDB said.
The formation of the AI Committee reflects BDB’s continued enhancement of its institutional capabilities with purposeful technological adoption. As a key enabler of the Bank’s three-year growth strategy, AI will be pursued in areas where it can generate visible business impact. The Committee will define BDB’s long-term priorities in this area, while managing implementation to ensure initiatives remain aligned with institutional objectives, are deployed responsibly, and deliver measurable outcomes.
