Doha, Qatar – 4, May 2021: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) is the first bank in Qatar to launch a conversational virtual assistant armed with proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. ’Zaki’, meaning smart, is an additional communication channel for QIB website visitors to interact with the bank. The newly launched chatbot service is part of QIB’s ongoing efforts to provide innovative digital solutions to empower its customers and meet their ever-changing banking needs.

The virtual Ai assistant, Zaki, is designed to provide relevant and contextual responses to QIB existing and new customers’ queries in a more convenient and instant manner. Developed with customers’ daily banking requirements in mind, Zaki will allow customers to interact with the bank 24/7, and receive information or advice on their enquiries directly through artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, without the need to visit a branch or call the QIB Call Center. 

Currently hosted on the home page of the bank website (www.qib.com.qa), the virtual assistant Zaki, now in its pilot stage is available in Arabic and English and will continue evolving in the future to interact with more requests and answer further inquiries from visitors. QIB website visitors are now able to find answers to most of their general enquiries and can select from a list of tailored products and submit a request for a call back from QIB’s sales team. 

In future releases, Zaki will help make transactions on the chat window itself. Customers will later be able to initiate transactions either through voice or chat, providing an additional fast and secure channel for banking with QIB and offering the power of conversational banking in a very smart and safe way. Moreover, Zaki will later be present across different online channels such as the QIB Mobile App.

Commenting on the launch of the Virtual Assistant, Mr. D. Anand, QIB’s General Manager - Personal Banking Group, said: “We are proud to launch Qatar’s first conversational Ai banking service in Qatar, enriching our banking services, and demonstrating our innovative approach to cater to the needs of our customers. Zaki lays a strong foundation for artificial intelligence-based voice and chat enabled ‘conversational banking’.” 

“Customers will always remain at the heart of our business. As we continue to progress by deploying new and innovative digital solutions and technologies, we remain customer-centric throughout. This conversational Ai banking service is another testament to QIB’s leadership in digital banking in Qatar and beyond, as we thrive to continuously digitalize, simplify, and personalize the banking experience for our existing and prospective customers”, D. Anand concluded.