Case Study

Redesigning a retail banking app for one of MENA's most progressive financial institutions.

Programme leadership across strategy, design and delivery.

Aug 2024 to April 2025 · Client details remain confidential

Recently I led a programme of work for a major bank in the MENA region to redesign their retail banking app. They were already a market leader and one of the most innovative financial institutions in the region, but they were clear about what staying relevant required. They needed to keep pushing forward to retain their position, and standing still was not an option.

The existing app was not bad. It had just evolved over time, built in layers over years, and the joins were starting to show. What they needed was a project to take the whole thing apart, understand it properly, and put it back together in a way that served where the business was heading rather than where it had been.

The Challenge

A project like this is never just about the app. To redesign a banking product properly you have to understand the business, its operations, its customers, its products, both digital and financial, and the market it operates in. I worked across experience, visual, content and technology teams to build a picture of everything the product needed to carry, including some of the complexities specific to banking in this region: a heavily regulated financial landscape, the requirements of Islamic banking, and a product that was central to the customer's entire banking experience.

That last point matters. This product had eyes on it from the very top of the organisation. When something is that strategically significant, the stakeholder environment reflects it. This was not a project you could run quietly.

When a product has eyes on it from the very top of the business, you have to show progress as often as you push boundaries.

The Work

I worked closely with a global strategic advisory partner to make sure the direction of the project was anchored in the commercial reality of the business and genuinely aligned to what the C-suite wanted to achieve. That strategic work ran in parallel with the day-to-day: managing the teams in London and New York who were producing the design work, travelling regularly to the MENA region to run on-site activities with the client, and making sure the vision for the product did not get lost in the noise of a complex, multi-team, multi-timezone programme.

Day to day, the job was about keeping good decisions moving forward. Validating thinking with stakeholders. Stopping things from being reopened that had already been resolved. Knowing when to escalate and when to resolve it in the room. This is the work that sits at the intersection of strategy and delivery, and it is exactly the kind of programme I lead.

What the programme included

  • End-to-end product redesign across experience, visual, content and technology
  • Strategic alignment with a global consulting partner and C-suite stakeholders
  • Managing design sprints with teams in London and New York
  • Regular travel to the MENA region for on-site client engagement
  • Steering committee management and senior stakeholder reporting
  • Defining the product vision and leading it through to production

The Outcome

The design was signed off. The product is in build. What goes live will be cleaner, more coherent and more capable than what existed before.

True banking innovation

A product that pushes the experience forward. Not innovation for the sake of it, but meaningful change rooted in what customers actually need.

Complex programme delivery

Multi-timezone, multi-team, high-stakes delivery held together through clear leadership and good decision making.

Customer focused

Every decision anchored in designing for the people who use this product every day, not internal politics or legacy assumptions.

Contextual AI integration

AI built into the product where it adds real value, not bolted on to tick a box.

This was a challenging project and one of the most enjoyable I have worked on. The complexity of the business, the calibre of the people involved, and the experience of working closely within another culture all made it genuinely rewarding. These are the kind of programmes I look for.

Digital Product & AI

Product strategy, service design, and practical AI integration. Working out what to build and where AI genuinely adds value.

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