Privacy Notice

Last Updated 16 November 2025

Your privacy and the security of your Personal Data is very important to us. At Arab Bank plc Qatar, hereinafter referred to as the “Bank”, we ensure that Personal Data you provided to us is always treated as private and confidential, afforded the highest level of security, and is processed in accordance with Qatar’s Personal Data Privacy Protection Law No. 13 of 2016 and Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Data Handling and Protection Regulation issued February 2025, hereafter referred to as the “Personal Data Protection Requirements”. This Privacy Notice, hereinafter referred to as “Notice”, aims to provide you with information on how we will use your Personal Data, what steps we will take to ensure it stays private and secure and what Personal Data we collect and process about, you as well as your data privacy rights and how you can exercise them.

How we collect your Data

The Bank collects your data through one of the following methods:

- Directly: we obtain Personal Data directly from you in order to receive a service from the Bank or transacting with the Bank, including without limitation, log a complaint, enter a business relationship, or for other purposes depending on the services requested for or agreed upon.

- Indirectly: we may obtain Personal Data about you indirectly from a variety of sources, including: Cookies, device ID's, social media, public sources, and recruitment services to better understand and serve you, satisfy a legal obligation, or in pursuance of another legitimate interest.   

How we use your Data

We collect your Personal Data for various reasons in relation to our services, products or interacting with us, and for other business purposes, including, but not limited to:

- to provide and manage your account(s) and our relationship with you.

- to give you statements and other information about your account or our relationship.

- to handle enquiries and complaints.

- to provide our services to you.

- to conduct assessment, testing, and analysis for statistical purposes or other analysis for market research purposes.

- to evaluate, develop, and improve our services to you and other customers.

- to protect our business interests and to develop our business strategies.

- to contact you, by post, phone, text, email and other digital methods.

- to collect any debts owing to us.

- to meet our regulatory compliance and reporting obligations in relation to protecting against financial crime.

- to assess any application you make.

- to monitor, record, and analyze any communications between you and us.

- to share your data with Qatar Central Bank and other governmental authorities, Qatar Credit Bureau, and other credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies, and overseas regulators and authorities.

- to share your information with our service providers and external auditors.

- recruitment and vetting agencies for prospective job applicants.  

- For purpose of litigation, consultation, legal advices or documentation of transactions

On what legal grounds do we process your data

We rely on the following lawful reasons when we collect and process your Personal Data to operate our business, transacting with you, provide our products and services:

- Contract Fulfilment: we process your data if necessary for the entry and/or implementation of a contract with you, or for the conclusion of a contract at your request.

- As necessary for regulatory or legal activity: we process your Personal Data as necessary to meet regulatory or legal obligations we are subject to and to conduct our legal activities as a banking financial institution in alignment with applicable laws and regulations

- Consent: if none of the above basis apply, we shall process your Personal Data following your explicit consent.

Which Personal Data do we collect and process

The Personal Data we collect includes data provided by you at the start of our relationship or at any time thereafter such as:

- Personal details such as name, date of birth, email, nationality, marital status, and gender and contact information.

- Current residential address and permanent residential address, and proof of address documents.

- Data about your identity including documents, details of ID cards, details of passports.

- Employer, employment status, job title, full name, email, address and telephone number(s) used for work purposes.

- Financial data: income and source of income, source of wealth, average account financial activity, and engagement data.

- Data about your tax status such overseas tax-identification number, FATCA forms, etc.

- Details of transactions done by you or by any of your connected persons including dates, amounts, currencies, and payer and payee details.

- Sound and visual images including CCTV footage.

- Digital identifiers (IP address, email).

- Cookies (please refer to our Cookie Notice).

- Risk rating information, e.g. credit risk rating and data about your ability to manage credit.

- Recruitment information and qualifications for prospective job applicants.

- Due diligence data, e.g. data required to comply with financial crime regulations (anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing, etc.) and data we need to fulfil regulatory obligations such as Suspicious Activity Reporting.

- Other people’s data, such as family and household members, emergency contacts, and guardians, which include their signatures, addresses and relationship with you.

- Legal dispute, complaints, and grievance information.

- Agreements, contracts, billing and commissions information.

- Security Information.

- Data about your geographic location, ATMs used, and branches you visit.

How long do we keep your Personal Data

We retain Personal Data to provide our services, stay in contact with you and to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and professional obligations, which we are subject to. This includes regulatory requirements for record retention applicable to banks, for example, customer identification Personal Data such as your ID, personal and work details, need to be retained for 10 years. Sometimes we may need to keep your data for longer. The reasons for this include:

• where we need the data to meet regulatory or legal requirements

• to help detect or prevent fraud and financial crime

 • to answer requests from regulators

We will dispose of your Personal Data in a secure manner when we no longer need it for the above justifications. Please refer to Privacy Office at Privacy.Office@Arabbank.com.qa for further details on our records retention practices.

How we protect and safeguard your Personal Data

We will take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse, or alteration of your Personal Data. We aim to ensure that access to your Personal Data is limited only to those who need to access it, and those individuals who have access to the data are required to maintain the confidentiality of such data (please refer to our Security Statement).

If you are using online services from the Bank, you remain responsible for keeping your user ID and password confidential.

Processing Sensitive Personal Data

Personal Data Protection Regulatory Requirements define Sensitive Personal Data as Personal data that, if disclosed, misused, or accessed without authorization, could result in harm to a Data Subject, including but not limited to financial loss, identity theft, reputational damage, or personal distress.
Arab Bank ensures there is a lawful basis for Processing of Sensitive Personal Data. For example:

• Biometric Data: the Bank shall process your finger vein where you decide to use your finger vein as an authentication method for the Bank such as where you wish to make cash withdrawals from your account or conduct other transactions that require validation. Note that selfie photos are also considered biometric data when used to identify or validate the identify of an individual. As such, the Bank processes your selfie photo (biometric data) as part of authentication when you use the Bank’s digital apps.
• Health Data: we process your health data as part of procedures for granting loans and financial facilities. However, this is conducted following your consent including on the sharing of this data with the insurance company.
• Financial Status data: the Bank processes financial status data (for individual customers as well as individuals representing our corporate customers such as authorized signatories, general managers) which is in alignment with Know Your Customer Regulations that the Bank is subject to. The Bank also collects information on individual guarantors of corporate customers as part of corporate customer credit assessment report. This information is directly shared by guarantors.

Personal Data Sharing and Cross Border Personal Data Transfers

We keep your Personal Data confidential. However, in order to service your needs to the best of our ability, we may share your Personal Data with other parties bound via contractual agreements to safeguard your Personal Data and only process it under our strict instructions. We may also transfer your Personal Data to other Arab Bank Group members and third-party organizations outside of Qatar when we have a business reason to engage Arab Bank Group members or third-party organizations. Each organization is required to safeguard Personal Data in accordance with our contractual obligations.

In essence, we may share the Personal Data about you and your dealings with us, in alignment with Personal Data Protection Regulatory Requirements, with: 

- Arab Bank Branches

- Correspondent banks such as, as part of funds transfers, trade services, and other services and products you may request from the Bank. 

- Entities involved in cards and digital payments processing including entities outside Qatar such as VISA and AFS.

- Other Third Party Service Providers including instant payment providers for legitimate business purposes and in line with applicable laws and regulations.

- External Auditors which need to conduct audits of the Bank per applicable laws and regulations and may request sample Bank data for validation and testing purposes.

- Regulatory authorities, governmental bodies, financial crime prevention agencies, and tax authorities.

- Courier and postal services as necessary to make deliveries such as for requested Bank cards.

- Printing companies such as cheque printing companies. 

- Credit reference organizations. 

- Law firms, lawyers, or professional advisors where we need to revert to such legal advisors 

- Real Estate Assets Evaluation firms where needed such as were you mortgage a property for the benefit of the Bank.

- Other parties with which you have agreed to share your Personal Data with.

Please refer to Privacy Office at Privacy.Office@Arabbank.com.qa for further details and contact details of such third parties as well as their respective Privacy Notices (where applicable).

What are your rights and how you can exercise them

- Right to protection and lawful Processing: Arab Bank Qatar shall only process your Personal Data in accordance Personal Data Protection Requirements.

- Right to erasure: You have the right to request the erasure of your Personal Data in the following circumstances:

• When consent has been withdrawn, if consent is the lawful basis for Processing.
• When the Processing is no longer necessary
• When the Personal Data is beyond the extent required
• When the purpose for Processing no longer exists
• When the reasons for storing the data no longer exists
• When the Processing is discriminatory, unfair or illegal.

- Right to object to Processing in certain circumstances: you have the Right to Object to the Processing your Personal Data if such Processing is not necessary to achieve the purposes for which such Personal Data have been collected, or where such collected Personal Data are beyond the extent required, discriminatory, unfair or illegal.

- Right to request the restriction of Processing incorrect or inaccurate Personal Data: you have the right to restrict the Processing conducted on your Personal Data, if you believe the Personal Data held by Arab Bank Qatar is inaccurate or incomplete, this is usually accompanied by your request to correct the same inaccurate or incomplete Personal Data.

- Right to withdraw consent: you can withdraw your consent that you have previously given to one or more specified purposes to process your Personal Data. This will not affect the lawfulness of any Processing carried out before you withdrew your consent. It could mean we are not able to provide certain products or services to you and we will advise you if this is the case.

- Right to be notified of Processing: you have the right to be informed of certain information such as the collection and use of your Personal Data, details of the Bank, the purpose of Processing, and any other necessary data at the time of data collection, and upon your request.

- Right to be notified of inaccurate disclosure: you have the right to be notified when a third party has been given inaccurate data concerning your Personal Data.

- Right to lodge a complaint: you have the right to make a complaint to the CDP (Compliance and Data Protection Department) if you believe Arab Bank has violated the provisions of the PDPPL or the issued guidelines. You can find the contact details of the CDP at https://compliance.qcert.org/en/contactus

-  Right to access Personal Data: you have a right to request a copy of your Personal Data held by Arab Bank Qatar at any time, after paying an amount not exceeding the service charge.

- Right to request correction: you have the right to request corrections to your Personal Data at any time; this includes rectifying inaccurate Personal Data and/or complete Personal Data if it is incomplete. This request should be accompanied with proof of accuracy.

Please note that our fulfillment to your requests may be subject to limitations, in certain circumstances, in accordance with the Law.

To submit a request to exercise any of these rights, please send an email to Privacy.Office@Arabbank.com.qa

Details about the Bank (“The Controller”)

Arab Bank plc – State of Qatar (Financial Institution – Commercial Bank)

Grand Hamad Street – Doha – State of Qatar, Street number 119, Zone number 6, Building number 67

For More Information

Should you have any questions regarding this Notice or want to learn more about our security practices, please read our Security Statement section, or contact us at: Privacy.Office@Arabbank.com.qa

Arab Bank Supplier Privacy Notice

Arab Bank also maintains a dedicated Supplier Privacy Notice which aims to clarify how we collect, use, store, share, and protect Personal Data of individuals who are officers, directors, contractors, agents, or representatives of our current, prospective, and former Suppliers. Click to view Notice.

Changes to this Notice

We reserve the right to update this Notice to reflect changes to our information practices in alignment with the Personal Data Protection Requirements.  Any updates will become effective immediately after posting the updated Notice on our website.

Key Definitions:

Personal Data: Any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual, including direct identifiers (like names and ID numbers) and indirect identifiers (like IP addresses, email addresses, or location data).

Processing: Any process performed on data by a Financial Institution, including but not limited to collecting, transferring, storing, modifying, using, erasing and destroying data.