Objective: Digital transformation in banking extends beyond electronic channels and can reshape banks’ strategies, structures, processes, and value creation paths. However, prior research on Iranian banking has mainly focused on success factors, barriers, and expected outcomes based on expert opinions. This study analyzes and compares how the digital transformation process and value creation paths are represented in the annual reports of Iranian banks.
Method: This qualitative study employed directed qualitative content analysis. The data comprised annual reports and boards of directors’ activity reports of eight Iranian banks for the Iranian fiscal year 1403 (2024–2025). Deductive coding followed Vial’s eight-component framework, while context-specific themes related to Iranian banking were identified inductively.
Results: Evidence relating to all eight components was found, although the depth and operational detail of disclosure varied across banks. The reports displayed a spectrum of representations ranging from the digitalization of existing services to open banking, digital platforms, FinTech collaboration, and ecosystem-based value creation. Four dominant patterns emerged: project-oriented and ecosystem-based transformation, scalable neobank-oriented transformation, capability building and intelligent banking, and digital transformation supporting financial recovery. Regulation-driven transformation, sanctions and localization, mandatory lending, reliance on affiliated companies, and banks’ financial conditions were key contextual factors. Achievements and positive outcomes were disclosed more extensively than organizational barriers, failures, and adverse human and social consequences.
Conclusions: Annual reports primarily reveal how banks frame and disclose digital transformation rather than directly measuring their actual digital maturity. The findings indicate that applying Vial’s framework in Iranian banking requires explicit attention to institutional conditions and context-specific reporting patterns.