Wio Bank, an Abu Dhabi-based digital lender, launched operations in the UAE on Tuesday, with plans to focus on small and medium enterprises in its first year.
The bank will expand its operations to retail clientele next year to become a full-service digital bank, its chief executive Jayesh Patel told The National on the sidelines of its launch in Abu Dhabi.
“We are investing a lot of time trying to make sure our experience with our customer is right," Mr Patel said.
"We did a beta [experimental version of the app] with 800 customers, continuously getting feedback and changing it … we want to grow, and at some point, become the biggest.”
Lenders are increasingly focusing on SMEs, which account for about 98 per cent of companies operating in the UAE.
Developing the sector and accelerating the growth of the start-up ecosystem are priorities for the UAE government, under its development strategy for the next 50 years.
Last month, Emirates Development Bank, the state-owned lender focused on financing companies in key industrial sectors, launched a new lending feature that allows businesses to apply for loans of up to Dh5 million ($1.3m) and receive approval feedback within five days.
With a total invested capital of Dh2.3 billion, Wio Bank is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ, Alpha Dhabi Holding, telecoms operator e& (formerly known as Etisalat) and First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE’s largest lender by assets.
Wio Bank secured approval from the UAE Central Bank in February to start operations.
The lender's app offers customers all the banking services, including opening an account, making transfers, tracking expenses and saving money.
“We let you do all the banking services that you already have … debit card … transfers,” Mr Patel said.
"You have your account that opens fairly quickly compared to all other experiences you have out there. We also provide other tools to save money, to manage expenses."
The bank's expansion into retail will come "once we have our SME product right", Mr Patel said.
“We have some interesting concepts we are working on, and sometime next year, you will see our retail proposition."
Wio also plans to expand regionally and globally as “there are a lot of opportunities", he said.
“We will expand globally but right now our focus is UAE and as we mature we will start looking at other markets.”
Mr Patel did not disclose information on revenue targets for the bank, nor when it plans to become profitable.
“We believe revenues and profitability will come if we get our product to fit what the customers’ needs are,” he said. "We have great shareholders and they have invested for the long term."
The launch of a new digital bank comes as cashless payments and FinTech services gain traction amid the pandemic.
Traditional banks are also focusing on boosting digital services.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Emirates NBD, Mashreq Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the biggest Sharia-compliant lender in the emirate, have already set up digital banks.
Zand, the Emirates’ first digital bank that aims to cater to retail and corporate clients, was also granted a banking licence this year.
Mohamed Alabbar, Emaar Properties' founder and former chairman, heads Zand. It is backed by a number of companies, including India's Aditya Birla Group (Solfrid Investments), global investment manager Franklin Templeton and UAE's Al Hail Holding.
MATCH INFO
Champions League last 16, first leg
Tottenham v RB Leipzig, Wednesday, midnight (UAE)
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Salem Rashid, Mohammed Al Attas, Alhassan Saleh
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Ahmed Barman, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
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Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
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- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
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Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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November 30-December 2, at The Sevens, Dubai
Gulf Under 19
Pool A – Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jumeirah College Tigers, Dubai English Speaking School 1, Gems World Academy
Pool B – British School Al Khubairat, Bahrain Colts, Jumeirah College Lions, Dubai English Speaking School 2
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Pool D – Dubai Exiles, Dubai Hurricanes, Al Ain Amblers, Deira International School
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
