4 Neobanks disrupting the FinTech landscape in the UAE

By Delisha Fernandes

UAE has one of the highest digital and smartphone penetration worldwide. This fosters an attractive ecosystem for financial technology companies and banks to launch digital solutions. Neobanks have seized this opportunity and provide services driven by technological advances, attracting millennials and tech-savvy customers.

Neobanks provide complete digital banking services. Simply put, they are not present physically. Transactions in traditional banks could take a lot of effort and time. Neo banks provide a smooth online experience and add an immersive, digital layer to traditional banking. Customers can easily create accounts online within seconds using technology such as face reading etc.

As they offer numerous benefits to fulfil the changing needs of new-age consumers, neobanks are increasingly becoming a preferred choice for customers in many countries. They tend to make banking more user-friendly and meet their customer needs efficiently.  Here are a few neobanks to watch out for:

• E20.

E20 by Emirates NBD is a fully digital business bank that makes banking quick, easy, affordable and paperless. Unlike traditional banks, it does not have any branches or ATMs. E20 recently partnered with MoniMove to support SMEs by integrating with E20. users transacting on the MoniMove platform will achieve high transparency and credibility, giving the bank visibility on their end-to-end transactions and interactions with suppliers.

• Liv Digital Bank

Liv Digital Bank, launched in 2017 by Emirates NBD, is a digital bank designed for young and digitally savvy professionals looking for banking solutions that complement their fast-paced lives. The UAE-based bank offers a prime range of products and services that are thoughtfully crafted to deliver convenience and value for an augmented digital banking experience. Liv Digital Bank is one of the first neobank in the region to offer its customers convenient in-app access to IPO subscriptions. This initiative was launched in strategic collaboration with Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

• Mashreq Neo

Mashreq Neo is a bank that looks to answer the day-to-day needs of customers. The digital bank, is completely branchless and is targeted towards the connected generation who are digitally savvy, use mobile devices extensively, and expect convivence above all. Customer can do all banking services including customer on-boarding, sales, services, transactions and fulfilment are done via online and mobile platforms. Neo mobile banking app, Neo Online, and the Neo Chatbot which is integrated with Facebook Messenger.

• YAP

YAP is a neobank focused wholly on improving the digital banking experience. It functions as an independent app with no physical branches. The Dubai-based neobank recently partnered with RAK bank to form the first independent digital banking platform in the UAE. Like other neobanks, YAP does not have any physical branches and does not offer traditional banking services like loans and mortgages. However it offers spending and budgeting analytics, peer-to-peer payments and remittances services and bill payments.