Digital banking is evolving fast, and in the UAE, one homegrown player is looking to redefine what a bank can be. Wio Bank is positioning itself as the region's first platform bank, and together with the ADX, it's launched Loan Against Investments, allowing investors to unlock liquidity without selling their ADX-listed shares.
Joining us today is Jayesh Patel, CEO of Wio Bank. Jayesh, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Rachel. Thanks for having me.
Wio Bank is often described as the region's first platform bank. But in simple terms, what does that actually mean for a customer? Tell us a bit more about your vision.
Yeah, absolutely. Look, I think in the digital age, customers have moved on from just expecting a bank to be a place with an account and a few tools. What they need is more of an operating system to help run either their business or their personal life — and that's what we are. We're a platform with services that are directly financial, and that also aggregate other elements like accounting, invoicing, and other tools. So we become a platform for you to operate both your personal life and your business. It's about taking advantage of the digital capabilities that exist out there, so that as an individual or a business, you can focus on what's important to you. We help you with everything.
Incredible. I want to dive a bit deeper into some of the things you're offering, particularly to the SME market — but first, in partnership with ADX, you recently announced the launch of Loan Against Investments, a new product that allows investors to borrow cash against their ADX-listed shares. This is a significant milestone for the whole region. What drove the decision to launch it?
Yeah, we're very excited about it, and the partnership with ADX is incredible. Investors globally are looking to get more out of their investments — whether it's equities or any other asset class. One of the big things we thought would be great is if investors could pledge their shares, continue to get the upside on the equity market through a fantastic exchange, and take out some of that money to invest in other opportunities. With a few clicks, you can pledge your shares, access some liquidity, and invest in other things you want to invest in. We're super excited about this — we think it's the start of one asset class, and we'll continue to build on it.
Excellent. Many traditional banks are also investing heavily in tech, but you're obviously born digital. Where do you think a native digital bank still has a real edge over the incumbents today, and where do you feel the pressure from them as they move into digital banking?
Yeah, it's a question we get a lot. Digital banking started about eight to ten years ago and has been evolving since. I think it's less about the technology — you're right, banks are catching up there. I think it's about two other big things. One is the principles you operate by — digital-native companies are super customer-centric, and the principles they build their products with reflect that. The second is organizational structure — how you organize your company to ensure you achieve that customer centricity. That's the big difference. Digital companies are designed, structured, and incentivized to deliver the best outcomes for the customer. That might be a bit of an evolution for traditional banks to catch up on, and that's why I still think there's an edge. If you look at the data, digital banks are doing fairly well globally — in three years, we've grown significantly. In the UAE, we're the leaders in SME banking, and we've grown significantly in retail too. So I think the results you see are largely because digital banks are a lot more focused on the consumer, and the organizational structure and the people and principles behind that are the big differentiator.
That's a really interesting point, because intuitively you'd think digital-first means less customer-centric, but actually it's been built with only the customer in mind. Previously, you've talked about payments and wealth management as the next leg of Wio's growth. Why those two specifically, and what gaps do you think still exist in the market that you can plug?
Yeah, absolutely. Payments is a really interesting space — I think the new hot topic in payments is agentic commerce. How can you have agents go and bid for the product you want, or when the price drops, the agent buys it for you? There's a lot of room for innovation there. We're an enabler helping our customers execute the transactions they want — our objective is to make it as simple, safe, and transparent as possible. So we think this is a space to invest in, especially with agents, because we see an opportunity to improve the experience and the possibilities.
Wealth management is an interesting space too. Generations are getting wealthier, and managing money is becoming more important. There's a huge global shift — markets like the US moved earlier, but people are moving away from fixed deposits and savings toward more exposure to markets. We think there's a lot of room for customers to plan their financial future, whether through automated investing or other products. AI is bringing an incredible shift too — it makes it easier to understand and manage the risk you want to take, and helps you structure how to achieve your goals. So in both these areas, we see huge technological shifts in customer demand, which is why we want to invest and grow in those two spaces.
Incredible. Well, thank you so much — it's been a pleasure having you on the show and hearing about the focus areas of one of the region's first digital banks. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
