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Wio Bank’s origin story is rooted in a problem that frustrated entrepreneurs in the UAE: Opening a bank account was slow and costly for small and medium-sized businesses.
The digital lender, launched during the pandemic, initially focused exclusively on SMEs before expanding to individual customers, leaning on the UAE’s digital infrastructure to scale quickly, Chief Executive Jayesh Patel said at Semafor’s Next 3 Billion event during Abu Dhabi Finance Week.
“Today, we have the largest number of SMEs in the country banking with us,” Patel said. Although it doesn’t make “a ton of money” from each account, the growth of the companies themselves — and the number of customers Wio brings in — has catapulted the digital bank into the ranks of the country’s second-tier lenders in terms of assets.
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Wio cut average account-opening times to about two days by connecting to the UAE’s national identity systems and company registration data. Backed by prominent institutions in the capital — Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund ADQ, telecom e&, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and investment company Alpha Dhabi — Wio is positioning itself within a broader UAE effort to remove friction on businesses. The bank also has asset management and crypto divisions; Patel said he’s bullish on stablecoins as a way to cut transaction costs.
As for expanding out of the relatively small and crowded UAE market, the bank has no imminent plans, even though the question is raised frequently at board meetings, Patel said. The “incredible growth” of the UAE offers opportunities to continue building market share across SMEs, payments, retail, and wealth management, he added.