• Bank's first play in the metaverse to enhance customer experience for the new virtual economy
  • Aligned with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy aimed to position Dubai in the top ten metaverse economies of the world

Dubai, UAE: Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region, has launched a global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups to enhance customer experience for the new virtual economy, in partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive, the largest financial technology hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, and powered by technology provider Microsoft.

Marking Emirates NBD’s first play in the metaverse, the accelerator programme positions the bank as a leader in the next phase of banking innovation in alignment with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy aimed at placing Dubai in the top ten metaverse economies of the world, supporting more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 and adding USD4 billion to Dubai’s economy in five years.

With 94% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside the branches, the bank is exploring new technologies in the web 3.0 world to expand its digital footprint and create immersive experiences for our customers.

Emirates NBD is scouting for leading FinTech’s, digital experience start-ups and emerging technology players operating across the metaverse landscape to enhance its immersion in the virtual world across three key areas: building the technology stack to facilitate the shift to 3D, creating virtual worlds to augment the customer experience in the metaverse and enabling a decentralised payment infrastructure for customers to create, monetise, buy and sell digital assets and services.

Over a ten-week acceleration programme, the DIFC Fintech Hive will evaluate and match Emirates NBD with leading start-ups offering unique propositions on the value creation, experience and technology stack required for the metaverse. This will culminate in a demo day at GITEX where the shortlisted participants will pitch their solutions for an opportunity to co-create engaging experiences for our customers in the new reality.

Commenting on the launch, Marwan Hadi, Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Banking at Emirates NBD said: “Attracting innovative start-ups is crucial to Dubai's ambition to be an international leader in the metaverse. As a leader in the region’s banking sector, Emirates NBD has always been a front-runner of digital innovation, looking to experiment and partner with tech start-ups who can help us accelerate our transformation journey and develop solutions that optimise customer experience. With our entry into the metaverse, we seek to reimagine financial services using extended reality and create compelling new propositions for our customers in the new metaverse economy.”

Miguel Rio Tinto, Group Chief Information Officer at Emirates NBD said, “As a Bank that has always been at the forefront of adopting emerging technologies, see unique opportunity areas to reimagine financial services including virtualising interactions with customers and providing financial services to the creator economy by enabling new products and marketplaces. With the support of the DIFC FinTech Hive and Microsoft, Emirates NBD is looking forward to becoming a launchpad of innovative financial services in the metaverse, playing an active role in co-creating new experiences for our customers with innovative start-ups from around the world.”

Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of DIFC FinTech Hive, said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Emirates NBD to launch the global accelerator programme for metaverse start-ups, which are growing rapidly and witnessing increasing interest from around the world. This step reaffirms our commitment to support Dubai’s ambition to be among the top ten metaverse economies in the world. At DIFC FinTech Hive, we continue to adopt latest technologies to keep pace with the rising momentum in the global digital space.”

“In the metaverse, where physical and digital worlds come together to create an entirely new platform layer, we have an exciting opportunity to create transformative solutions that completely revolutionize the journeys and experiences of consumers”, said Naim Yazbeck, General Manager at Microsoft UAE: “Innovative tech start-ups play a crucial role in this reimagining, bringing creative, unique viewpoints to the design of an entirely new world. We recognize the impact that startups can deliver when they are armed with next-generation technologies that bring their ideas to life, and we look forward to working with these innovators and helping them to realize this potential over the course of the programme.”

You can watch the video of the launch event here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFLAC4hESQ

-Ends-

About Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region with a presence in 13 countries, serving over 17 million customers. As at 30th June 2022, total assets were AED 711 billion, (equivalent to approx. USD 193 billion). The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Turkey, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia with a total of 900 branches and 4,086 ATMs / SDMs.  

Emirates NBD Group serves customers, businesses, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage operations.  

The Group is a key participant in the global digital banking industry with 94% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The Group also operates Liv., the lifestyle digital bank for millennials. Emirates NBD is an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and sustainability initiatives, including financial literacy and the inclusion of people with disabilities. Emirates NBD Group is a Premier Partner and the Official Banking Partner for Expo 2020 Dubai. 

For further information on Emirates NBD, please contact:
Ibrahim Sowaidan
Senior Vice President
Head - Group Corporate Affairs
Emirates NBD
e-mail: ibrahims@emiratesnbd.com
Tricia Kaul
asda’a bcw; Dubai, UAE
Email: Tricia.Kaul@bcw-global.com