Wio Bank partners with FAB to facilitate cash and cheque deposits
Wio Bank, the region's first platform bank, is partnering with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE's largest bank and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions, to offer its Wio Business customers cash and cheque facilities through FAB's established ATM and CDM network.
As a platform bank, Wio Bank offers a suite of highly targeted digitalfirst solutions and has a strong focus on meeting the needs of growing start-ups and SMEs. Through its partnership with FAB, Wio Bank is enhancing the tools available to business owners, connecting seamless and secure digital banking solutions with essential cash and cheque deposits, as well as cash withdrawals services, using FAB's regulated physical infrastructure.
The Wio Business app has been integrated with the FABePay portal to enable users to initiate cash or cheque deposits in a simple and convenient manner directly in the app, providing a unique reference number to be used on every deposit transaction. The code can then be used at any FAB cash deposit machine (CDM) using the 'Wio deposit' service to complete the transaction. Information used to generate the reference number is automatically matched with the deposit, ensuring a safe and secure transaction.
Sanjay Sethi, head of Global Transaction Banking, FAB, said FAB believes in the transformative power of technology to deliver a simpler, more convenient and smarter experience for customers, while also meeting specialised banking needs. "We're delighted to partner with Wio Bank to offer a convenient and seamless solution for cash and cheque deposits. Wio Bank has brought a new and innovative approach to banking, and we look forward to working together to support its growth."
Jamal Al Awadhi, chief operating and experience officer, Wio Bank, said this is a milestone collaboration in our journey towards strengthening our product and service suite under the Wio Business umbrella.
"As one of the key shareholders of Wio, FAB helps provide Wio customers the benefit of utilitising their wide scale of reach and operations in the UAE. We are very grateful to be partnering with FAB to enhance our service offering and deliver on our promise to bring easy and simplified banking solutions to our customers," he said.
Wio Bank officially launched in September by offering three key capabilities, namely Digital Banking apps,
Embedded Finance and Banking-as-aService solutions. Wio Bank's first digital banking application Wio Business is designed to provide start-ups, freelancers, and SMEs with access to banking services seamlessly, while giving them the opportunity to move forward with innovative beyond-banking services.
The transaction guarantee facility will allow the Bank to provide, on a transaction basis, up to 100% guarantee to confirming banks for the nonpayment risk arising from the confirmation of trade finance instruments issued by Bank One.
On the other hand, the risk participation agreement will provide up to 50% guarantee cover on a portfolio basis to support trade finance transactions originated by issuing banks in regional member countries. This financial support is expected to help Bank One increase its capacity to support the trade finance needs of key sectors, including SMEs and local corporates in Mauritius and across the continent.
"Given the cross-sectoral nature of trade, the proposed facility, while leveraging Bank One's footprint, is expected to enhance the African Development Bank's efforts to integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for the African people," Lamin Drammeh said.