- First Abu Dhabi Bank set to provide full-service digital wallet to customers in the region
- Partnership with MoneyGram will mean easily accessible app on both Google and Apple stores, and will improve digital bank capabilities of customers
- “The UAE is home to more than 200 nationalities who live in a society that aspires to be at the forefront of technological innovations”, says MoneyGram spokesperson
A major bank based in the Middle East has announced that it will partner up with a US financial services firm to create a new mobile payment wallet system.
First Abu Dhabi Bank, which is based in the Emirati state of Abu Dhabi and serves the entire United Arab Emirates, will pair up with remittance services provider MoneyGram to provide services in the migrant-heavy country.
The result of the partnership will be a full-feature Payit digital wallet. Customers of the bank will now be able to perform online money transfers to people from 200 countries around the world.
The wallet can be downloaded from either the Google Play Store or the Apple Store and is available immediately.
A spokesperson for the personal banking group at the FAB emphasised the effect that the partnership would have on customers.
“Payit is the only mobile wallet in the UAE that offers MoneyGram’s transfer services and this partnership will help strengthen the capabilities of our pioneering app, in line with our strategy of bringing best-in-class digital financial services to our clients”, said Ramana Kumar, who is Senior Vice President and Head of Payments, Personal Banking Group at FAB.
For MoneyGram’s part, Ahmed Aly – who is head of Middle East at the firm – emphasised how important the development is given that there is a real appetite for technology in the region.
“The UAE is home to more than 200 nationalities who live in a society that aspires to be at the forefront of technological innovations”, he said.
“We believe this partnership helps deliver a modern and state-of-the-art solution to what is an everyday need for a large percentage of that population”, he added.
First Abu Dhabi Bank is located in Abu Dhabi and works with a number of stakeholders across the region and beyond. It offers both personal and corporate banking services.
The UAE has seen a number of partnerships like these recently, and it reflects the growing demand by expats from across the world to live there. Much of the UAE’s population are migrants – and given that salaries are often large thanks to natural resource jobs, there’s a lot of desire to spend and transfer money among those who come to this region for work purposes. As a result, firms which can offer mobile-friendly, consumer services are eager to get in on the action – and MoneyGram is no exception.
Learn more about what banks and other providers in the remittance services space are up to here.
