The frenzy behind fintech

Open banking and contactless payments are just the tip of the iceberg of the growing Fintech phenomenon. Kirtan Desai, co-founder at BankOnUs, speaks about the factors that have accelerated the use of Fintech apps in the UAE.

The migration of customers from offline environments to online environments has been increasing at a steady pace. This has been a recent phenomenon within the fintech and insuretech world, and in the UAE, it is catching up fast. The pace of adoption in a particular geography is dependent on a number of factors. Among these are a regulatory environment (for example, acceptance of digital signatures on contracts), access to information (such as credit scores, banking information, etc.), and customer preferences; for instance, are customers prepared to make financial decisions without meeting sales agents or financial advisors? It also includes the availability of online intermediaries like BankOnUs that can seamlessly integrate into the above ecosystem, and the readiness of providers like banks and insurance companies to onboard customers without face-to-face meetings.

As a country, the UAE and its regulators have always been at the forefront of tech evolution. We see this in our daily lives like m-parking, UAE pass, etc. UAE citizens and residents are also extremely tech-savvy and smartphone and internet penetration in the country is amongst the highest in the world. 

There are two key reasons explaining the rapid increase in customers buying products via Fintech. One is that due to the pandemic, many banks and insurance companies have been forced to rethink their sales processes and have taken the lead to adapt to the digital wave and while disintermediating sales agents. The other is that physical distribution, such as sales agents, door-to-door selling, etc., has been forced out due to logistical challenges. Concurrently, we have invested lot of time and money to promote our products online and customers are now realising that buying products digitally through the right platforms can provide them with a much better, transparent and joyful experience. BankOnUs can issue credit cards for certain banks in a matter of minutes, whereas a typical sales agent will take days to fulfil the same request in the physical world.

 

Solutions of reliability

BankOnUs is a fully integrated financial marketplace that helps customers select, purchase and manage their financial products. BankOnUs has an award-winning app powered by a proprietary AI-driven engine.

The BankOnUs app is one of a kind in the market and aimed at simplifying the customers' financial decisions. With over 1,500 product offerings in the financial services industry, it can be very daunting for customers to select, purchase, and manage various financial products. Our BankOnUs app uses sophisticated AI-powered algorithms to hand-hold the customer across all three stages - selection, purchase and management. The entire process is commission-agnostic, which means customers can be rest assured that they are purchasing products in a transparent manner. This ultimately gives the customers more choice, savings and control. BankOnUs offers a detailed pictorial comparison of products making the decision-making process seamless.

The app also offers an opportunity for its customers to save all their financial products in one wallet, making it easily available and accessible. It also addresses the elimination of the role of intermediaries, while providing complete and precise information.

In a short span of 12 months, we have already received a lot of industry recognition - with the most recent and noteworthy being the MasterCard Start-up of the Year 2020, which recognises new technology businesses poised to positively impact the region's role in the future of the global economy.

• Business and Technology Review