Mashreq unveils digital bank in UAE

DUBAI / Emirates Business

Mashreq Bank on Sunday launched Mashreq Neo, a new full-service digital bank to cater to the day-to-day needs of a world on the move. The new digital bank, which will be completely branchless, is targeted towards the connected generation who are digitally savvy, use mobile devices extensively, and will immerse users in a brilliant digital experience.
Mashreq Bank’s Head of Retail Banking Group, Subroto Som, explained the rationale for creating the digital bank: “Mashreq Neo was created in response to the fast-evolving customer behaviours which we observed in the UAE”.
Mashreq Neo is also the first digital bank in the GCC region to provide access to international markets for investment opportunities including foreign equities, gold trading and foreign currency accounts.

Strong suite of retail banking products
Mashreq Neo is the only digital bank in the UAE which will offer a strong suite including credit cards, debit cards, current accounts, personal loans, remittances, foreign currencies, global stock trading, gold trading, and foreign currency investment capabilities. In addition, they will get competitive rates on deposits and FX remittance, free ATM withdrawals and additional benefits.

Full-service
Branchless Banking
All banking services including customer on-boarding, sales, services, transactions and fulfilment are done via online and mobile platforms.

Instant account opening
Customers will be able to open an account in less than 5 minutes with Mashreq Neo, by downloading the App (from Apple App Store and Google Play Store) and scanning their Emirates ID.

Comprehensive payment capabilities
Mashreq Neo will offer the most comprehensive set of payment capabilities, such as Samsung Pay wallet, Mashreq Pay wallet, International bill payment to over 100 countries, Cardless cash from ATMs, Mobile-to-Mobile transfers and remittances locally and globally.

International trading
Customers can trade in over 30,000 stocks across 100+ stock exchanges around the world. They can also buy and sell gold and foreign currencies instantly via the Neo trading platform.

Personalised financial management insights
Beyond the day-to-day transactional banking needs, Mashreq Neo will leverage big data analytics to offer unique insights to its customers on financial management.

Neo Marketplace
With Mashreq Neo, customers have access to a global shopping portal where they will have access to a wide range of merchants from different countries to fulfil their shopping desires.
Commenting on the launch, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq Bank said: “With the launch of Mashreq Neo, we have entered a new era in the digitization of retail banking. Considering Mashreq’s historical strength in the innovation and digital space, we are confident that customers will respond positively and we will see strong adoption of Neo. Our goal is to ultimately provide seamless, convenient, secured and cost effective banking services, compared to traditional branch banking.”
He added, “While Mashreq Neo is just the start, Mashreq Bank will continue to keep transforming to maintain its pioneer position in the market in terms of digital banking and innovation. As customers adopt and embrace new technologies, Mashreq will lead with new digital capabilities that enable banking in a convenient and secure manner. “
In closing, Aref Al-Ramli, Head of Digital Banking and Innovation, Retail Banking Group added:”This is just the beginning of a new era in banking. We will continually enhance the Neo experience across on-boarding, personalisation, channels of interaction, and take advantage of new technologies and regulatory changes as these emerge”.