Digital banking adoption is set to grow considerably in the UAE over the next five years, according to Finder.com’s Digital Banking Adoption Report.
Finder polled 41,654 people across 30 countries to reveal 17% of Emiratis adults currently have a digital bank account and an additional 13% plan to open one in the next five years.
That means an estimated 31% will have a digital bank account by 2026.
Finder’s global fintech editor, Elizabeth Barry, says digital banking adoption in the United Arab Emirates is growing faster than the global average.
“We’re set to see an average increase in digital banking adoption of 11 percentage points across the 30 countries included in the study.
“That makes the UAE’s increase of 13 percengtage points just above the global average,” she added.
Barry says the UAE is becoming a real hub for the fintech industry.
“There has been growing interest in digital banks of late, with the market becoming more competitive and the UAE about to get its first independent digital bank.
“Digital banks are becoming increasingly accessible, with anyone over the age of 8 now allowed to bank digitally in the UAE.
“These kinds of banks are among the fastest growing in the region, with the lifestyle bank Liv recently attracting more than 370,000 customers.
“It’s likely as digital banks become more prevalent we’ll see even more people embrace digitised financial services.”
You can find the full report, including infographics and a breakdown by age, gender and region here: https://www.finder.com/ae/digital-banks
Digital-only banking adoption by market
- Brazil – 32.08%
- Indonesia – 24.90%
- Ireland – 24.77%
- Vietnam – 23.34%
- Poland – 22.03%
- Switzerland – 21.62%
- Malaysia – 20.36%
- Japan – 20.14%
- Germany – 19.33%
- Hungary – 18.82%
- Austria – 18.52%
- The Philippines – 18.34%
- Singapore – 17.95%
- Hong Kong – 17.70%
- The United Arab Emirates – 17.17%
- Italy – 16.23%
- The United Kingdom – 14.99%
- Norway – 14.65%
- Portugal – 14.31%
- Spain – 14.19%
- Australia – 13.21%
- France – 13.16%
- New Zealand – 11.99%
- The Netherlands – 11.91%
- Sweden – 11.56%
- Denmark – 11.40%
- Mexico – 11.24%
- Finland – 10.60%
- Canada – 9.25%
- The United States – 6.00%
