UAE-based Wio Bank is looking to payments and wealth to drive the next leg of its growth, CEO Jayesh Patel said, as the state-backed digital bank positions itself to capitalise on the Gulf country’s economic boom. The Abu Dhabi-based company, launched in 2022, has benefited from an influx of new money into the Middle East nation owing to factors such as the ease of doing business and light-touch regulation.
The UAE’s economy is expected to have grown 4.9% in 2025, driven by higher oil production and expansion in sectors such as logistics and tourism following government investment, according to the central bank’s September 2025 forecast. In this backdrop, Wio plans to launch a payments company in 2026 to make “things seamless for our customers,” Jayesh Patel told Reuters on the sidelines of a finance event in Abu Dhabi, adding that the venture is also focusing on ways to help wealthy clients manage their long-term capital better.
Jayesh Patel said, “Wio Bank now has more than 250,000 retail customers and more than 120,000 business clients, including firms from the United Kingdom and China, up from 140,000 and 90,000, respectively, at the end of 2024. I think we would be able to add at least a third more to our (retail customer) base next year because we are scaling a lot.”
Wio is owned by the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ, conglomerate Alpha Dhabi Holding, lender FAB and technology group e&.
Asked whether the bank had plans to expand into other Gulf countries, Jayesh Patel, while stating that he sees Wio focusing on the UAE in 2026, remarked, “Banking doesn’t cross borders easily. It takes a lot of effort. And we want to make sure whatever we do is not at the cost of the momentum and the potential we have here. While we are looking at M&A opportunities, Wio Bank has enough liquidity to fund its upcoming projects.”
Image Credits: Wio Bank