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Waqfe, a Bahrain-based FinTech company, has launched a mobile banking service platform for banks called Digital Deposit Mobilisation Solution.
It is said to combine mobility, artificial intelligence and data technologies and will allow banks to augment it into their existing digital structures.
Shaikh Khalid bin Mohammad Al Khalifa, Waqfe’s chairman, described the launch as a ‘revolutionary, game-changing solution’ in the GCC. “While providing convenience to customers is one of the main aims of the platform, our ultimate objective is to reintroduce ‘purpose’ into a banking experience made even more unique and friendly by exponential technologies,” he said.
“The launch of the platform will help our partner banks harness the potential of digital banking in the GCC, focusing on an audience that values technology and depends on it for convenience and simplicity.”
He claims the platform is geared to assist partner banks to mobilise ‘one million customers and $10 billion in retail deposits over the next five years’.
Waqfe’s CEO Ashar Nazim believes it will not only enable a comprehensive banking experience, but one that is simple and flexible. “The platform will help banks gain the acceptance of customers looking for speed and ease in managing their banking requirements,” he said.
“Customers will not be required to visit any physical branch since the opening of a bank account can also be done on the platform in just seven minutes from anywhere in the GCC through a smartphone, tablet or laptop.”
The platform embeds several features, including forensic document analysis and digital identity management. It is up-and-running in Bahrain with a leading Islamic financial institution already on board and a number of other financial institutions in the kingdom, Oman, UAE and Saudi Arabia have also shown a ‘keen interest’ and are in discussions to integrate Waqfe’s platform into their digital strategy, the company says.
Waqfe describes itself as a ‘next-gen fintech platform for deposit mobilisation’ working within a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model where online, or e-commerce, businesses and portals reach new markets and customers by partnering with consumer-oriented product and service businesses.
“We exist because deposit banking in its traditional format is dead,” the co-founder states on his LinkedIn social media account. “As a B2B2C company, we enable banks to modernise their customer engagement through a stronger connection with customers at an emotional level.
“This is driven by exponential technologies including mobility, analytics and artificial intelligence. Through this digital community banking solution, Waqfe’s purpose is to positively touch the lives of one million people across emerging markets by 2021.”
