Emirates NBD launches global accelerator programme for metaverse startups

Emirates NBD has launched a global accelerator programme for metaverse startups to enhance customer experience. The accelerator programme positions the bank as a leader in the next phase of banking innovation in alignment with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy.

Read: Dubai wants metaverse to contribute $4bn to its economy by 2030

The initiative is in partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive, and is supported by Microsoft.

With 94 per cent of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside the branches, the bank is exploring new technologies in the Web 3 ecosystem to expand its digital footprint and create immersive experiences for its customers.

Emirates NBD is looking for fintechs, digital experience startups and emerging technology players operating across the metaverse ecosystem to enhance its immersion in the virtual world across three key areas. These include building the technology stack to facilitate the shift to 3D, creating virtual worlds to augment the customer experience in the metaverse and enabling a decentralised payment infrastructure for customers to create, monetise, buy and sell digital assets and services.

During the 10-week acceleration programme, DIFC Fintech Hive will evaluate and match Emirates NBD with leading startups offering innovative propositions on the value creation, experience and technology stack required for the metaverse.

Shortlisted participants will pitch their solutions at a demo day held during GITEX.

Marwan Hadi, executive vice president and head of Retail Banking at Emirates NBD, said that Emirates NBD was “looking to experiment and partner with tech startups who can help us accelerate our transformation journey and develop solutions that optimise customer experience. With our entry into the metaverse, we seek to reimagine financial services using extended reality and create compelling new propositions for our customers in the new metaverse economy”.

Miguel Rio Tinto, group CIO at Emirates NBD, said, “As a bank that has always been at the forefront of adopting emerging technologies, we see unique opportunity areas to reimagine financial services including virtualising interactions with customers and providing financial services to the creator economy by enabling new products and marketplaces.”