Emirates NBD launched a global accelerator program for startups with a focus on metaverse technologies as it bids to “transform the future of banking.”
The ten-week programme, organised in collaboration with Fintech Hive, will see startups pitch financial technology ideas that the bank could use to develop new products. “With our entry into the metaverse, we hope to reimagine financial services using extended reality and create compelling new propositions for our customers in the new metaverse economy,” the bank’s retail banking head said in a statement on Wednesday. It is the first time that Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, has expressed interest in the metaverse, which has gained traction in the UAE in recent months following the launch of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy.