First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest lender, has completed the carve out of its payments business into a fully owned and operational subsidiary.
The new brand name, Magnati, is built around energy, potential and partnerships, and underscores its mission to transform payments into possibilities, FAB said in a statement.
It added that Magnati will be able to unlock new growth opportunities through a focused and agile model, underpinned by an intelligent payments platform that creates value for customer, government, merchant and institutional clients.
This platform will enable clients to grow their core businesses by monetising data and using next generation technologies such as APIs, artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to deliver improved experiences and increased efficiency.
The Magnati platform will also provide enhanced capabilities to partner with FinTechs on product and service innovation, FAB said.
FAB added that Magnati is set up on a strong base of market leadership in government payments, merchant acquiring, prepaid cards and growing e-commerce segment.
The payments company is currently positioned among the top two players in the UAE across direct acquiring, prepaid issuing and issuer processing.
In 2020, the business served over 30,000 merchants and to date issued more than 2 million prepaid cards and processed approximately $18 billion in transaction value.
Hana Al Rostamani, group CEO of FAB
Hana Al Rostamani, group CEO of FAB, said: “The establishment of Magnati as a growing, agile and focused payments business comes at a time when the region’s transition to digital payments is accelerating.
“By creating a standalone entity with its own strategy, and a highly experienced management team, Magnati will be able to leverage its technology, data and customer relationships, further unlocking value for the company, FAB and its shareholders. This is not only a key strategic milestone for FAB, it is also a watershed for the rapidly expanding payments industry.”
Magnati will be led by Ramana Kumar, previously group head of payments and digital banking at FAB, as the new CEO.
Kumar said: “Magnati is now plugged in, charged up and ready to deliver on our mission to transform payments into possibilities. As a standalone business, we will be able to drive our strategy forward and pursue our growth ambitions, with a powerful brand name reflecting our emphasis on partnership, value creation and orientation towards the future.
“With FAB’s support, we are well positioned to deliver further benefits for our customer, government, merchant and institutional clients, helping them harness the opportunities of the digital economy, and shape the future of payments in the region.”
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