Canada's original branchless bank made simplicity a product, survived a compulsory rename and sold for C$3.126 billion. Its next trick is harder: replacing the machinery underneath without making two-and-a-half million clients feel the renovation.
YAP is a Dubai-based digital banking platform that lets people open an account, get an instant IBAN and Mastercard, send and receive money, pay bills and track spending entirely from a mobile app. Launched in March 2021 as the UAE's first independent digital banking platform, YAP does not hold its own banking licence in the UAE; instead it partners with licensed banks (originally RAKBANK) to provide the underlying accounts while YAP builds the customer-facing experience, analytics and card controls. The company has raised roughly $41 million and is expanding across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, targeting Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Ghana.