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Marwan Hachem and the bank that began before the app
Before co-founding YAP, Marwan Hachem spent years working on the less glamorous business of getting people paid. His route from Beirut to Dubai helps explain why his banking app began with a partnership.
Igor Jablokov and the long road to a simple answer
Before Alexa became a household habit, Igor Jablokov was teaching computers to listen. At Pryon, the founder and chairman is working on the harder part: giving people answers they can check.
YAP
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.