Innovative German bank Fidor has opened an office in Dubai as a base for an expansion of its services to companies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Founded in Germany in 2009, Munich-based Fidor has established a reputation in European banking circles as a disruptive innovator, utilising a full range of social media, crowdfunding and P2P lending techniques and digital currency services to build its business.
The bank, which launched in the UK last year, also recently signed a deal with Telefonica to use its IT backbone and banking license as the foundation for a new mobile banking service in Germany. Platform sales to startups and non-banks are a central plank of the bank's international expansion strategy.
In Dubai, Fidor has taken a space at the country's Silicon Oasis and hired Gé Drossaert from CSC to lead its activities in the region. Prior to joining CSC, Drossaert was head of transformation and change at Saudi Hollandi, following stints at RBS and ABN Amro.
"For a while now we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of enquiries from companies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East wanting to improve their digital services", says Matthias Kröner, CEO of Fidor. "It was only a matter of time before we began expanding our business to other countries. The Dubai Silicon Oasis is an ideal location for this project, because it’s one of the biggest free zones in the Middle East, with more than 1,000 companies already installed.”