UAE's FAB launches payments business Magnati

Abu Dhabi: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) Sunday completed the carve out of its existing payments business into a fully owned and operational subsidiary Magnati.

The new brand name, Magnati, is built around energy, potential and partnerships, and underscores its mission to transform payments into possibilities.

This unique 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.

Magnati brings together four key business lines: a fast-growing acquiring business, strong and exclusive government solutions, and market leading consumer payments coupled with captive issuer processing business. Through value-added services built around data and platform capabilities, Magnati’s customer-led value proposition is a strong differentiator, empowering customers to excel in the digital economy.

Magnati is set up on a strong base of market leadership in government payments, merchant acquiring, prepaid cards and growing e-commerce segment.

Fully owned subsidiary

Magnati will be led by Ramana Kumar, previously Group Head of Payments and Digital Banking at FAB, as the new CEO of Magnati supported by the leadership team across business, operations and technology.

The payments company is currently positioned amongst 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. Leading market share and increased volume growth even during the pandemic are testaments to Magnati’s client relationships and differentiated customer value proposition.

“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,” said Hana Al Rostamani, Group Chief Executive Officer of FAB .

Magnati will operate as a fully owned FAB subsidiary, strengthening the Group’s leadership position in the rapidly expanding payments sector and accelerating its digital transformation agenda.