Designed to be ‘mobile and social first’, the Liv. mobile app allows customers to open their bank account instantly from their smartphones by scanning in their Emirates ID card.

Alongside routine transactions, customers can access a curated daily feed of what’s happening new in town; selected deals on their individual preferred food options based on the time of day; and fitness trackers to manage their health regimen. A built-in PFM feature uses real-time analytics to provide insights on transactional history and spending patterns, as well as budgetting and goal-setting tools.

Tapping in to millennial social channels, the app also enables funds transfers to be performed from within popular platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp.

Suvo Sarkar, senior EVP & group head - retail banking and wealth management, says: “Liv. offers customers a unique experience that will allow them to access the finest lifestyle opportunities while enabling them to better manage their finances. Liv. aspires to be more than a bank for the millennial customer - one that will inform, advise and be their digital buddy and wingman.”

To this end, the new app partners with some of the most popular lifestyle brands in the region such as Zomato, Fetchr, Voucherskout and Careem.

Jayash Patel, head of Liv. says: “Imagined, designed and developed by a team of millennials, Liv. combines the seemingly incongruent modules of banking and lifestyle to offer a fun, social and intelligent banking experience for a self-reliant and digital native generation. We hope to build a dynamic brand that will resonate with the values and aspirations of like-minded customers and capture their hearts.”

The beta version of the app will be made available to select customers in phases, starting next week on the Android operating platform followed by iOS.

The new digital banking proposition is a key plank in Emirates NBD’s planned investment of $136 million towards digital innovation and multichannel transformation over the next three years.