Episode 50

full
Published on:

27th Aug 2024

Wio Bank Reveals How They Reached Profitability Within Year One | Prakash Sunkara, Chief Financial Officer at Wio Bank

Wio Bank has become one of the fastest Neo-Banks globally to achieve profitability. In its first full year of operations, Wio reported a revenue of AED 266.4 million and a net profit of AED 2 million. Wio has over 50,000 Wio Business and 40,000 Wio Personal customers… and in today’s episode we go through the How they achieved such amazing success!

I speak with Prakash Sunkara, Chief Financial Officer at Wio Bank - and I have to say he’s a CFO that sounds like a CPO! He is absolutely super customer centric!

We discuss Wio’s story, their mindset and how that sets them apart, what’s the definition of innovation - in the eyes of Jayesh Patel, Wio’s CEO; and ways of working to bring it to life, the how they reached profitability, what happens once they hit month one of profitability, and finally we put Prakash in the hot seat with some fire side questions!

It’s a fascinating conversation!

Prakash has a long career in Financial Services and as a CFO - across both traditional financial services and FinTechs. Wio Bank is disrupting banking for consumers and small businesses in the UAE and has created an all-in-one digital financial platform to reboot banking for everyone!

We cover,

(00:00) The framework behind hitting profitability in year one

(03:55) Wio's Mission and Customer Focus

(05:52) Achieving Rapid Profitability

(06:37) Mindset and Ecosystem in Dubai

(08:23) Innovative Approaches in SME Banking

(13:05) Continuous Innovation and Customer Needs

(20:50) Strategic Thinking Behind Profitability

(25:53) Introduction to Platform Banking

(26:15) Innovative Features for SME Banking

(27:27) Customer-Centric Approach

(30:14) Scaling and Growth Strategy

(33:32) Teamwork and Company Culture

(39:36) Profitability and Sustainable Growth

(47:22) Challenges and Future Focus

Follow for more discussions on how to build great FinTech products with Customer and Commercial Impact and stay updated on the latest episodes.


👉 You can find Prakash here


👉 And you can find Monica here:


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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about being in the show, coaching, consulting, creative collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email fintechwithmoni@gmail.com


Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

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About the Podcast

Purpose Driven FinTech
Building products with impact
Welcome to Purpose Driven FinTech!

I'm your host, Monica Millares - Product Leader and fellow FinTecher.

These days, with the rising cost of living, financial stress among customers, loss of trust in banks, speculation of crypto, and uncertainty, we're facing unprecedented challenges. But there is hope. We as FinTechers have the power to make a positive impact.

Our products, the how we do product, and our people can make a difference on customers’ financial lives - and as a result, in the quality of their lives.

However, more than ever Founders, CEOs, Leadership teams and all FinTechers have a ton of pressure to build solutions that actually solve customer problems, that people want, that are differentiated And profitable

Yes that's you and me too!

That's why I've created this podcast!

I speak with Founders, Product Leaders, VCs, and industry experts to uncover their stories, challenges, and lessons learnt in building products with impact.

You'll get to hear real-life conversations, and you’ll walk away with practical questions, frameworks and insights that you can apply to your own FinTech products. So, are you ready to make a bigger difference in FinTech?

Let's come together and discover how Purpose, Product, and People can help us create a future of better financial wellbeing while building sustainable and profitable FinTechs.

Follow me on LinkedIn, TikTok, and  YouTube to stay connected and be part of the conversation.

Cheers to making better FinTech and making FinTech better!

Love, Moni 

About your host

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Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.