Digital-Only Banks

Digital-only banks provide deposit, payment, lending and other services through digital channels, typically without physical branches. Recent developments include Pakistan's Raqami securing a commercial license, Tether investing in Argentina's Ualá, and Taiwan easing shareholding and board-member requirements for digital-only banks. Klarna, X Money and other companies are also moving more rapidly into banking services. As real-time payments, AI applications and mobile experiences improve, cybersecurity attacks and regulatory changes are increasing as well, making market competition, operational risk and evolving rules important to watch.