Rakbank Adds Global Stocks and ETFs to Its Mobile Banking App

Rakbank has opened global share trading inside its mobile banking app through a service called Digital Equities. Customers get access to more than 30,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds listed in the US, UK and Europe. Fees on US equity trades begin at US$1 per transaction.

The account that holds the investments is opened in the same app customers already use for daily banking. No separate brokerage relationship is required, and both onboarding and trading run entirely online. Digital Equities is available now to customers across all segments, aimed at people making their first investments as well as those spreading risk across an existing portfolio.

UAE-listed shares are not part of the initial rollout. The bank says it will add domestic equities in a later phase.

The service sits alongside investment funds, bonds, structured products, precious metals, foreign exchange and digital assets that Rakbank already offers in the app.

Technology comes from GTN, a fintech that builds investment and trading infrastructure. GTN supplies the brokerage systems, connections to markets and trade execution that route customer orders to international exchanges.

Shehzad Hameed, managing director of retail banking at Rakbank, said investing should be as effortless as everyday banking. Customers, he said, increasingly expect to handle their finances and build wealth on a single platform they trust.

Damian Bunce, chief executive of GTN Middle East, said the detailed attention paid to user experience stood out during the build, and that he expects the partnership to succeed.

Banks in the region have largely sent customers to third-party brokers when they wanted to buy shares. Embedding execution in the banking app keeps the trade, the cash and the account history in one place, which matters for lenders trying to hold on to deposits that might otherwise move to an investment platform.