Across emerging markets, a quiet revolution is reshaping the landscape of financial services. From Cape Town to Manila, a new generation of digital-first banks is proving that scale, innovation, and access can coexist—and even thrive—in regions often overlooked by Western financial institutions. At the heart of this shift is a powerful catalyst: AI in digital banking.

One standout example in this transformation is Time Bank, a digital institution with roots in South Africa and a footprint expanding rapidly across Asia. Their approach reveals how forward-thinking banks are using technology not just to scale, but to rethink everything from customer acquisition to backend infrastructure.

Scaling a Digital Bank Across Continents

Time Bank began its journey in South Africa and quickly evolved into a formidable player in other underserved yet promising markets like the Philippines and Indonesia. With over 18 million customers globally and ambitions extending into Hong Kong, the bank has become a case study in international fintech expansion.

Why Asia? It’s simple: scale and digital readiness. Indonesia has a population of 280 million, the Philippines around 120 million. These markets are youthful, digitally connected, and still largely underbanked—ideal conditions for a mobile-native banking solution. Instead of expanding across Africa, Time Bank made a strategic pivot eastward, where the potential customer base is vast and digital infrastructure is increasingly mature.

The Vietnam-Based Engineering Engine

Driving this growth is a tech team based in Vietnam, now 650 engineers strong. This strategic setup is both cost-effective and highly efficient. By consolidating development across markets into one codebase, Time Bank can iterate rapidly, roll out new products faster, and reduce the technical debt that plagues many legacy institutions.

In fact, the bank is currently undertaking a full-stack refactor to unify its infrastructure, with a revamped user experience and new app interface set to launch soon. This kind of agile development is nearly impossible for traditional banks tied to decades-old systems.

Distribution Redefined: Phygital Banking

Customer acquisition strategies also set Time Bank apart. Instead of relying solely on digital marketing or physical branches, they’ve embraced a hybrid “phygital” model. In South Africa and the Philippines, for example, Time Bank places branded kiosks inside high-traffic retail environments.

This approach combines the familiarity of physical spaces with the convenience of digital onboarding. It’s an effective way to build trust while keeping costs low. Over time, customers transition naturally from in-person sign-up to fully digital interactions. In South Africa alone, the rate of digital onboarding has jumped from 10% to 27%, with a goal to hit 50% soon.

AI in Digital Banking: The Quiet Superpower

While distribution and scaling are impressive, it’s Time Bank’s use of AI that may be the true differentiator. At the foundational level, the bank is building comprehensive data lakes across all departments and markets. This means every click, swipe, and transaction is captured, standardized, and primed for analysis.

Today, AI is already being used to improve customer support, fraud detection, and compliance. But the future lies in “agentic AI”—systems that act semi-autonomously using existing business knowledge. These systems can help launch new markets with far fewer staff, optimize operations in real-time, and improve decision-making across the board.

Workshops are already being run internally to familiarize executives and managers with AI tools like ChatGPT, generative content platforms, and analytics dashboards. The goal is to make AI a part of every department, not just a tool for data scientists.

Lending at the Core of Growth

Initially focused on deposit-taking, Time Bank has since expanded into digital lending—fast becoming a major revenue driver. With the acquisition of a personal loan book and technology that enables end-to-end digital loan origination, lending now accounts for a 40% loan-to-deposit ratio.

All lending is digital, delivered through app or web interfaces. This not only reduces operational costs but allows for real-time credit decisioning. Backed by AI and data-driven models, Time Bank’s approach to credit is responsive, scalable, and inclusive.

Looking Beyond Traditional Services

What’s next for Time Bank and other digital challengers like it? Expect a broadening of services into areas like:

• Fractional investing: Giving users the ability to buy slices of U.S. stocks or other assets.
  
• Multi-currency accounts: Offering USD deposit options alongside local currencies.
  
• Remittances: Capturing a share of the vast cross-border payments market, especially in the Philippines.
  
• Crypto and digital assets: Though not yet mainstream, there’s growing interest in custodial crypto services and tokenized asset trading.
  

These features are no longer “nice to haves.” For digital banks aiming to retain users and boost share of wallet, they’re essential.

Building the Future of Sovereign Payments Infrastructure

While banks like Time focus on end-user experiences, companies like Unity are rethinking the back-end of the financial system—particularly for central banks. Based in the UAE, Unity is helping regulators design and operate payment infrastructure that reduces dependency on foreign card networks like Visa or Mastercard.

Their mission centers on “sovereignty of the payment ecosystem.” In a world where global rails can be weaponized or politicized, many nations are turning inward, seeking local control over domestic transactions and exploring alternatives like real-time payment systems, mobile money, and eventually, CBDCs.

Unity’s work underscores a growing realization: the future of payments must be flexible, interoperable, and resilient. Whether it’s AI, digital identity, or cross-rail orchestration, the building blocks are already here.

The Road Ahead: Embedded AI and Autonomous Finance

So where is all of this heading?

Imagine a banking experience where customers don’t just interact with apps, but with intelligent agents. These AI-powered assistants will:

• Understand individual financial behavior.
  
• Suggest optimal loan terms or savings products.
  
• Automatically switch between payment rails based on fees and speed.
  
• Manage budgeting, investing, and even tax preparation.
  

This is not science fiction—it’s the natural progression of current trends. As both banks and infrastructure providers integrate AI more deeply, financial systems will become more intuitive, more autonomous, and ultimately, more human in how they serve people.

Final Thoughts

The rise of AI in digital banking signals a new era—not just of technological change, but of structural transformation across the financial ecosystem. Whether through agile digital banks like Time or sovereign infrastructure initiatives led by Unity, the goal is the same: faster, fairer, more inclusive finance for the digital age.

As regulation catches up and more markets embrace real-time, AI-driven infrastructure, the world of finance may look very different a decade from now. For now, the foundations are being laid—and the momentum is unstoppable.