Commercial Bank International Enters the Metaverse

Dubai-based Commercial Bank International (CBI) has rolled out a metaverse location to enhance the integration of real and digital worlds, a press release says.

The virtual CBI location is open in Decentraland for visitors, at cbi.dcl.eth or using the coordinates (63, -127). It can also be accessed through Portals.

The CBI virtual location is part of the bank’s participation at the XVERSE event taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, where the company will be an Activision Partner and will partner with UAE burger brand Pickl on a digital economy project to show how the metaverse can enable a digital economy.

The release says the company has put together a “future-facing” agenda which will focus on further exploring the metaverse’s potential.

“It’s a testament to our strong support and belief in the country’s vision of being a leader in innovation worldwide,” said CBI CEO Ali Sultan Rakkad Al Amri. “We aim to enhance the integration of real and digital worlds, and we will continue to implement new digitization initiatives and advanced technologies to serve our customers better.”

The metaverse got a boost in popularity in 2021 when Facebook changed its name to Meta and began to focus more on the digital world.

Read more: Walmart, Disney, Nike Push Further Into Metaverse

Now, with numerous companies delving in, Walmart has added two new spaces in metaverse game Roblox, which has 52 million users every day.

The two spaces are “Walmart Land” and “Walmart’s Universe of Play” and will be a testing ground for future expansion into virtual reality. Business cases, according to Walmart chief marketing officer William White, will eventually include online purchases and will try and get people to visit real-world stores, along with product placement for brands.

But Walmart will only be focusing on “driving relevance in cultural conversation” and adding more community and brand favorability.

New PYMNTS Study: How Consumers Use Digital Banks

A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking services, just 9.3% call them their primary bank.