Katipult Technology, a fintech company which offers Investment Management and Crowdfunding Software, announces it has started coverage of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after adding two leading investment firms in the country as clients. Katipult has added two regulated firms from UAE to its client list including a subsidiary of a publicly listed entity on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. One firm is a licensed investment company regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE, while the other is a financial services provider regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) providing Private Wealth Advisory and Corporate Finance. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both robust…

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the UAE’s largest Islamic Bank, has launched a new home finance product that is set to change the face of home finance in the UAE. DIB’s MyHome is a ‘one stop shop’ to meet a customer’s entire home finance related needs. More than just another financing option, it removes the challenges customers often face from complex jargon to multi-staged paperwork, whilst simultaneously adding many new attractive options as part of the package. With MyHome, customers benefit from simple, easy to understand facts and figures discussed up front, with every step of the process during their home…

500 Startups, a Silicon Valley venture fund with a track record of investing in young companies, said on Tuesday Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) had acquired a strategic stake in the firm. The move by ADFG, a privately owned investment company in the United Arab Emirates with more than $6 billion under management, comes as Gulf sovereign wealth funds and corporates look to invest in firms on the U.S. West Coast involved in venture capital, artificial intelligence and robotics. The statement did not disclose the value of the deal or the size of the stake. 500 Startups, which invests in…

A record number of International Pension and Savings Plans were set up last year, as employers strive to meet the savings needs of a global workforce, and to help staff in hotspots of economic and political instability. Willis Towers Watson revealed in its latest International Pension Plan Survey that 43 IPPs and ISPs were established in 2017, which is a record in a survey dating back to 2008, and far higher than in recent years (16 in 2016, 23 in 2015). For Swiss multinationals as well, assets in these plans have increased as companies find them to be useful solutions…

Spending on the technologies that enable Smart City initiatives is forecast to reach $1.26 billion for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region in 2018, according to the latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC). In the first release of its Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide, the global technology research and consulting firm provides a detailed look at the technology investments associated with a range of Smart Cities priorities and use cases. As these initiatives gain traction, IDC expects spending on MEA to accelerate over the 2016-2021 forecast period, reaching $2.30 billion in 2021. Cities across the region are…

Etisalat Digital announced the shortlisted scale-ups to foster digital innovation and entrepreneurship and to bring new solutions to the market as part of ‘Dubai Future Accelerators Program,’ the world’s largest government-supported accelerator. The program pairs top scale-ups from across global markets with the Dubai government entities allowing them to build, test and deploy solutions for 21st-century challenges. The shortlisted startups were announced during the opening ceremony of the 4thcohort of ‘Dubai Future Accelerators’ held in Dubai. Etisalat Digital launched two challenges as part of the program to companies across the world in January this year, and out of all the applications…

Mastercard has announced an initiative to create greater payment consistency by making “tap and go” standard in the next five years. The changes underway ensure that consumers, merchants and governments around the world will be able to take advantage of next-generation digital technology which delivers greater security and convenience. Beginning later this year, Mastercard will require a series of card and terminal upgrades across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, to bring secure and convenient contactless card payment technology to more people in more locations around the world. This move means that every cardholder will be able…

Ooredoo and Mastercard have announced the upcoming launch of Masterpass in Qatar, a service designed to offer a new level of payments convenience to Ooredoo’s growing base of consumers in Qatar. Masterpass is a simple, convenient and trusted digital payment service for faster, safe shopping at thousands of retailers – online, in-app or in-store. With Masterpass, consumers can make intuitive and secure purchases across devices, channels and borders from a single trusted solution. The launch of Masterpass in Qatar brings an innovative digital payment solution to Ooredoo customers, who will be able to use the service to pay for all…

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) — the central bank for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) — has signed an agreement with Ripple to help banks in the KSA improve their payments infrastructure using xCurrent. This ground-breaking pilot program is the first of its kind to be launched by a central bank. Participating banks from the KSA will use xCurrent to instantly settle payments sent into and out of the country, with greater transparency and lower costs. SAMA’s use of xCurrent has the potential to radically shift how banks in the KSA send money globally. The KSA now has access to every…

UAE Exchange, a leading global money transfer, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand, announced it has partnered with San Francisco-based Ripple to enable instant, seamless and real-time cross-border payments. This makes UAE Exchange the largest payment solutions provider in the Middle East to use Ripple’s blockchain technology to process payments globally in real time. Through this partnership, UAE Exchange joins RippleNet, Ripple’s enterprise blockchain network with over 100-member banks and financial institutions. Leveraging the strengths of Ripple’s leading enterprise blockchain solution for payments, which provides real-time messaging, clearing and settlement of financial transactions for global banking and payment partners, UAE…

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi, and the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) have entered into a Fintech cooperation agreement, marking a significant first in the MENA region. Signed between two of the leading MENA Fintech hubs, the agreement represents a leap forward in promoting the region as a connected and collaborative environment for Fintech to thrive in. It provides a framework for information sharing, and for facilitating the movement of start-ups, knowledge, and talent between the two jurisdictions. With the new partnership, Bahrain EDB and ADGM will explore initiatives to promote economic growth…

CREALOGIX a Swiss baded Digital Banking Solutions Provicder will acquire 100% of the Barcelona-based Innofis – a well-established digital banking supplier for the Middle East, serving leading banks of the region. With the acquisition, CREALOGIX will gain an established customer base and initiate its presence in an additional territory with high demand and growth potential for digital banking solutions. The acquisition will complement the current solution portfolio in digital banking and accelerates CREALOGIX’s position as a leading global player in digital banking. The Barcelona based Innofis is a self-financed and privately held company with international focus, founded in 2012 in order…

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi, and Temenos, the Swiss software specialist for banking and finance, have announced their intention to collaborate and strengthen the FinTech ecosystem in Abu Dhabi, following the unveiling of ADGM’s Innovation Centre at the FinTech Abu Dhabi Summit on 23 October. Temenos will support the ADGM FinTech Innovation Centre, a physical hub where FinTech communities can come together to foster collaboration and innovation in financial services. Core Bangking Software | image via temenos.com A key aspect of the collaboration will see Temenos provide a sandbox service to the start-ups residing…

Singapore’s Alpha Fintech is entering the high-growth GCC market, teaming up with Bahrain based Finocracy. Alpha Fintech specializes in end-to- end payment solution, enabling banks to quickly access new fintech partners across the entire payments, risk and commerce spectrum. The company is backed by Wells Fargo’s accelerator program and First Quay Capital. Oliver Rajic “The GCC region is in a unique and perfect position to surpass most other regions with respect to Fintech. The banks truly understand the need to catch up and have displayed an open mind to overhaul legacy approaches and mind-sets and invest into new technologies and…

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has set out in Guidance its approach to Initial Coin/Token Offerings (ICOs) and virtual currencies under the Financial Services and Markets Regulations (FSMR). Image via Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has extraordinarily wide application to financial services and markets as a whole. Virtual tokens, at their most basic, are pieces of information recorded on a DLT network. Among others, tokens can represent a medium of exchange such as a virtual currency, a regulated financial instrument such as a share, or a person’s identity record. …

International Data Corporation’s annual IT Forum roadshow continues to grow from strength to strength, with the global technology events, research, and consulting firm preparing to host two editions in Saudi Arabia next month. Running under the theme ‘Innovate, Disrupt, and Transform’, IDC’s IT Forum 2017 has attracted more than 1,500 senior IT executives to events hosted across the Middle East and Africa so far this year, and a further 300 are expected to attend the upcoming installments at Jeddah’s Park Hyatt Hotel on November 21 and Riyadh’s Four Seasons Hotel on November 23 “The Saudi IT market is rapidly transforming…

The wave of startups, new technology and disruptive models has shaken the best in the business and made its importance felt, as consumers today have fast adapted to them. Going back to the basics – the majority we are catering to today are millennial’s, who are managing their lifestyle and their life’s with a 5-inch screen in their hands. This dominant audience is used to compare not just prices and features; they bring liquid expectations of comparing experiences and the true value they are receiving in any product or service they are engaging with regardless of the industry or category.…

In financial centers around the world, fintech has attracted large amounts of investment and attention from the private and public sectors as banks seek to maintain their competitive edge amid growing competition from new entrants, and governments aim to position themselves as hubs for innovation. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is no exception, having expressed its intention to modernize the country through the National Innovation Strategy, a nationwide initiative aimed at creating an innovation-friendly ecosystem. Fintech in the UAE’s innovation and technology push Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and the ADGM’s Financial Services Authority CEO (FSRA), via Twitter Fintech is set…

An investment group that includes Japan’s SoftBank and Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund, has announced a major close with over US$93 billion of committed capital for the tech-focused SoftBank Vision Fund. SoftBank Vision Fund Announces First Major Close, via SoftBank Group The fund, which is targeting a total of US$100 billion of committed capital with a final close within six months, is expected to be the largest technology investment fund ever. It aims to invest in companies and “foundational platform businesses” that seek to enable “the next age of innovation.” “Technology has the potential to address the biggest challenges and risks…

The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), announced late in November that it is launching “CBD Now”, Dubai’s first digital-only bank. They aim to target millennials and digitally connected customers early in 2017. Peter Baltussen, CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai said, “The launch of CBD Now during 2016 UAE’s innovation week is a timely example of how CBD supports the vision of the UAE government to develop innovation and drive client happiness.” Digital-only Banking allows customers to totally change how they manage their finances. They can now use smart technology to fulfil all their banking needs. CBD will offer customers…