In the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) region, exponential growth in the e-commerce market is fueling the rise of newer methods of paying, with buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements, in particular, emerging as the new favorite payment method. A survey of more than 13,000 consumers in MENAP conducted by Checkout.com, a payment solution provider supporting businesses, found greater penetration of BNPL arrangements in MENA (24%) than in the UK and Europe (23%) in 2021. Across MENAP, adoption of BNPL arrangements in 2021 was found to be the highest in Saudi Arabia, where 39% of respondents indicated having…

Mashreq is the first bank to go live with its digital IPO subscription through its mobile application. The bank’s retail customers can now generate a National Investor number (NIN), open a brokerage account in Mashreq Securities and subscribe digitally to the Tecom initial public offering (IPO) and other IPOs listed on Dubai Financial Market (DFM) through the Mashreq Mobile Banking App. Mashreq retail customers will be able to benefit from a seamless digital experience allowing them to register their interest for upcoming IPOs, receive important information on listing dates, key highlights of the organization, and various ways to subscribe and…

Challenger bank Revolut announced that a streamlined version of its app is launching in Oman in the next couple of months. The Revolut app also launched in four other countries including Sri Lanka, Chile, Ecuador, and Azerbaijan. With the aim to launch in up to 90 countries by the end of 2022, and additional features to be added soon, customers in the additional countries would be able to transfer money to 50+ countries using 30+ currencies. There is no fee between Revolut customers, and a 1% fee to non-Revolut accounts with a US$1 minimum fee for customers in these five…

ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company,  announced the launch of a $100 million technology-focused venture capital fund with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE) of Jordan, in the presence of His Excellency the Prime Minister of Jordan, Bisher Al Khasawneh. The Fund aims to support high-growth technology companies and the continued growth of the Kingdom’s burgeoning digital economy. Building on the UAE’s strategic industrial partnership with Jordan, ADQ is reinforcing its commitment to investing in advancing core sectors of the Kingdom’s economy and enhancing the global technology ecosystem. The Fund complements ADQ’s strategy to unlock mutually…

NymCard – MENA-based Banking as-a-Service (BaaS) provider and card issuer has raised $22.5M in its latest Funding round. This will help it enable MENA-based FinTechs with the infrastructure required from BIN Sponsorship, Card Issuing, Program Management, Compliance, FX, and Treasury, leverage its over 150+ modern and open APIs on a platform that was developed from the ground up; giving its clients unprecedented agility and speed! This round takes NymCard’s total Funding to over $35M. This Venture round was led by DisruptAD – ADQ’s venture platform, Reciprocal Ventures, and Shorooq Partners with participation from Chimera, DFDF, Knollwood, Endeavor Catalyst, OTF Jasoor…

Wealth managers in the MENA region are expecting strong growth in the number of robo advisers and digital only wealth managers, new research for behavioural finance experts Oxford Risk shows. Its study with independent financial advisers and wealth managers in MENA who collectively manage assets of around $290 billion, found one in three (34%) expect the number of digital-only solutions to increase dramatically by 2025. Another 45% expect a slight increase in the number of robo advice and digital-only solutions while 21% expect no change, the research with wealth managers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman,…

KSA-based and MENA servicing payments services provider HyperPay has successfully raised $36.7 million (SAR 138 million) in a funding round led by Mastercard with investments from Amwal Capital Partners and AB Ventures. Founded by Muhannad Ebwini, HyperPay offers merchants a broad array of products and services in addition to payment processing, including risk and fraud management, monitoring system, instalments and invoicing systems among others. The transaction with Mastercard will help accelerate HyperPay’s expansion beyond payments to deliver a complete suite of financial products that meet the evolving needs of its customers across all verticals. The partnership will allow HyperPay to…

COVID-19 accelerated trends toward remote banking and digitalisation, forcing financial institutions to embrace new technologies and processes to keep their businesses functional despite social distancing restrictions. Now, with more and more people relying on digital solutions for interactions and transactions, the industry is turning to the next set of challenges, actively seeking to reimagine customer journeys to not only differentiate themselves from competitors, but also capture new generations of tech-savvy customers. In a new paper, cybersecurity technology firm OneSpan explores how e-signatures, digital identity verification and authentication technologies can unlock new opportunities for financial institutions, highlighting what it believes are the top…

These past few years have seen Saudi Arabia’s fintech sector gaining strong momentum, a growth that’s been fueled by favorable market conditions, the country’s dynamic startup ecosystem and booming funding activity. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of fintech companies operating in Saudi Arabia rose by 37%, growing from 60 in 2020 to 82 in 2021, according to government-led initiative Fintech Saudi. These companies raised a record of SAR 1.3 billion (US$347 million) in venture capital investment, a sum that represents more than 20 times what was raised the year prior (SAR 66.4 million). The momentum is continuing in 2022,…

The accelerated digitization brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has boosted an already popular retail market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, bringing it to a new, larger, and global online sphere. Marketplaces, financial services providers, and global luxury brands alike have taken advantage of the borderless nature of e-commerce shopping to enter the MENA space and reach the region’s big spenders – particularly those from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. The CNNB 2022 MENA e-Commerce Report forecasts e-commerce sales in the region to hit US$50 billion this year, almost triple the US$18.6 billion recorded in…

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, has accepted 7 fintech startups to join its growing community as part of accelerating the Emirate’s position as an innovation hub. The cohort which comprises a total of 16 startups, which has already raised more than AED 231 million in funding, will have the opportunity to develop advanced technologies and gain access to the market, investment, and talent that Hub71 provides. The cohort includes early-stage startups with diverse representation from international tech hubs including the UK, USA and South Korea. They will benefit from Hub71’s accelerator programme and a new range of flexible incentives,…

Netcetera, a Swiss software company that provides secure digital payments, has announced that it has partnered with Israel-based Automated Banking Services (SHVA). Through this partnership, Netcetera will be providing its 3-D Secure Acquiring solution suite to SHVA which will be deployed as a Software as a service (SaaS) solution, as well as hosted and operated on the former’s cloud platform. Through the usage of the Netcetera’s 3DS server, SHVA said that it will have access to improved conversions, optimised checkout processes, reduced fraud, and protection from fraudulent chargeback liability, without compromising smooth user experience for the online shopper. 3-D Secure…

Paymob, Egypt’s omni-channel merchant financial services platform, announced it has raised US$50 million in a Series B funding round led by Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point. This Series B funding round brings Paymob’s total funding to over US$68.5 million. Other new participating investors included Helios Digital Ventures, British International Investment, and Nclude. Paymob’s existing investors including A15, FMO, and Global Ventures also participated in the round. The proceeds will be used to expand Paymob’s product range and break into new markets across the Middle East and Africa region. Paymob said that it plans to launch cards for its…

Striving to turn the country into a major fintech hub, the Qatar government has introduced a number of programs and initiatives to support local startups and entice international fintech companies to set up shop domestically and choose the nation as their launchpad for the global market. These ambitions were shared in a 2021 whitepaper by the Qatar Fintech Hub, an initiative by Qatar Development Bank (QDB). The report, titled From Qatar to the World: A report on the state of Fintech in Qatar, provides a holistic review of the local and regional fintech market, delving into the recent developments which…

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) announced its entry into the metaverse with the establishment of its Metaverse HQ in ‘The Sandbox’. VARA MetaHQ will serve as its primary channel to engage Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) across the globe to initiate applications, enable younger licensees enter the metaverse, openly share knowledge and experiences with consumers and peer regulators to raise awareness, enable safe adoption, and drive global interoperability. According to a statement by VARA, it is the world’s first regulator to make its debut in the metaverse. VARA added that it seeks to ensure that the regulator is accessible…

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), fintech has emerged into the preferred investment target of investors. Between 2019 and 2021, the fintech sector captured the largest portion of dollars invested across all tech sectors, more than double enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS), the second biggest tech sector for the period. This is according to The State of Digital Investments in MENA 2019-2021, a report released earlier this month by the Digital Digest and Arabnet that looks at the tech investment landscape in the MENA region. According to the study, tech investments in MENA skyrocketed in 2021, reaching a new record…

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, approved the launch of the ‘Venture Debt Fund for Startups’ to bolster and sustain startup projects in the emirate. With a capital of approximately AED370 million, the Fund aims to drive Dubai’s economic growth and fortify its position as a global hub for financial technology (FinTech), innovation, and venture capital. The Fund will come into effect starting June 2022. The Venture Debt Fund was approved during a meeting of The Executive Council held in the Umm Suqeim Majlis,…

Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) has announced a new partnership with Backbase, an engagement banking platform provider, to transform its digital customer experiences. The bank said in a statement that the Backbase platform will enable a superior customer experience for its retail customers, giving them an immersive journey that will help them onboard instantly – either through the web or via mobile – and digitally apply for other banking products. Moreover, the partnership will empower BSF’s employees so they can digitally assist their customers and offer them digital banking products and services. The partnership comes in line with BSF’s overall strategy…

With over 400 fintech companies, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a major hub for fintech innovation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Fast growth of the industry has been fueled by a number of fintech initiatives spearheaded by the government as part of the country’s ambition to become one of the world’s top fintech hubs by 2023. As MENA’s largest and most developed fintech ecosystems, it comes with little surprise that some of the region’s most renowned fintech accelerator programs are now based in the country. Today, we look at top ten fintech accelerators to know…

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) welcomes Kraken to its fast-growing virtual asset community and financial ecosystem. Kraken is the first global cryptocurrency exchange to receive a Financial Services Permission (FSP) license to operate a regulated virtual asset exchange platform in the ADGM to service the needs of the Middle East and North Africa region. Kraken has met all approval conditions from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM to operate as a Virtual Asset Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) and Custodian in Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE. Affirming its commitment to Abu Dhabi and the UAE, Kraken has established its Middle East…