Binance, a global blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, received its in-principle approvals to be a regulated virtual asset service provider in Abu Dhabi. The company received the in-principle approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to operate as a broker-dealer in virtual assets. Upon the successful completion of its ADGM FSRA application, Binance will then be able to offer its services regarding virtual asset offerings to customers across the Middle East and North Africa region, through its subsidiary Binance (AD) Limited. ADGM, the international financial center in the capital of the United Arab Emirates…

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) announced the launch of the world’s first venture studio platform exclusively focused on ubiquitous finance and digital asset technologies. $ The initiative is a key part of DIFC’s efforts to achieve the goals of its 2030 strategy by attracting the best minds and companies from around the world to Dubai by providing them with all the necessary support to develop, test and launch new start-ups, scale-ups and corporate ventures on an unprecedented scale, time to market and quality. To power this vision, DIFC is launching a dedicated unit called the Studio Launchpad, which is supported…

Global payments provider Checkout.com debuted its Demystifying Crypto: Shedding light on the adoption of digital currencies for payments in 2022 report, pointing to increasingly positive trends in the adoption of and appetite for using digital currencies for eCommerce. The comprehensive report independently surveyed a total of 30,000 consumers and 3,000 merchants in 11 countries including the UAE, looking at behaviors and sentiments regarding commercial activity using cryptocurrencies. According to the findings, crypto is rapidly gaining in appeal among younger demographics in particular, with 40% of 18-35 year old consumers globally wanting and planning to use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods…

Codebase Technologies, a Dubai-based open API banking solutions provider, announced that it is rolling out a white-label Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution. Leveraging Codebase Technologies’ digital banking platform, DigibancTM, the new BNPL component allows for banks, fintechs, lenders, and retailers to create and launch their own branded BNPL offering. Codebase Technologies DigibancTM BNPL component is ready-made and can be fully customised to allow anyone to launch a BNPL offering in just a few months. Taking a component-based approach to building your BNPL offering can be up to 50% faster than building from scratch and can be on average 40%…

The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced that it has partnered with financial software company Finastra for its global fintech hackathon Hack to the Future 4. The hackathon, which kicked off on March 8th and will run throughout the month until April 10th, is designed to spur collaborative action in high-impact fintech segments. This year’s edition focuses on three key themes – Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Embedded Finance and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) – with the goal of rewarding best in class solution ideas that tackle pressing challenges in finance today. ADGM is supporting participants in building their solutions by…

In Saudi Arabia, open banking is taking off, driven by a conducive regulatory landscape, increased competition in the financial sector, and rising investors’ interest. A new report by fintech research firm WhiteSight in partnership with homegrown fintech company Mod5r takes a closer look at open banking in Saudi Arabia, outlining the key factors driving the movement. According to the report, 2022 will be a breakout year for open banking, building on a series of developments observed over the past year. In 2021, the Saudi Arabian Central Bank (SAMA) launched a framework for open banking that sets out the regulator’s ambitions…

Mashreq Bank announced that it has appointed Alexander Raiff as its new Group Head of Technology, Transformation and Information, effective 1st April 2022 onwards. Alexander is a seasoned technology professional with over 30 years of experience; noteworthy is his role as Chief Information Officer in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank from 2012 to 2020. More recently, he has been an advisor and angel investor for digital banking, fintech, regtech as well as crypto asset platforms. Alexander was also associated with Daimler Financial Services and Mercedes Benz from 2003 to 2012 as CIO across their Offices in Europe, China and Japan. Speaking…

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced granting “Bwatech”, “Rabet”, and “Mala’a”, the permit to operate under its Regulatory Sandbox, bringing the total number of its permitted FinTech companies to 35. The announcement came during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress sponsored by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. The conference held from 27 to 30 March 2022 AD in Riyadh, under the slogan “Reboot, Rethink and Regenerate.” was organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) in cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). SAMA clarified that this batch…

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the licensing of three new companies specialized in finance and electronic payments, during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress sponsored by His Royal Highness Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. The conference held from 27-30 March 2022 AD in Riyadh, under the slogan “Reboot, Rethink and Regenerate.” was organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) in cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). SAMA stated that the license was granted to a new financial technology company specialized in electronic payments named Etihad Fintech Company “Mobily Pay”.…

Investopia and Crypto.com hosted the inaugural press conference to formally launch Crypto.com’s Founding Partnership. Following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between Investopia and Crypto.com last week, the two organizations gathered to discuss how they will collaborate on meaningful projects that will accelerate the development of future economies and financial innovation. Launched by the UAE Government in September 2021, Investopia brings together stakeholders from throughout global finance, technology and sustainability sectors to formulate innovative new platforms for economic progress, inclusion and diversity. As the exclusive global Cryptocurrency Trading Platform Founding Partner of the Investopia Summit, Crypto.com will play a prominent…

Cryptocurrency exchange business Bybit has received in-principle approval to conduct a full spectrum of virtual assets business in Dubai, the firm announced today at a joint press conference with the UAE Ministry of Economy at the World Government Summit 2022. Bybit also announced that it plans to set up its global headquarters in Dubai, offering a full suite of products and services globally, under the Emirate’s “test-adapt-scale” virtual assets market model. Bybit stressed it was fully committed to supporting the regulatory efforts of the UAE government and is looking to share its in-depth industry knowledge, experience and insights with all…

2021 was a blockbuster year for Israeli-founded fintech startups, which continued to grow, mature and attract investors’ interest. In 2021, Israeli-founded fintech companies raised a new record of US$4.5 billion in 2021, surpassing the three previous years combined, a new report by Viola Group, a leading tech-focused investment firm headquartered in Israel, shows. Mega-rounds of US$100 million and over drove much of the year’s fintech funding activity, totaling US$2.9 billion in combined funding through 13 deals. Mega-rounds not only increased in number in 2021, but also in size, with the median mega-round deal size rising from US$150 million in 2020…

2021 was a blockbuster year for Pakistani startups, which raised a total of US$352 million, data from Invest2Innovate, a local consultancy firm, shows. Out of that sum, 27% was raised by fintech startups, or US$95 million (excluding Bazaar’s combined US$36.5 million raised in 2021), showcasing investors’ growing appetite for the country’s nascent fintech sector. So far in 2022, it appears that the momentum will likely continue, with several considerable rounds announced in Q1. These include Taro Technologies’ US$3.5 million pre-seed funding, NayaPay’s US$13 million seed round, and Bazaar’s US$70 million Series B. Bazaar is a B2B e-commerce platform founded in…

The latest IBS Intelligence report, in partnership with CR2, looks at how critical digital onboarding is for banks and other financial institutions to retain their current customers while also attracting new ones. As a result, banks are attempting to create an easy, tailored, and frictionless end-to-end digital buying and contracting experience. Having the capability to digitally onboard customers simplifies and streamlines the very first user experience that a customer has with the bank as well as significantly reducing the cost of customer onboarding. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, banks and financial services providers have faced unanticipated challenges. As clients shift…

Binance, a global blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, has been granted a Virtual Asset License from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). Under the VARA initial regulatory phase, which includes rigorous regulatory oversight and mandatory FATF compliance controls, Binance will be permitted to extend limited exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and professional financial service providers. Binance will be able to operate within Dubai’s ‘test-adapt-scale’ virtual asset market model as a base for expansion into the region. All licensed VARA service providers will be monitored progressively to open access to the retail market. In addition to exchange operations,…

Leading Irish Fintech companies will be in Dubai to take part in the Irish Fintech Innovation Showcase event organised by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government’s trade and innovation agency in collaboration with the Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). With a line-up of senior speakers from the UAE’s financial sector including Dr. Bernd van Linder, CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai, F. Christopher Calabia, CEO of Dubai Financial Services Authority, Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer at DIFC, the event will also include keynote addresses by Irish Minister Darragh O’Brien T.D., Minister of Housing, Local…

Over the past few years, Egypt’s fintech sector has grown at a rapid pace as the startup ecosystem thrives and investment surges. In its first industry report, Fintech Egypt, an initiative of the Central Bank of Egypt, delves into that growth, sharing key growth metrics and emerging trends. According to the inaugural Egypt Fintech: Landscape Report 2021, Egyptian fintech companies are increasingly catching the eye of the investors community, which poured a new record of US$159 million in 2021, up X4 from just US$37.1 million in 2020. The figure makes Egypt the fourth largest country in fintech investments in Africa…

Binance, a global blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, announced that it has been granted a crypto-asset service provider license from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). The license will allow Binance to provide crypto-asset trading, custodial services and portfolio management to customers under the supervision of the Bahrain regulators. Binance said that this is its first license as a crypto-asset provider in The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and “demonstrates its commitment to being in regulatory compliance as the first of its group of companies in the region”. The firm will be setting up…

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the prioritization of fintech among regulators in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. These have moved fintech up the regulatory agency and introduced a number of measures to harness the opportunities introduced by technology-enabled financial services all the while mitigating the new risks brought about by these novel solutions, a new report by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School says. A report titled Fintech Regulation in the Middle East and North Africa shares findings from a study that sought to review how MENA jurisdictions…

In his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, issued the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law aimed at creating an advanced legal framework to protect investors and designing much-warranted international standards for virtual asset (VA) industry governance that will promote responsible business growth, under prudential regulations. Under the law, the provisions of which are applicable throughout the Emirate, including special development zones and free zones, except for the Dubai International Financial Centre, the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) shall be established. The authority has legal personality and…