A new study has found that governments in six African countries have been spying on citizens through the use of technology (The Conversation). Governments in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan have been surveilling citizens, either through legal loopholes or illegally. This is according to a research paper by Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. These governments were closely watching political opponents, business rivals and peaceful activists. Meanwhile, the mass surveillance of citizens was also taking place, the report suggests. “Governments are purposefully using laws that lack clarity. Or they ignore laws completely in order to carry…

Fintech Galaxy has raised US$2 million in a seed round, according to a recent statement. The funding round was led by Jordan-based Ahli Fintech, with participation from Raz Holding Group, OMQ Investments, Egypt’s EFG EV Fintech and INSEAD Saudi Angel Investors. The funding will be used to boost the development and rollout of the company’s Open Finance platform, and also expand its presence across the MENA region, the statement said. The cross-border cloud-based platform provides open API infrastructure to facilitate integration between fintechs and institutions. According to the statement, “Fintech Galaxy’s API Sandbox” was used by “many government bodies, banks…

Digital banking in Saudi Arabia is at a particularly interesting junction right now. Much has been said about how the country is at the precipice of a banking revolution, but the results have perhaps been slow to show. There’s a vast market opportunity with digital banking on both the consumer and business banking fronts, and multiple studies suggest. For instance, a 2021 BCG survey notes that over half of the Saudi population would be comfortable switching banks due to poor customer service, lower interest rates and limited products offered by incumbents. This, in the context of growing competition due to…

Halo Investing, a Chicago-based multi-issuer technology platform for protective investment solutions, announced that it has raised over US$ 100 million in Series C funding. The latest fundraising round was led by Owl Capital and included the Mubadala-backed US$ 1 billion fund managed by Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, in addition to existing investors Allianz Life Ventures and William Blair. As a result of Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners’ investment, Halo will open an office at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to drive the growth of its international footprint in the protective investing landscape. Halo, which has raised US$ 120 million to date,…

This week marked a new win for digital banks in Nigeria. Neobank Sparkle raised US$3.1 million in a seed round for expansion efforts (TechCrunch). Founded by former CEO of Diamond Bank Uzoma Dozie, Sparkle provides both individual and business banking services. It is licensed in Nigeria as a micro financing bank. The seed round was led by Leadway Assurance, along with participation from Trium Network and undisclosed high-net-worth individuals. The investment comes after Sparkle closed a friends and family pre-seed round of US$2 million within the past year. Funding will be used towards building a robotic automation system for repetitive…

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) will be partnering to promote fintech development in the UAE. The two financial authorities have signed an agreement to collaborate over joint fintech initiatives and activities. The agreement was signed at CBUAE’s Future of Finance conference during Expo 2020. Under the partnership, the CBUAE and the DIFC will work on strategies to enhance the competitiveness and digital transformation of the financial sector in the UAE. “The global financial ecosystem has undergone a major digital transformation over the last few years. We strongly believe that one of…

The UAE is one of the top trending regions for fintech in the Middle East, aside from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Newer companies are emerging, and funding is making its way through. Fintech funding in H1 2021 represented the highest amount of funding raised by fintechs within six months. Of this, about two-thirds of the total MENA fintech funding went to just two countries – Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Both the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) – the UAE’s two key financial districts – remain active ecosystem enablers. Apart from regulatory initiatives, both…

In last week’s MEA fintech news, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has once again hinted that it will be keeping a close watch on fintech startups in the country. At a recent seminar, Director of the Banking Supervision Department of CBN Mustapha Haruna said that the CBN would continue monitoring fintechs in the country (Nairametrics). Haruna added that the CBN was keen to manage the associated risks of fintech services, including the “threat to consumer data protection.” “While we may not exactly eliminate these threats, we must ensure that we are able to minimise those threats to consumers and…

UAE-headquartered digital asset trading platform BitOasis has closed its Series B fundraise at US$30 million, the company said in a statement. Chicago-based VC firm Jump Capital and UAE-based existing backer Wamda Capital co-led the round. It also featured new participating investors Alameda Research and Global Founders Capital, with existing investors such as Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, and NXMH. The 2015-founded company, which is available across the MENA region, will use the funds to expand regionally, and to acquire licenses and ensure regulatory compliance, Ola Doudin, CEO and co-founder of BitOasis said. Doudin added that the company is also looking…

Local authorities are looking to boost the competitiveness of fintech in Qatar, regionally and globally, according to a new whitepaper by Qatar Fintech Hub. The country currently has 17 banks – 5 conventional, 4 Islamic, 7 foreign bank branches, and a specialised Qatar Development Bank (QDB). Qatar also has a number of government bodies set up purely for fintech beyond the QDB and the Qatar Central Bank (QCB). For instance, the QCB also instated the Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH) under its National Fintech Strategy. The QFTH is mainly responsible for hackathon, incubator and accelerator programs in Qatar. Elsewhere, Qatar also…

According to a new report by Carma, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is the most popular MENA-based Islamic bank by media presence. The report outlined the top Islamic banks in the MENA region by media visibility and favourability. The report studied the popularity of Islamic banks on traditional and social media during Q1 this year. The report noted that KFH, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and Al Rajhi were the most favourable banks in the MENA region. This was due to retail lending, COVID-19 assistance, disclosure of financial results, and digitalisation. Further, the report noted that there was a general increase…

Deutsche Börse’s venture arm DB1 Ventures has acquired a minority stake in WeMatch, an Israel-based fintech company digitising the wholesale derivatives industry, as part of the latter’s US$ 19.5 million Series B equity funding round. The deal closed on 30 September 2021. Other investors in the funding round included Augmentum Fintech PLC, Illuminate Financial and existing shareholder J.P. Morgan. WeMatch develops web-based solutions to replace voice broking by automating matching, negotiation and lifecycle management for instruments such as securities borrowing and lending, total return swaps, interest rate derivatives, as well as equity derivatives. It provides market participants with a one-stop…

In last week’s MEA fintech news, mobile money took centre stage once again in the African continent. Meanwhile, UAE sees some funding and M&A activity, Egyptian banks launch a fintech fund, and a Nigerian startup raises US$10 million. Mobile money continues to pioneer payments in sub-Saharan Africa Mobile money is a driving force behind the growth of Africa’s fintech space, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile money accounts in the region have grown 11x between 2011 and 2020, accounting for over half of the world’s 310 live mobile money services. Moreover, at least 11 countries in the region feature five…

Global paytech company Global Processing Services has officially launched its operations in the MENA region, the company announced in a statement last week. The paytech company has set up its headquarters in Dubai, and aims to support financial institutions and startups across multiple financial verticals, including digital banking and remittances, buy now pay later, expense and payroll management, youth banking, and financial empowerment. It is also “in active engagement” with the biggest banks in the region, the statement said. Ex-Majid Al Futtaim payments head will lead Global Processing Services MENA operations Payments expert Arnav Rath has been appointed Head of…

Middle East and Asia-based API infrastructure company M2P Solutions announced a strategic partnership with Canadian payment solutions provider Buckzy Payments to provide cross-border payments in the MENA region. The company’s MENA-based partners will be able to use M2P’s platform to make cross-border payments to North America, Latin America and Europe through Buckzy’s ecosystem. The service is open to GCC countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Banks, exchange houses and money transfer operators in these countries will now be able to extend their services to underserved payment corridors, a statement from M2P said. GCC cross-border payments hold…

Three Egyptian banks will be launching an Egypt fintech fund of EGP 1 billion (US$63.6 million) to support fintech companies next month, according to a recent statement. The three banks are National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire, and participation from other banks and financial institutions was welcome, the statement said. The move is aimed at leveraging fintech solutions to transform Egypt into a “regional centre for the Arab and African financial technology industry,” the statement said. The Egypt fintech fund is especially looking at the digital banking and financial services sector, and fintech apps that can…

UAE-based social commerce and payments platform Zbooni has closed its Series A round with a second tranche of US$4.5 million. This brings its total Series A fundraise to US$9.4 million, the company said in a statement. The round was raised from both new and existing investors, located regionally and internationally as well, the company said. Investors include regional family office March Holding, California VC firm Enterprise Fund (backed by former senior Atlassian executives), and Europe-based private investors. Regional retail operator Chalhoub Group, who happen to be existing investors in Zbooni, also pitched in through their investment vertical CCVA. Further, Chalhoub…

In last week’s MEA fintech news, it’s all eyes on crypto trading in the UAE – approvals for crypto trading at a Dubai-based free zone make their way through, while BitOasis registers on an anti-money laundering system in the country. Meanwhile, e-payments see tailwinds in Jordan, Flutterwave moves ahead with global expansion, and Colendi raises US$30 million in a funding round. It’s official – Dubai free zone to offer crypto trading Crypto trading at the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) free zone will be made official, according to an announcement last week. The UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA)…

Pakistani digital banking startup Tag has secured over US$12 million in the largest seed funding round to have taken place in South Asia. With the fundraise, Tag’s valuation now stands at US$100 million, TechCrunch reported, with the company closing the deal in two weeks’ time. The round was raised from Liberty City Ventures, Canaan Partners, Addition, Mantis and Banana Capital. Liberty City Ventures led the seed round, Bloomberg reported. It takes Tag’s total capital pool to over US$17.5 million. Tag was part of Y Combinator’s summer 21 cohort. “We are trying to become both Revolut and Paytm in Pakistan,” Tag…

Colendi, a Turkey-based micro lending and credit scoring fintech company, has picked up US$30 million in a Series A round of funding, according to local news reports. The Series A round was led by Re-Pie Asset Management Company, a Turkish alternative asset management firm. The funding was made through Re-Pie’s dedicated Colendi Venture Capital Investment Fund. Re-Pie is also a backer of Turkish on-demand delivery unicorn Getir. Foreign investors also participated in the round, which valued the compny at US$120 million. Funding would be used to increase the global competitiveness of Colendi’s products, maximise service quality, and accelerate the company’s…