African countries are home to some of the world’s most unbanked populations. In these nations, fintech and digital banking are redefining what it means bank the unbanked. Being the second largest continent in the world, it goes without saying that its pace of development are not monolithic in nature. When discussing fintech in the region, North Africa does not get the limelight as much as its neighbouring countries. In North African countries such as Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, fintech developments have lacked behind sub-Saharan African counterparts like Nigeria and South Africa. Nevertheless, things have been moving quickly in recent years…

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced a Mubadala Investment Company-backed fund geared towards growing the financial ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. The new fund, called the Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, will be based in ADGM, the financial center of Abu Dhabi. According to a press release, the fund will be utilised to explore opportunities locally and abroad, by partnering with top tier and up-and-coming investment firms and industry-leading businesses—as well as professionals who might benefit from building a sustainable presence in ADGM. Its target will be in areas like asset management, specialty finance and financial infrastructure, with investees expected to have a presence…

The World Bank has set aside US$200 million for Egyptian SMEs hoping to create job opportunities for the kingdom’s youth. The project, called ‘Catalyzing Entrepreneurship for Job Creation’, will funnel about US$145 million to grant loans for small businesses—especially those led by youth, women, and first-time borrowers across the country. Loans would be granted via non-bank financial institutions. The initiative will also provide funds to various coaching and mentorship platforms to help up-and-coming entrepreneurs to develop the skills and insights necessary to succeed in their ventures. Additionally, 25% of the total investment, which amounts to roughly US$50 million, will be…

Dubai will be getting its own female-focused accelerator programme soon, run by DIFC FinTech Hive. AccelerateHer is a mentorship programme held with Carter Murray, and aims to equip budding female professionals with the necessary tools and experience to become more active in the region’s fintech landscape development. The mentorship programme is already underway, running from April to November 2019. AccelerateHer connects young aspiring executives to accomplished professionals with relevant experience from the DIFC FinTech Hive’s network—including some of the world’s leading financial organisations. Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of DIFC FinTech Hive, said: “Research shows that women remain significantly underrepresented in the upper…

500 Startups goal is to bring the best industry knowledge and mentoring from their Silicon Valley-based global network to the programs in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The MENA Dojo program is part of a continued partnership with Qatar Science & Technology Park which was launched in the MENA region 2 years ago. Ahli United Bank in Kuwait is a new strategic partner in this year’s program alongside Zain as gold partner.  Other partners include Niu, KAFO and Sirdab Labs. The MENA Dojo program selects applicants from the region with significant traction that are on pace to…

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has just issued draft rules on insurance aggregators; intermediaries with an insurance broker’s license who operate a platform for users to compare insurance prices and facilitates the purchase of them. The idea is that users can more easily compare insurance offerings from multiple companies from an unbiased source, and usually the information is presented in a way that your average person can understand too. Many platforms will also help with getting the insurance as well, with some platforms underwriting the insurance online. Abdul Rahman Al Baker, Executive Director of Financial Institutions Supervision, said: “The introduction of…

Smart Crowd, an investment platform for buying and selling shares in property, is now working with the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities to bring property crowdfunding to a bigger scale in the kingdom. Smart Crowd is a crowdfunding platform that allows individuals to invest into partial ownership of real estate, which in turn lowers entry costs for the real estate market. The agreement is part of the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities’ aim to encourage the private sector to participate and innovate in Abu Dhabi’s real estate market, and promote economic growth in the country by encouraging real estate…

Although the Pakistani government has managed to bring 21% of the adult population in the financial ambit in the past decade, fintech companies promise to significantly accelerate financial inclusion in the years to come. According to Rehan Akhtar, director of digital financial services at Karandaaz, a company established in 2014 focusing on improving access to financial services, Pakistan has 93 million potential individuals who could be included in the financial system and fintech startups can help increase seven percentage point or US$36 billion in GDP by 2025. Fintechs can create four million jobs, US$263 billion new deposits, US$23 billion new…

Ranked by Forbes as one of the top ten 10 accelerators in the world, Startupbootcamp is a famed accelerator which counts over 22 programmes across the global — many of which are fintech focused. Startupbootcamp FinTech Dubai launched in September 2018 in partnership with HSBC, Visa and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and has received over 300 applications from all over the world. For its Dubai edition, Startupbootcamp Fintech Dubai announced the ten startups who are selected to join its inaugural cohort The top 10 startups will now join the three-month acceleration program starting on the 10th February, 2019. Teams…

Entrepreneurship is booming across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with startups in the region raising an astonishing US$900 million through 386 deals in 2018, an increase of 31% compared to the previous year. This is according to the Start-up Ecosystem in the Arab World report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and MAGNiTT released ahead of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, which took place in Jordan on April 6 and 7, 2019. Highlighting MENA’s booming startup ecosystem, WEF and the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) unveiled their selection of the top 100…

It’s perhaps no coincidence that two high-profile multi-currency travel cards we announced at Seamless Middle East this year. Middle Easterners are getting comfortable with mobile payments. The demographic is young, the market is filled with aspirational travellers, and a strong mobile adoption makes Middle East’ mobile payments future bright. Travellers from the Middle East also have a reputation for being big spenders when they travel overseas. All of these factors leads to this: Middle East’ groomed populace would miss the convenience of mobile wallets while they travel, where they are often said to spend a lot of money. This is…

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a special economic zone in Dubai and a financial hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, launched a US$100 million Fintech Fund in November 2017 to accelerate the development of fintech and provide promising startups with financial support. Targeted at startups with a product or solution that would “positively and significantly impact the financial services sector in MEASA,” the DIFC Fintech Fund aims to stimulate fintech innovation and investment in the region. The DIFC Fintech Fund targets growth stage startups and entrepreneurs seeking to have a presence in the MEASA…

Emirates NBD customers can now chat bank via WhatsApp as the bank introduces customised services via the WhatsApp Business Solution. Enhancing the bank’s suite of digital capabilities, Emirates NBD Chat Banking via WhatsApp, supported by Infobip, it allows customers to  carry out daily banking functions on the go. These functions include checking account balances, the last five transactions of account or credit cards, last credit card mini statement, temporarily blocking or unblocking cards, new cheque book requests, and foreign exchange rates. All messages on Emirates NBD’s verified WhatsApp Business account are encrypted, ensuring safety and security of customer information. Customers…

du, from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, EITC, has announced that the Smart Dubai has endorsed the telco’s Blockchain Platform as a Service, BPaaS. Hardly its first endorsement, Smart Dubai has also endorsed a Blockchain Platform as a Service by IBM in late 2018. This latest move to endorse du seems to be in service to Dubai’s blockchain ambition who has previously also vowed to have all government transactions to be done on the blockchain. Dubai also gain international attention when it announced the world’s first court on the blockchain. According to their press release, du’s Blockchain Platform as a service…

Here are a few facts about Egypt. The country is home to 100 million people, making it the most populous nation in the Middle East and North Africa. Among these numbers, 84% of the people were unbanked in 2018. According to an article hosted on the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, commercial banks have largely ignored the masses, preferring to focus on long hanging fruit—fat corporate loans financed by wealthy savings accounts. That’s not all. Clunky and lengthy onboarding processes for individual bank accounts, mistrust in banks’ ability to actually steward their money and the impression that banking is…

Organised by BII World the Financial Innovation Summit launched yesterday at the Hilton Doha. The two-day event covered over 20 fintech experts explore on the latest trends, developments and emerging technologies in the banking sector in the region. The agenda focussed on a wide range of topics from the importance of investing in fintech solutions, the impact of emerging technologies disrupting banking services and, on the challenges, faced by the banking sector. Leading fintech influencers and C-level banking professionals participated in fireside chats, panel discussions, case studies and keynote presentations. The conference opened with a keynote by Lav Kataria, Chief…

Plug and Play, with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) have kicked off their second fintech accelerator and innovation program geared towards the Middle East market. For this year’s iteration, nine fintech startups from across the globe have been selected to participate in the three-month accelerator, which grants them the opportunity to work alongside financial institutions for a possibility of executing POC or pilot projects. ADGM does not charge a fee for startups in the platform. The Plug and Play ADGM accelerator program began on March 26th, 2019 with the selected startups residing at ADGM’s coworking space in Abu Dhabi. The…

Israel has long been the Middle East’s most prominent startup hub with the area around Tel Aviv having earned the nickname “Silicon Wadi” for its high concentration of high-tech companies. One industry in particular that has gained much traction in Israel is fintech. In 2018, venture capital (VC) firms participated in US$143 million worth of funding for fintech companies headquartered in Israel, a 145% increase from 2017’s US$58 million, according to PitchBook data. Start-Up Nation Central estimates that there were 475 active Israeli fintech companies in 2017, and as the industry continues to mature, we look today at 12 fintech…

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will establish an EGP 1 billion innovations support fund to finance Egypt’s fintech startups—called the Central Bank’s Financial Technology Unit. The announcement was made by Ayman Hussein, Deputy Governor of the CBE at the Arab African Forum in Aswan, Egypt during a panel discussing the impact of financial technology and innovation on Africa. The fund, which is set up with the Egyptian government, will support fintech startups and fund research into the financial services space with the goal of establishing the country as a fintech hub. The CBE will also be launching an Innovative Financial Technology…

The Central Bank of Bahrain has today issued the Directives on “Digital Financial Advice”, better known as robo-advisors to most. This was issued following an industry consultation process. Mr. Khalid Hamad, Executive Director of Banking Supervision,Central Bank of Bahrain said, “The new rules will enable specialized Fintech firms planning to offer digital financial advice obtain a license to offer such services to investors. In addition, banks and investment firms will now be able to introduce such services with approvals from the CBB. The new rules focus on providing safeguards and controls governing the use of algorithms or AI which are…