Mastercard has partnered with Bahrain’s BENEFIT to explore opportunities for collaboration in driving innovation and financial inclusion in the country’s dynamic payments ecosystem. The two entities seek to co-create innovative digital payment solutions, powered by advanced technology, to address the rapidly evolving needs of consumers and businesses. The collaboration supports the efforts of the Central Bank of Bahrain to accelerate the development of the country’s digital economy. “At BENEFIT, we are proactively working to strengthen Bahrain’s position as a regional financial hub in line wit ..read more

Emirates NBD has joined forces with cross-border payments solutions provider Nium to empower customers with a cutting-edge remittance solution and redefine the financial services landscape in the Middle East. The partnership, subject to regulatory approvals, seeks to elevate the remittance experience with seamless, instantaneous cross-border transfers between the UAE and countries worldwide. Remittances from the UAE have been driven by a growing expatriate population and cross-border trade. By leveraging Nium’s payouts services, Emirates NBD offers customers real-time, cost-effective payment s ..read more

National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) has partnered with Snowflake to use its cloud-based data platform, enabling the bank to extract better insights and reports from its data. The collaboration is a part of NBF’s journey to define its data strategy and become a data-driven organisation. NBF’s data vision is to unlock the full value of data as a critical, strategic asset, and it continues to invest in various technological advancements in data storage, computing and analytics. With its vision grounded in embedding data governance and management foundations, enabling effective sourcing, storage and p ..read more

Standard Chartered is one the first financial institutions to offer locally domiciled funds for retail clients in the UAE in partnership with international providers and in line with the new Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) regulations. The bank has partnered with leading international companies to provide best-in-class products to its retail clients, including Amundi, Aditum Investment Management and ClearStream. The new offering underlines Standard Chartered’s commitment to supporting the SCA in driving the growth of the local asset management sector as well as the country’s vision ..read more

Egypt’s Banque Misr said on Tuesday that it has invested in digital platform for public auctions BELMAZAD. The investment and partnership align with Banque Misr’s digital transformation strategy to enhance and digitise its operations, supporting the Egyptian government’s initiative to accelerate digital transformation through increased reliance on technology in real estate asset management. BELMAZAD will feature assets owned by Banque Misr, available for bidding in an open auction format through the platform. This initiative will facilitate a more efficient and transparent asset management and ..read more

Liv, UAE’s first digital bank launched by Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ctrl Alt, B2B alternative asset solutions provider,  to explore infrastructure solutions related to tokenisation of real-world assets. The MoU was signed at the Dubai FinTech Summit by Marwan Hadi, Group Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management at Emirates NBD and Matt Ong, Founder and CEO, Ctrl Alt. Digital Assets represent a trillion-dollar asset class and the opportunities for future innovati ..read more

Eastnets, a global provider of financial crime and payment solutions for the financial services sector, has launched Instant Payments Access as a Service (IPAaaS), designed to enable seamless access to Buna’s cross-border Instant Payment Service (IPS). Hosted on a secure private cloud with fully redundant systems, Eastnets’ IPAaaS ensures fast, efficient, and secure integration into the pan-Arab instant payment infrastructure. This service enables banks, across the Arab region to offer customers instant, seamless payment transactions without the need to install, operate or maintain SWIFT AGI i ..read more

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has emerged as one of the main regions driving growth in affluent travel, recording high spends, while also displaying an appetite for sustainable eco-luxury and meaningful cultural experiences. Mastercard’s latest report, ‘Affluent Travel: A Middle East Perspective’, released during the Arabian Travel Market 2024, unpacks some of the key trends. The appetite for new experiences in unexplored destinations, micro-trips and ‘bleisure’ will likely drive the growth of the global luxury travel market, which is expected to grow by 7.9% (CAGR) between 20 ..read more

His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the UAE, and President of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), today met with global  policymakers and financial industry leaders on the sidelines of the second Dubai FinTech Summit (DFS). Influential decision makers that HH Sheikh Maktoum engaged with included Adena T Friedman, Chair and CEO of Nasdaq; Oh Se-Hoon, Mayor of Seoul, South Korea; Nic Dreckman, Group CEO of Julius Baer; and Nik Storonsky, Founder and CEO of Revolut. The two ..read more

The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has agreed to sell its alternative investments business to Janus Henderson a deal that is expected to strengthen the global asset manager’s position in emerging markets and its access to clients in the Middle East. Under the deal, NBK Wealth’s private investments team will join Janus Henderson as the firm’s new emerging markets private capital division. The transaction is structured as an acquisition of NBK Capital Partners, a newly established entity in the Abu Dhabi Global Markets for advising and managing alternative investment funds. The value of the trans ..read more