Welcome to this week’s Middle East weekly news round-up where we bring you a concise overview of the latest developments in the Middle East finance, payments, retail, e-commerce and technology landscape.
Launches
An Islamic digital-only bank is set to be launched in the UAE with the global Islamic finance industry forecasted to grow in size and hit the Dh24.5 trillion mark by 2027.
The new entity, ‘ruya’ is being billed as a ‘digital-native Islamic community bank’ and has already received a licence to operate from the UAE regulator. It will be headquarered in Ajman and is aiming to cater to a growing demand for more ethical, convenient and digital-first banking solutions, particularly among younger customers.
Partnerships
Among this week’s notable partnerships the National Bank of Oman (NBO) teamed up with Habib Bank Limited, Pakistan, to enhance international remittances by offering an instant fund transfer service to Pakistani residents in Oman. The service is promising more efficient transactions and has around-the-clock access through the NBO App.
In response to the rapid digital growth in the region, the demand for robust identity verification has surged. Digital identity company Uqudo and Tamara have partnered to enhance identity verification in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) transactions. Under the deal, Uqudo will integrate its identity verificaation solutions into Tamara’s BNPL platform.
Meanhwile, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has come together with Mastercard to develop a payment ecosystem digitisation blueprint for the country. The deal aligns with CBJ’s broader goals of promoting digital payments acceptance, increasing financial inclusion, and reducing the reliance on cash in the country.
Funding
RemotePass, a platform that helps companies onboard, manage, pay, and retain remote workers, secured $5.5 million in Series A funding. Founded by Kamal Reggad and Karim Nadi, the company helps both startups and large listed enterprises like Spotify, Logitech and Paymentology manage their talent base in countries where they do not have a local legal presence.
In Saudi Arabia, Investcorp led a $130 million pre-IPO investment round in Salla, an e-commerce enablement platform founded by Nawaf Hariri and Salman Butt. Salla offers merchants a fully-digitalised and automated means of building an e-commerce website from selling their products online to accepting online payments to shipping their products to the end user.
Reports
A report from Insight Discovery confirmed that the wealth management industry is in a healthy state and remains upbeat. Over past year the total number of companies offering wealth management solutions soared by 22% to reach a record of 240 regulated organisations across the GCC, the report revealed.
