Welcome to this week’s weekly news roundup, where we bring you a quick overview of the latest developments in finance, payments, retail, e-commerce and more across the Middle East and Europe regions.
In the Middle East…
- This week, Visa unveiled its Future of Retail roadmap for Saudi Arabia, an initiative that aims to accelerate growth for retailers and support Saudi-based businesses with enhanced commerce experiences. In particular, it is aiming to further encourage mobile payment acceptance and make integration between merchants and partners more seamless through a new AI-powered Developer Assist tool. As part of its vision for the region, it also plans to introduce several new innovations including tap technology that allows consumers to tap their cards to their own device to pay for online purchases.
- In the UAE, Ziina زينةannounced that it has secured the Stored Value Facility (SVF) licence from the UAE Central Bank, enabling the firm to expand the range of specialised financial services available on its platform.
- Among the latest partnerships, Kuwait-based Islamic bank Boubyan Bank has teamed up with Temenosto modernise its core banking systems.
- The Dubai International Financial Center’s (DIFC) Innovation Hub and Ripple, a leading blockchain and crypto solutions provider, announced plans to partner with the goal of accelerating blockchain and digital asset innovation in the UAE.
- Meanwhile, Wio Bank and Etihad Guest, the loyalty programme of EtihadAirways, have come together to enable Wio Personal customers to earn Etihad Guest Miles for every Dirham deposited into their 12-month fixed Saving Space. Interestingly, the deal marks the first time a bank has offered miles without linking them to a payment card, encouraging both savings and financial independence among its customers.
- On the funding front, Cairo-based consumer credit fintech, Lucky ONE, announced the successful raise of $3 million in a convertible note, which it will use to expand the platform’s credit services. Founded in 2018 by Momtaz Moussa, Ayman Essawy and Marwan Kenawy, Lucky offers financial flexibility through its robust lending scheme, discounts and cashbacks.
- Staying in Egypt, digital lending marketplace Qardy made notable progress this week, announcing that it has successfully secured a $7-figure pre-seed round of investment, with participation from White Field Ventures and Vastly Valuable Ventures among other Angel Investors. Qardy offers a range of tailored financial programs to support MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) with their working capital, and capital expansion needs. The firm said it will use the capital to further enhance its platform capabilities and expand its service offerings to other MENA countries.
In Europe…
- New research has revealed that consumer e-commerce spend in Europe grew by 12% in 2023 driven by strong growth in travel and service sectors, including entertainment streaming and event tickets. The research conducted by Kantar on behalf of Nets, which is part of Nexi Group, showed that overall e-commerce spend reached an all-time high of €435.3 billion last year. While increasingly consumers are spending on experiences, half of those surveyed said they believe there is a lack of sustainable online shopping options and that they’d actively choose more sustainable shopping options if offered.
- At the same time German SMEs increased their export sales on Amazon by 10%, according to a new report by the e-commerce giant. Amazon’s “SME Report 2023” showed a total of €5.5 billion in export sales representing a new record, Amazon said. It added that the number of selling partners remained constant at around 47,500, while the number of jobs created by SMEs to run their online businesses on Amazon grew from 160,000 to 170,000.
- Among the latest partnerships, Thunes has teamed up with Alipay+ to enable a range of merchants in Paris to accept cross-border payments from 15 international e-wallets and mobile partners. This collaboration, which taps into the Thunes Global Network, is a timely move as Asian tourists in France continue to enjoy the Summer Olympics.
- France has also started to issue crypto service licenses via the French markets regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) – France, becoming the first major EU economy to take such a step. Staying with crypto, a new partnership will see payments processor Stripe partnered and crypto exchange Bitstamp work on enhancing EU crypto access and enabling seamless fiat-to-crypto conversions.
- On the retail front, British supermarket chain Sainsbury’shas announced an extension of its partnership with digital commerce solutions provider NCT Voyix for a further seven years.
- Major global players, Instacart and ALDI SÜD have also expanded their partnership to include the global deployment of Instacart’s Connected Stores technologies. As part of the deal, the discount retailer plans to boost its omnichannel presence by implementing Instacart’s technologies including new features such as In-Store mode and Carrot Tags to Aldi stores across the U.S. Additionally, Aldi Süd is now also testing Instacart’s AI-powered Caper Carts technology in Austria.
- In a further move in the sector, Morrisons has expanded its partnership with Just Eat t to include 380 Morrisons supermarkets across the UK. The extended partnership will also see Just Eat offer free delivery on all Morrisons grocery orders over £15 until the end of 2024.
- Meanwhile, TransLink , a transport provider based in Northern Ireland has completed the full rollout of contactless payments across its network of bus and train services. The initiative, initially introduced in March 2022, recently extended the system to its final routes marking a milestone in seamless travel payments in the region. By adopting contactless payments the authority is aiming to boost public transport usage by reducing cash payments and offering a more convenient ticketing method.
There you have it! It’s been another eventful seven days of new launches, partnerships and innovations in the world of Seamless Xtra
Till next week!
