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…
Launches
- Have you ever dreamt of building your own virtual workforce? Well, that dream came a bit closer to reality this week when UAE’s deep tech company, shaffra launched a new AI tool that enables businesses to do just that. With AI Trainer businesses can now create and manage AI avatars capable of performing tasks traditionally handled by humans. Including work traditionally done by a customer service agent, HR assistant, or data analyst, the launch of the fully-customisable avators comes as AI continues to drive economic growth, projected to contribute $320 billion to the region’s economy.
Partnerships
- Among this week’s notable partnerships, stc pay Bahrain, a mobile wallet provider, has partnered with Mastercard to launch the first Mastercard World prepaid card in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Called the stc pay Mastercard Elite card, this new product allows users to choose between the sophisticated Mastercard Elite Metal card and the standard Mastercard Elite card. The collaboration is designed to increase convenience and flexibility in digital financial transactions for consumers in Bahrain.
- In the UAE, MINT, a payment solutions provider, has partnered with S2M as part of its expansion plans. Through this collaboration, Mint is introducing a modular core banking platform that focuses an API-first architecture, cloud-agnostic features, and extensive configurability. It means that existing financial solution systems are set to be revamped with S2M’s latest cloud-native electronic payment technologies of S2M.
Reports
- The latest edition of the 2024 Middle East & Africa Fintech Report has been published by The Fintech Times in collaboration with Seamless Xtra . Among its findings, it revealed the UAE to be the top-scoring ‘fintech hub’ in the MEA for the first time, noting that Dubai in particular has emerged as a fintech hotspot, hosting an estimated half of the total fintechs in the MENA region. Among the breakdown of the sector, it found ‘payments, e-wallets and remittances’ to account for 39% of fintechs in UAE, followed by Insurtech (11.76%) and Lending (8.08%). A key change in this year’s report was the ascension of Saudi Arabia and Türkiye to tier-one premier fintech hubs reflecting the ongoing progress being made in the these countries.
- Finally, more than 50% of consumers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) favour discounts and offers alongside free products from their loyalty membership, research by market research company Euromonitor International has found. Nadejda Popova, Head of Loyalty at Euromonitor International, said: “Creating lifestyle loyalty programmes by rewarding actions rather than purchases has become an essential focus for brands across industries in the MEA. Another important reason for participation in loyalty programmes is exclusivity combined with deeper engagement for loved and preferred brands.”
In Europe…
Regulations
- European Union member states gave the green light to the world’s first major law for regulating artificial intelligence, this week, as institutions globally race to safeguard the use of the technology. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act targets the different risk levels associated with AI systems, imposing stricter guidelines on higher-risk applications such as autonomous vehicles or medical devices. This also includes applications of AI in financial services and education, where there is a risk of bias embedded in AI algorithms. For those companies that breach the AI Act, they could face a fine from the EU Commission of up to €35 million or 7% of their annual global revenues — whichever is higher. The implications for developing and using AI have just jumped a few levels and as the first regulation of its kind globally, it is anticipated that the AI Act will establish a global benchmark for AI governance. Seamless Xtra is watching with interest to see who is next to follow in this space.
Launches
- This week also saw financial infrastructure platform for businesses, Stripe tackle access to capital with the launch of additional tools and financing options for companies operating in the UK. Among its new payment tools and financing alternatives, the firm has introduced Stripe Capital, a feature that allows lower-cost Open Banking-enabled payments and convenient payouts. It is hoped that this will help with access to capital and provide a catalyst for business expansion in the UK.
- Extending its previous launch, Finland’s S-ryhmä / S Group has announced plans to expand its robot delivery service to more than 100 stores by the end of this year. To date, the group has autonomously delivered over 150,000 orders in Finland in partnership with Starship Technologies‘ self-driving electric robots. The robots have been delivering basic groceries with milk, bananas, minced meat, energy drinks and chicken fillets among the most popular products.
Partnerships
- More news from the UK where Zopa Bank has taken its first steps into the UK’s £23 billion renewable energy market as part of a new deal with Octopus Energy . It means customers of the energy firm can now leverage Zopa’s BNPL and retail finance products to support the purchase and installation of solar panels as well ass the financing of app-controlled EV chargers.
- Customer verification is likely to be an ongoing issue given the rapid advancements in AI and machine learning, and in the latest deal, Sonio an identity orchestration platform, and Tink, a payment services and data enrichment platform, have partnered to enhance this process for the DACH region.
Funding
- Finally, in funding news, Vitesse PSP Limited, a treasury and payment solutions provider, announced the completion of a $93M Series C funding round for its insurtech platform. The round was led by leading global investment firm, KKR, with participation from existing investors, including Hannover Digital Investments.
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!
