Challenger bank Blink appoints Zein Malhas as CEO
Malhas moves from Capital Bank of Jordan, where she was chief digital officer.
Middle East
New digital bank D360 gets regulatory approval in Saudi Arabia
D360 becomes the third digital bank in Saudi Arabia to be licensed.
SAIB rolls out Moneythor’s PFM solution
The Saudi Investment Bank has implemented Moneythor’s personal financial management tools.
Qatari financial management app Karty set to launch in MEA region
Karty allows users to spend, save and manage their money.
Mashreq Bank implements ThetaRay’s transaction monitoring tech for correspondent banking
Mashreq Bank is Israel-based ThetaRay’s first customer in the UAE.
UR Islamic Bank goes live with new core banking system from ICSFS
The Iraqi bank has selected the ICS Banks Islamic core banking system.
Fintech for migrants Rewire lands $25m investment
The investment will be used to bring insurance products to Rewire’s 600,000 users.
Accenture, SIA, and G42 to build instant payments platform for UAE
Led by Accenture, the consortium will build and operate the platform over the next five years.
Temenos lands new wins in Slovakia and Iraq
Temenos has signed Tatra banka in Slovakia and ZainCash in Iraq.
Crypto platform Rain rakes in $100m in Series B funding
Rain’s $110m Series B funding round was co-led by Paradigm and Kleiner Perkins.
Lean Technologies lands $33m funding to build infrastructure for fintech in the Middle East
The Series A funding round was led by Sequoia Capital India.
Financial services customer engagement platform Personetics raises $85m in growth funding
Personetics’ technology analyses real-time financial data at customer touchpoints, learning their financial behaviours.
First Abu Dhabi Bank appoints Suhail Bin Tarraf as group COO
Suhail Bin Tarraf joins from Emirates Islamic Bank, where he was COO for five years.
Batelco and i2c to launch Bahrain’s first open banking super app, Beyon Money
Beyon Money has recently secured a “first of its kind” open banking licence.
Unit adds cross-border payments capabilities with Currencycloud
Tie-up expands capabilities for the US customers of Unit’s Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform.
National Bank of Kuwait unveils country’s first digital bank
Weyay is in beta mode and will target the country’s large youth market.
Israeli blockchain firm StarkWare raises $50m in Series C round
Company aims to increase blockchain bandwidth to scale technology for mass use.
8fig raises $50m to reinvent supply chain management for e-commerce sellers
8fig says it’s on a mission to propel 10,000 sellers to eight-figure revenue by 2025.
New UAE-based fintech Verity secures pre-seed funding ahead of app launch
The $800,000 round comes ahead of a planned launch in UAE later this year.
Singapore and UAE conduct first cross-border digital trade document transfer
Singapore’s TradeTrust enables counterparties and banks to validate documents digitally.
Citi to take $1.5bn charge shuttering South Korean retail banking business
The charge related to the closure will affect the bank’s operations through the rest of 2021 and 2022.
UAE neobank Edfundo launches to teach children financial literacy
Edfundo says it is on a mission to help 8 to 18-year-olds become financially literate.
Kuwait’s Boubyan Bank picks iGTB to revamp cash management
The bank is in the midst of a five-year transformation plan across its channels.
Indian tax fintech Clear secures $75m to capitalise on country’s digitisation
The e-filing company will also broaden its offering to people and businesses.
LGB Bank to replace Equation core with BML Istisharat
Lebanese bank switches to existing partner for new core banking infrastructure.
SoFi partners Pagaya to boost access to financial services
SoFi plans to extend its credit lending services to a broader audience.
Pedro Sousa Cardoso returns to Emirates NBD as new chief digital officer
Cardoso joins from Standard Chartered, where he worked as a senior managing director.
BIS finds CBDC-blockchain combo outclasses correspondent banking
Its new project, mBridge, experiments with new CBDC combinations.
Bahrain’s Bank ABC taps Fenergo for client management solution
Bank ABC operates across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Kenbi launches in Israel to help merchants approve payments
New fintech aims to sit atop payment flows and enable easier transactions.
Ejabiah picks Path Solutions to power 0% interest financing
New Saudi Arabian fintech aims to help SMEs with their growth.
UAE challenger Zand prepares for launch in both retail and corporate markets
New bank aims to break into an already crowded sector.
Finnovex Middle East Summit: Digging deeper into resilient and agile transformation strategies
The event highlighted the imperative to endow the digital future of the region.
Exclusive: Oracle FS wins major core banking deal with Gulf Bank
The front-to-back operation is set to be a major undertaking.
Spend management platform PayEm lands $27m in funding
The Israeli fintech says it meets the accounting needs of decentralised and fragmented global enterprise.
Brex acquires Israeli start-up Weav in $50m deal
US fintech will aim to leverage Weav’s API technology.
UAE-based BNPL provider tabby lands $50m Series B funding
The round takes the company’s valuation up to $300 million.
Airtel Africa’s mobile money business receives $200m from QIA
QIA gains a minority stake in African mobile payments firm.
South African fintech Yoco looks to scale following $83m Series C round
The firm is now targeting expansion across Africa and the Middle East.
Nomo launches as UK’s newest Islamic digital bank
The new challenger is a subsidiary of Kuwait-based Boubyan Bank.
