Switching to the Satoshi standard and Lightning Network connectivity makes Bitcoin more tangible and easy to use. AAX has made the first move in the crypto space, already providing BTC to SAT
Unqork and Securrency Launch Private Markets Asset Tokenization Solution Powered by Codeless Architecture
Unqork, the leading codeless-as-a-service platform, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Securrency, a world-class developer of institutional-grade blockchain-enabled financial and regulatory technology, to create an end-to-end digital asset solution for private market customers. Leveraging Unqork’s enterprise-grade codeless development platform, Securrency’s Capital Markets Platform provides financial institutions and other operators with all of the features needed to launch a digital asset marketplace. The out-of-the box solution can be easily customized and integrated to best fit individual business needs. With the marketplace, customers can:
- Onboard users easily and verify asset managers, investors, and other transaction participants in real time with fully customizable workflows
- Design and execute fund documents digitally (e.g., private placement memoranda and subscription documents)
- Tokenize and distribute funds with Securrency’s patented Compliance Aware Token® Framework
- Securely transact via digital wallets on the Stellar Network, Ethereum, and other top-tier blockchain networks for real-time fund subscriptions and redemptions
This marks the first time that codeless technology has been used to build, deploy, and manage an out-of-the-box blockchain-based solution for tokenized private securities and other assets. The powerful combination of Unqork’s codeless integrations and orchestration with Securrency’s enterprise-grade tokenization platform ensures stability, interoperability, and efficiency at every step of the digital asset lifecycle.
While the traditional investment interaction model between investors and private markets operators often limits self-service and transparency for users, the digital assets marketplace provides self-guided on-boarding and Know Your Customer (KYC), Compliance Aware Tokenization®, enhanced analytics and reporting, and expanded access to new markets. Unqork’s codeless architecture drives flexible workflows with a robust orchestration to digitize the subscription process, improve regulatory adherence, and increase liquidity.
“By harnessing the power of blockchain technology to create tokenized assets, automate compliance, and streamline financial transactions, Securrency and Unqork are unlocking the value of digital marketplaces for investors and financial institutions,” said Dan Doney, CEO, Securrency. “We recognized the tremendous value in what Unqork’s codeless architecture can deliver, and are excited to use it with our Capital Markets Platform to help customers grow their private markets businesses and provide greater liquidity and access to investors.”
“For years, Unqork’s codeless platform has been used by some of the world’s largest financial institutions to build mission-critical applications. We are excited to now bring codeless architecture to digital assets to address some of the most important priorities in this growing industry, empowering enterprises with built-in composability, security, and scalability for their most complex applications,” said Gary Hoberman, CEO and founder, Unqork. “Coupled with Securrency’s Capital Markets Platform technology and digital asset expertise, we are delivering a world class token solution for private markets customers looking for a customized end-to-end marketplace experience.”
To learn more about Unqork, visit unqork.com.
StraitsX partners with industry leaders to pilot stablecoin real-world use cases at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2022
StraitsX, a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced that it will be piloting a series of stablecoin applications at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) 2022, which aims to showcase stablecoins’ real-world use case applications and benefits for trade and commerce.
Through collaborations with partners such as IDEMIA, The HBAR Foundation, Mastercard and Carbonseed.Earth, StraitsX focused on driving five key benefits of stablecoins: increasing payment efficiency, on-chain and offline programmability providing interoperability, spurring financial inclusion and enabling sustainable and energy-efficient transactions.
“The digital assets landscape has been evolving and gaining traction as more businesses recognise the benefits of blockchain technology, but there is still untapped potential when it comes to using stablecoins as a means of payment in real-world use case applications. These applications demonstrate how stablecoins can bring forth more innovation and we are excited to collaborate with industry leaders to explore the benefits of stablecoins in depth to showcase the viability of stablecoin usage in business applications like B2B settlement, offline payments and sustainability.” said Aymeric Salley, Head of StraitsX.
As part of the stablecoin showcase, StraitsX has highlighted three different real-world use case applications with its key partners, which leverage its Singapore dollar stablecoin, XSGD as a means of payment:
Driving financial inclusion with IDEMIA on Hedera
To mitigate the issue of unequal access to digital currencies and payments arising from network and geographical limitations, StraitsX has partnered with IDEMIA, a leading solutions provider in identity technologies to leverage the Hedera decentralised ledger, enabling users to transact stablecoins offline. This is powered by IDEMIA’s payment card and phone-embedded offline payment capabilities which allow users and merchants to transact offline securely. Merchants will then be able to leverage Hedera’s distributed network to receive payments and settle fund transfers.
This application will not only lower merchant fees but also drive financial inclusion by allowing users who have limited network access to transact stablecoins.
“We at IDEMIA firmly believe that stablecoins are redefining the very fundamentals of the payment ecosystem. We’re proud that our ability to innovate has enabled Stablecoins payments leveraging our Biometric Card technology F.CODE. This partnership demonstrates again that IDEMIA’s secure offline payment solution became the de facto standard for stablecoins payments.” said Romain Zanolo, Managing Director APAC at IDEMIA.
“We are delighted to partner with industry leaders StraitsX and Idemia to help drive financial inclusion in APAC. StraitsX’ upcoming Hedera-native XSGD stablecoin was combined with Idemia’s secure offline payment system powered by Hedera smart contracts, to provide a resilient, cost-effective, and energy-efficient alternative to existing digital payment schemes. We believe the solution is well suited to answer needs in the region.” said Sabrina Tachdjian, Head of Fintech & Payments at the HBAR foundation.
Enabling XSGD B2B Settlement with Mastercard
StraitsX and Mastercard, a global payment technology solution, have partnered to enable Mastercard crypto partners to use XSGD to facilitate settlements between businesses.
The current settlement process for crypto card partners is cumbersome and costly due to the requirement of converting from crypto into fiat, which imposes liquidity and operational constraints for card partners. This pilot aims to bridge between the digital assets spent by cardholders and the fiat currencies needed to settle with merchants, reducing friction and achieving greater operational efficiencies.
“Building on the success of our stablecoin pilots in the US and UK, we are excited to be partnering with StraitsX to continue pushing the frontier on digital assets innovation and exploring real-world benefits of stablecoins. Piloting a stablecoin settlement application using XSGD marks a meaningful step forward for our businesses in the APAC region.” said Ashok Venkateshwaran, VP Digital Assets at Mastercard.
Spearheading sustainability in the region with Carbonseed.Earth
To contribute to the wider sustainability cause, StraitsX has collaborated with Carbonseed.Earth, which is building an incubation infrastructure for carbon projects. This incubation infrastructure leverages stablecoin and IoT technology to enable early funding for quality carbon projects by issuing tokenized carbon credits, purchased through XSGD and held in blockchain wallets.
By utilising Carbonseed.Earth’s monitoring and verification solutions and blockchain wallets to facilitate stablecoin and carbon credit transactions, the application enhances transparency for price discovery and addresses the issue of double counting through smart contract technology. On a larger scale, the application also helps to facilitate efficient cross-border transfers of value involving tokenised carbon credits.
“CarbonSeed.Earth aims to be the one-stop managing platform for businesses to go green with hassle-free carbon financing, with services ranging from simple project origination and Monitoring, Reporting, Verification (MRV), to marketplace financing. By leveraging on XSGD, we can enable greater transparency, accountability, and visibility using the concepts of Purpose Bound Money (PBM) to verify fund sources and automated milestone verification to unlock payouts and reward businesses as they embark on their green transformation journey.” said Mike Sun, VP Product, CarbonSeed.Earth.
Hong Kong-Based Finoverse (previously FINNOVASIA) announces pivot to web3 and expansion in North America and Middle East
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Finoverse (previously FINNOVASIA), the officially appointed organizer of the Hong Kong FinTech Week, announces today at the opening of HKFTW 2022 their expansion into North America, the Middle East and the scale up into Web3. Company’s co-founder & CEO Anthony Sar shared more about this vision in a founder’s letter.
This marks a major step into Finoverse’s growth, following the partnership with The Securities Commission of The Bahamas, and Government of The Bahamas, to host a global FinTech and Web3 Festival on 24-26 January 2023 in Nassau, The Bahamas. The in-person festival, branded as D3 Bahamas, aims to host over 3,000 industry leaders to discuss the future of Web3, Blockchain, Crypto, Decentralized Finance, Central Bank Digital Currencies, Green Finance, and more.
D3 Bahamas will take place in the following week after the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. “The leadership of the traditional world will meet at Davos, and then the leadership of the new digital world will meet in the Bahamas”, – said Anthony Sar, co-founder and CEO of Finoverse. In addition to the Bahamas, the company is also now in active conversations with the governments and regulators in the Middle East to host its flagship event there in 2023.
Highlighting the expansion and growth, the company also announces the completion of an extensive rebranding effort unveiling its new brand identity, logo and name – Finoverse. The new brand represents the new chapter for the company, which has been at the forefront of facilitating the growth of Hong Kong’s and Asia’s vibrant fintech ecosystem since 2015.
Finoverse has been involved in projecting Hong Kong on the global fintech stage, by bringing over 65+ FinTech unicorns to the Hong Kong Fintech Week. It aims to continue to work closely
with the Hong Kong government and regulators, and act as a FinTech ecosystem bridge between the East and West.
Singapore FinTech Festival 2022 returns as an in-person event from 31 October to 4 November
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Elevandi (a not-for-profit entity set up by the MAS to connect people and businesses, ideas and insights in the FinTech sector in Singapore and globally) today announced the return of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) as an in-person event to be held from 2 to 4 November 2022, with industry events and the annual Innovation Lab Crawl being held on 31 October and 1 November. Organised by MAS and Elevandi, in partnership with Constellar (a global player in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions industry) and in collaboration with The Association of Banks in Singapore, SFF 2022 will be held at the Singapore EXPO.
2 The theme of SFF 2022 will be ‘Building Resilient Business Models amid Volatility and Change’. With the global economy experiencing a surge in inflation and facing risks of a significant slowdown in growth, many FinTech firms are striving to stay resilient and viable. Key stakeholders comprising government leaders, regulators, financial services leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and technology leaders will take stock of the drivers of change and examine three key questions:
- Viable: How are organisations building and redefining business models that can be more resilient to volatile market conditions?
- Responsible: How are organisations balancing corporate responsibility and profitability in order to achieve greater stakeholder satisfaction and engagement?
- Inclusive: How are organisations designing inclusive business models that cater to the needs of the unbanked and underbanked?
Conference
3 The conference segment of SFF 2022 will comprise a series of Global and Knowledge Plenary sessions, and an Elevandi Insights Forum.
- Global Plenary sessions will focus on leaders and organisations addressing the core construct of Resilient Business Models.
- Knowledge Plenary sessions will feature breakout sessions on Web3 and Payments; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Banking for Businesses; Insurance & Pensions; International Growth Markets; and FinTech Regulation.
- Elevandi Insights Forum will consist of small, deep-dive roundtables which bring the public and private sector together to address challenges faced by the financial sector and identify actionable outcomes.
Exhibition
4 SFF 2022 will see the return of a physical exhibition featuring over 500 leading organisations, including FinTech firms, financial institutions, technology firms, and policymakers, showcasing their latest innovations and developments in the FinTech space.
5 The exhibition will include free-to-access Ecosystem Stages for attendees to get up close with the newest technologies, products and launches from industry players. The Ecosystem Stages will feature Product Announcements and Product Showcases from exhibitors; a specially curated ESG Impact Zone; country and sector deep-dives in the World FinTech Festival [1] ; and finalists’ showcases from the MAS Global FinTech Hackcelerator [2] and Polyfintech100 API Hackathon [3] .
Other Highlights
6 Debuting at SFF is the Elevandi Global Founders Network, an exclusive global influencer programme that identifies exceptional founders, on an annual basis, who are building sustainable and resilient businesses, with a positive impact in the world. The global founders will be chosen through a nomination process, honoured at the SFF and share their 10-minute insights at the Founders Peak.
7 Participants can also look forward to the winners’ showcase at the SFF Global FinTech Awards [4] and curated networking sessions including an Investors Summit powered by Elevandi Connects [5] .
8 Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS and Chairman of Elevandi Board, said, “As the leading global knowledge platform for FinTech, SFF 2022 will focus on bringing best-in-class experts to share industry insights to build business models that remain viable and resilient amid the crisis. The format this year has been enhanced to add numerous intimate and interactive sessions, to foster deeper discussion between the public and private sector stakeholders. The return of an in-person SFF will energise all stakeholders in the FinTech community to stay strong and purposeful despite the strong headwinds ahead of us.”
9 Jean-François Quentin, Group Chief Executive Officer of Constellar, said, “We are delighted to bring the global FinTech community together in Singapore, home to world-class events including SFF. The SFF community is a special one, that has continued to connect and collaborate on our hybrid event platforms in the past two years. With live events back in full capacity, the return of SFF in-person will enable personalised and immersive event experiences to catalyse new innovations, strengthen networks and build impactful partnerships.”
Middle East & North Africa’s Crypto Markets Grow More Than Any Other Region in 2022
Individuals in the MENA region received US$566 billion in cryptocurrency from July 2021 to June 2022, representing a 48% increase over the previous year. This is according to the 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency report from Chainalysis, the blockchain data platform. While the previous edition of the report found that the MENA accounted for 7% of global cryptocurrency transactions, this year, the figure has risen to 9.2%, making the region the fastest growing crypto market in the world.
Focusing on the UAE, Chainalysis’ researchers found that over the period of the study, the country had US$38 billion in activity, a sizable increase of 36% over transaction volumes in the previous year (US$28 billion). This makes the country the fifth largest crypto market in the region, behind Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
Commenting on the findings, Kim Grauer, Director of Research at Chainalysis said, “In recent years, we have seen the UAE government introduce pioneering regulations that are helping accelerate the adoption and utilisation of cryptocurrencies in the country. Dubai has become a hub for crypto companies that serve customers not just in the Middle East, but all across Asia and Africa.”
Kim’s sentiments are echoed by Akos Erzse, Head of Public Policy at the Dubai-based crypto exchange BitOasis, who said, “When you look at markets in the GCC, we take the view that this adoption is driven by young, tech-savvy early adopters with relatively high disposable incomes that are searching for investment options, and have a conviction in crypto right now.” Moreover, adoption is “not just on the retail or customer side, but also in the ecosystem, with financial institutions and banks beginning to work with businesses like us.” Erzse also emphasised the role that recent inflation has played in pushing cryptocurrency adoption.
Other key findings for the period of July 2021 to June 2022 include:
- Turkey remains the largest cryptocurrency market in the region, with its citizens having received US$192 billion. This, however, represents slower YoY growth of 10.5% compared to other countries in the region.
- Cryptocurrency transaction volume in Egypt tripled compared to the preceding year.
- Saudi Arabia shows a strong potential for cryptocurrency adoption as cryptocurrency transaction volumes in the Kingdom grew by a staggering 195%.
The blog with full findings from the MENA focused section of Chainalysis’ 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency report can be found here.
Dubai’s Future Blockchain Summit to create global business opportunities for crypto, metaverse innovators
The Future Blockchain Summit, the MENA region’s longest running exhibition and conference connecting key stakeholders across Blockchain, crypto, and Web 3.0 will return to Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 10th-13th October 2022.
An integral part of GITEX Global 2022, the world’s biggest tech and startup event of the year which will feature over 4,500 tech and digital companies from 170 countries, the four-day event will explore topics including the metaverse, Blockchain for enterprise and the future of digital assets.
The Summit comes at an opportune time for the Middle East region’s development in Blockchain and cryptocurrency – the UAE has positioned itself as a global futuristic innovations’ hub, emphasised with the recent launch of the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and Dubai Metaverse Strategy, showing the commitment of its government to the implementation and advancement of cutting-edge solutions to the digital economy.
The Summit is set to provide a major international meeting point for the Blockchain and crypto communities, welcoming more than 600 investors, offering Blockchain, cryptocurrency and metaverse innovators an unrivalled opportunity to accelerate their growth. Day four of the Summit will play host to the North Star Dubai Supernova Challenge, the biggest pitch competition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, offering startups the opportunity to pitch to an audience of global investors and earn potentially transformative capital.
Leading cryptocurrency exchanges and market makers including OKX, Coinstore, KuCoin, the Hong Kong Digital Assets Exchange, Elliptic, Chainalysis, Coinfirm and Sun Zu Labs will exhibit at the Summit.
Blockchain protocol specialists Consensys, EOS Network Foundation, Ultron Foundation will also be exhibiting, while there will also be a comprehensive focus on the Metaverse, NFT and gaming with innovators including Sensorium, METAP Japan and Ghost Ivy set to be at the show.
International experts speaking at the Summit include Aleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Ukraine; OG Arabian Prince, Founder, iNov8 Next Open Labs, Founding Member of Legendary Rap Group N.W.A; Lennix Lai, Director, OKX; Scott Page, CEO, Think:EXP, Technologist & Saxophone player for Pink Floyd; Farhad Shagulyamov, CEO, VELAS and many more.
The Future Blockchain Summit 2022 will host an engaging line up of over 100 international speakers comprising business and government leaders who will discuss the most pressing challenges and opportunities in the global Blockchain ecosystem. The Global Leaders Exchange, Crypto, DeFi & Virtual Asset Forum, and Metafest will provide visitors with essential insights and offer a glimpse of the emerging future of the Web.
Visit the event website for more information on the Future Blockchain Summit, as well as registration details.
eToro receives in-principle approval to operate as an investment broker in Abu Dhabi Global Market
Social investing network eToro announced that it has received an In-Principle Approval to operate as a securities, derivatives and crypto broker in Abu Dhabi. The subsequent approval for a Financial Services Permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre of the capital of the UAE, will enable eToro to establish a base from which to offer its services to customers across the region.
Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief of Markets at ADGM, said, “We are pleased that eToro has been awarded an In-Principle Approval by the ADGM and are excited to support them as they work towards establishing their foothold and presence in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. ADGM is the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual assets in the MENA region and eToro’s participation will add to its vibrant and trusted ecosystem of virtual asset trading venues, global exchanges and service providers.
“ADGM’s virtual asset framework is well recognised globally for its inclusive regulations and robust provisions and it is part of ADGM’s ongoing commitment, as an International Financial Centre, to bolster the economic growth of Abu Dhabi and to uphold the transparency and integrity of the marketplace. ADGM will continue to actively expand the business offerings and unlock new investment opportunities in the UAE, and enable investment platforms partners like eToro to support the growing financial needs of the investors and businesses across the region.”
Jason Hughes, Senior Executive Officer, UAE at eToro said, “This is an important milestone for eToro. The UAE has one of the most vibrant fintech landscapes in the Middle East, and Abu Dhabi one of the most sophisticated regulatory frameworks for digital assets. We’re incredibly proud to be joining this ecosystem. We look forward to working with the ADGM to obtain our full licence, and, in turn, expanding our services to investors in the UAE and further afield. We recently opened our office in Abu Dhabi to support this expansion and are looking forward to growing the team locally.”
Founded in 2007, eToro’s goal is to open the global markets so that everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. It has created an investment platform that is built around social collaboration and investor education and created a community of over 30 million registered users that can connect, share, and learn.
George Naddaf, Regional Manager, UAE at eToro concluded, “eToro’s goal is to provide more people with access to financial markets. With the full licence in place, more investors in the Middle East will gain access not only to global markets, but also a wealth of educational content and the opportunity to share knowledge and discuss their strategy with our community of global investors. We are looking forward to working with our prospective clients and partners in the region.”
On eToro, users can view other investors’ portfolios and statistics, and interact with them to exchange ideas, discuss strategies, and benefit from shared knowledge. Users can hold traditional assets such as equities, currencies, ETFs, or commodities, alongside newer assets like cryptoassets. eToro also offers its users a choice of how to invest, as users can trade directly themselves, invest in a portfolio, or replicate the investment strategy of other investors on eToro’s platform at no extra cost, with a single click.
Nasdaq Establishes New Digital Assets Business
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Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced the launch of “Nasdaq Digital Assets,” a new business that will power the digital asset ecosystem. The launch underpins Nasdaq’s ambition to advance and help facilitate broader institutional participation in digital assets by providing trusted and institutional-grade solutions, focused on enhanced custody, liquidity and integrity.
“Nasdaq Digital Assets builds upon the successful solutions we have introduced in recent years to serve the digital assets ecosystem, including marketplace technology for digital asset exchanges, crypto-native anti-financial crime offerings, and crypto-related index solutions for tradable products,” said Adena Friedman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nasdaq. “The technology that underpins the digital asset ecosystem has the potential to transform markets over the long-term. To deliver on that opportunity, our focus will be to provide institutional-grade solutions that bring greater liquidity, integrity, and transparency to support the evolution.”
Nasdaq Digital Assets will initially develop an advanced custody solution that will incorporate liquidity and execution services to address industry challenges around connectivity, availability, and efficiency. Nasdaq’s custody solution will bring together the best attributes of hot and cold crypto wallets through an innovative technology offering, which will provide a high degree of accessibility and scalability without compromising security. Nasdaq’s offering is subject to regulatory approval in applicable jurisdictions.
“Demand among institutional investors for engaging in digital assets has increased in recent years, and Nasdaq is well-positioned to accelerate broader adoption and drive sustainable growth,” said Tal Cohen, Executive Vice President and Head of North American Markets, Nasdaq. “With our trusted brand and strong track record as a technology provider for the global capital markets, Nasdaq is uniquely placed to address industry pain points by improving liquidity, scalability, and resiliency, with the goal to engender greater trust and confidence in the digital assets ecosystem.”
Nasdaq Digital Assets will be led by Ira Auerbach, Senior Vice President, Head of Digital Assets, who will oversee the team’s strategic roadmap, growth targets, and product development. Auerbach brings over a decade of leadership experience in building institutional-grade solutions and innovative services across digital assets and traditional finance. Auerbach joined Nasdaq from Gemini, where he held several executive positions across product, business development, and trading. Most recently he was the Global Head of Gemini Prime, the crypto platform’s prime brokerage services. He reports to Tal Cohen, Executive Vice President, North American Markets.
Nasdaq Expands Anti-Financial Crime Technology Capabilities for Digital Assets
The integrity of the digital landscape is key to realizing the full potential of digital assets. Yet, cryptocurrency-based money laundering activity reached $8.6 billion in 2021, a 30% increase from 2020.1
To play a central role in combatting the rising threat of financial crime across the digital assets financial landscape, Nasdaq has expanded its anti-financial crime technology with new capabilities and coverage for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Through its Verafin and Surveillance product offerings, Nasdaq has launched a comprehensive suite of crypto-specific detection capabilities to effectively mitigate risks and provide continuous monitoring of anti-money laundering, fraud detection, and market abuse across traditional and digital assets, fiat and crypto, and on- and off-chain activities.
“Our expanded suite of anti-financial crime solutions reinforces our commitment to protecting the integrity of the financial system,” said Jamie King, Executive Vice President, Head of Anti-Financial Crime, Nasdaq. “As the world of digital assets evolves and converges with traditional finance, it is crucial to provide the necessary portfolio of technology solutions designed to safeguard participants across the financial ecosystem.”
AI-Fintech QFIL Wins Fintech ‘Startup of the Year’ at Middle East’s Leaders in Fintech Awards
AI driven fintech startup – QFIL Solutions was named ‘Fintech Startup of the Year’ at this year’s Entrepreneur Middle East’s Leaders in Fintech Awards.
The award is in recognition of QFIL’s efforts and contribution to identifying the needs of an unmet financial investment gap within the ecosystem, by providing disruptive fintech solutions to a wide underserved market of millennials and Gen-Z known to lose as close to 80% of their trading investments.
As a startup igniting a disruptive movement in the finance and technology landscape, modern day investors can leverage cutting-edge AI driven solutions offered via QFIL’s products to make more successful investment choices
The invitation-only event was held to give prominence to the MENA region’s fast growing fintech industry predicted to be worth over $3 billion by 2026. The ceremony also highlighted individuals and enterprises that are shaping the future of the actively developing fintech ecosystem, in sectors such as digital lending, blockchain/crypto based assets, and digital wealth management for B2B and B2C segments.
The who of who’s in the MENA’s fintech sector also showed up at the event; with award winners in keenly contested categories inclusive of Mashreq Business Banking, Illumishare, Beehive, Inery and many more.
Founder and CEO of QFIL Solution, Hani AlAita who received the award on behalf of the team said: “It is a great honor for me and the dedicated team for QFIL to be named the ‘Fintech Startup of the Year’ at the prestigious Entrepreneur Middle East’s Leaders in Fintech Awards. To be standing on the same stage with revolutionary startups who are already movers and shakers in MENA’s fintech space makes our contribution so far to the evolution of the ecosystem worth the while.”
“QFIL identified a gap in the industry where financial investors could not access real-time accurate guidance in order to make the best investment choices. We are happy to have bridged this gap with our AI-driven solutions; and will continue to create products via cutting-edge technology to address the financial investment needs of our clients while contributing to building the Fintech industry”, he added, speaking about how this award will spur the team at QFIL Solutions on.
The second edition of the Entrepreneur Middle East’s Leaders in Fintech Awards was staged at Sofitel Dubai The Palm on 15 September 2022.
Entrepreneur Middle East, the organizer of the awards is an absolute media authority and dedicated platform for empowering entrepreneurship and innovation catering to SME’s, innovative companies, and the public sector.
In 2022 alone, QFIL Solutions has won the “Best Fintech AI Solution” at the 2022 UF Awards; and have also been shortlisted for various categories at the Fazzaco Business Awards 2022.
Bahrain Commercial Facilities Selects Codebase Technologies and Atyaf eSolutions as Digital Transformation Partners
Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company ‘BCFC’ has signed a strategic partnership with key technology partners Codebase Technologies and Atyaf eSolutions to accelerate its digital transformation, focusing on the infrastructural development of their mobile and web customer channels. As companies focus on digitization to enhance their market offering, BCFC aims to reinforce its market leadership by introducing enhanced digital customer journeys and innovative experiences to the market.
Through this partnership, Codebase Technologies will support Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company in introducing customer-centric offerings by implementing digital customer onboarding, eKYC, instant credit card issuance, and instant personal finance propositions. Leveraging the award-winning Digibanc fintech and digital banking platform, the global open banking API solutions provider Codebase Technologies will deploy multiple market-ready Digibanc components on top of BCFC’s existing core system. Integrating these components will accelerate BCFC’s capability to provide innovative financial solutions at speed and scale.
Atyaf eSolutions, Codebase Technologies’ channel partner in Bahrain, has been the bridge between the two companies. Atyaf eSolutions will provide AWS Cloud Services and their own infrastructure-managed services to Bahrain Commercial Facilities, on which the Digibanc platform will run. The digital project will help BCFC fast-track their digital-first agenda, increase its speed of innovation, grow market share, enhance cost-efficiency, as well as improve customer acquisition and retention by leveraging digital channels.
Commenting on the partnership Abdulla Bukhowa, Chief Executive Officer, Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company commented on the initiative, “Partnering with Codebase Technologies and Atyaf eSolutions is a tremendous opportunity for the company. We are confident in our partner’s expertise in the space of finance, banking, and technology; and the accomplishments they’ve achieved in the past. We are experiencing a period of rapid digital transformation, globally and regionally, and through this partnership we will be able to improve our market offering and our speed of innovation to reflect the changing needs of customers.”
Managing Director – MENA for Codebase Technologies, Tamer Al Mauge, said, “BCFC has been an integral player in Bahrain’s market, and we are proud to be part of the next phase of their journey towards digitalization. With the support of Atyaf eSolutions, we look forward to enhancing BCFC’s customer experience and digital offering by creating seamless, fast, intuitive, and robust solutions in the coming months. We are glad that our Digibanc platform will play a key role in helping BCFC achieve their vision and we look forward to a fruitful collaboration with Atyaf eSolutions and Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company.”
Mr. Ubaydli Ubaydli, Chairman of Atyaf eSolutions, added, “One of our key drivers at Atyaf eSolutions is embracing challenges for success. Seeing Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company take the same course to build innovative solutions for their customers is as fulfilling as it is promising. We are also excited to collaborate on this initiative with a globally respected FinTech Codebase Technologies. We look forward to collectively helping Bahrain Commercial Facilities Company better position their digital offerings and grow their market share. “In the same context, Mr. Ubaydli stressed that such an achievement comes in line with what Vision 2030 seeks to achieve in diversifying national GDP and transforming Bahrain into a digital financial Hub in the Middle East. “