Mashreq, one of the leading financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates, has taken a stake in NymCard, the only banking-as-a-service (Baas) provider in the Middle East, to help grow the booming fintech ecosystem in the UAE.
This investment is part of a fintech fund that Mashreq has created to further Mashreq’s ongoing strategy to support the fintech ecosystem in the UAE, fostering innovation through collaborations, with an aim to deliver a seamless and superior customer experience. It will allow fintechs, large and small, to launch their business propositions that need to have a payment card functionality through NymCard’s modern open APIs.
The announcement comes just a day after Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)
published its 2021 Annual Report, reporting the highest ever annual revenue. The performance and report reflect on the success of strategic measures undertaken to grow the DIFC community under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and President of DIFC.
No other major bank has invested directly in a fintech within the UAE. It signals a willingness to support the domestic fintech ecosystem. Also, it provides a much-needed banking as a service (BaaS) platform for international fintechs to effectively launch within the region.
Fernando Morillo, global head of retail banking, Mashreq Bank, said: “The UAE has witnessed significant growth as a fintech hub, both from an investment perspective and from a burgeoning crop of tech-savvy innovators, and this shows no signs of abating. We recognize the crucial role the Fintech’s play in growing financial inclusion and the digital economy and will continue to identify opportunities, invest and support our partners to help drive this growth. We look forward to scaling up the FinTech ecosystem in the UAE in partnership with NymCard”.
Omar Onsi, CEO and founder of NymCard, further commented: “We are very excited about this partnership with Mashreq Bank as it is considered a major milestone in our journey, enabling fintechs to launch and scale quickly within the UAE market.”
“With this new relationship, NymCard has dramatically reduced the cost and time it will take for fintechs to get live in the UAE, with innovative payment cards that support their business models, leveraging our modern and open API-based infrastructure.”
The Fintech Times spoke with Omar Onsi at length regarding the broader Middle East and North Africa region as part of this weekend’s long read.
