The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore Fintech Consortium (SFC), and the Dubai-asset management firm Trucial Investment Partners have partnered to create a new FinTech environment.
This new agreement is a part of a wider partnership aiming to make Bahrain the region’s Fintech powerhouse.
Khalid Al Rumaihi, EDB’s Chief Executive said:
“Singapore has been an excellent model of FinTech development and we can now benefit from SFC’s expertise as we develop our own hub. We are very excited about the opportunities that FinTech presents in the region and in Bahrain. Yet we know that to realise these opportunities it is vital to get the right ecosystem in place. This partnership will play an important role in helping us to do that.”
Also included in this agreement is information for developing commercial and legal infrastructure required for the sustenance of Bahrain’s FinTech ecosystem. It will increase interaction between FinTech companies in the Middle East, through Bahrain, and those in ASEAN, via Singapore, thus facilitating the entry of Singapore FinTech companies into the Kingdom.
In addition to the other agreements, they partners also plant to create a FinTech hub and an incubator/accelerator platform.
Gerben Visser, SFC Co-Founder, said it would play a multi-faceted role in the development of the fintech enablement and positioning of Bahrain as a regional fintech hub in the GCC:
“This includes assisting in the execution of a range of comprehensive initiatives related to regulation, co-working, incubation and venture capital. We believe the collaboration with a multitude of public and private sector partners are opportune, timely and will contribute to the future-proofing of its financial service centre,” he said.
The strategic partnership will introduce innovations that will change the financial industry’s environment through the disruptive FinTech. This new approach to finance is considered to be the industry’s future as it improves traditional services and technological innovations in financial literacy and education, retail banking, and investment.