Quick Connections - w/c 20.03.2023

Fintech News 24th March 2023

• MENA Open Banking provider Lean Technologies announced partnerships with BNPL providers Tabby and Tamara this week. (Link)
• Checkout.com is best known for payment processing, however this week it announced a major move into embedded finance with the launch of card issuing for its customers. (Link)
• Tamara , the Saudi-based Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) provider, announced a $150m debt financing round from 高盛 to accelerate the adoption of their instalment-based payment option. (Link)
• The popularity of BNPL in the GCC was clearly demonstrated in a case study released by Tabby about their deployment with Alternative Airlines who saw a 7.5% uplift in sales from the region and 41% in average order value following the launch of Tabby on their website.

• The MENA FINTECH ASSOCIATION and Binance announced a partnership to drive innovation and growth in the fintech industry across the region. (Link)
• The Central Bank of The UAE held a signing ceremony with G42 Cloud and R3 to mark the implementation of the CBUAE Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) strategy titled 'The Digital Dirham'.

• Crypto.com announced that it has received its MVP Preparatory License from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). This follows the initial provisional approval that the crypto exchange had secured from VARA?in June 2022.

• The open banking platform? Tarabut ?is entering the region’s busy crypto market. The company?announced?a partnership with Rain , the first regulated cryptocurrency asset trading platform in MENA. (Link)
• Tap Payments , the leading paytech company in MENA, is offering PayPal onboarding, operations, and payouts to businesses through its partnership with the worldwide leader in the payment industry.?(Link)
• Digital payments leader across the Middle East and North Africa, Amazon Payment Services , has launched a new thought leadership forum; ‘re:Imagine Payments’. The forum aims to support merchants and individuals to increase their knowledge in the digital payments space.?(Link)

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