Credit fintech Liquidity lands $775m to fuel growth
Apollo partner Joshua Black will also join Liquidity’s board of directors.
Middle East
Al Rajhi Bank Jordan in front-to-back office tech overhaul with ICSFS
Al Rajhi Bank Jordan selected ICS Banks from ICS Financial Systems following an international tender.
Apollo Fintech taps ThetaRay for Sonar AML monitoring tech
Apollo Fintech will deploy Sonar on its new bank-to-bank payments service Knox Wire.
UAE’s Mashreq Bank launches paytech subsidiary Neopay
The new wholly-owned subsidiary will consolidate all of Mashreq’s existing payment systems into a single platform.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Payrails, Nexta, Malaa Technologies, & Playter
Our weekly fintech round-up for you to get the latest funding news from around the world.
Nigerian mobility fintech Moove raises $105m to expand to Asia and MENA
Money will be used to expand Moove to seven new markets across Asia and MENA over the next six months.
Credit Libanais, Codebase Technologies and Visa team for financial inclusion in Lebanon
Credit Libanais launches an instant, fully e-KYC onboarding mobile application for a virtual prepaid card.
Al Fardan Exchange and Thunes partner for instant payments to 87 countries
Al Fardan Exchange customers can make payments to 87 countries in Europe, Africa, APAC and LatAm.
Payoneer taps cybersecurity firm ThetaRay for AI-powered transaction monitoring
Payoneer will deploy ThetaRay’s Sonar solution from Q2 2022.
BNPL platform tabby raises $54m in Series B extension round
The cash will go towards expanding its product offering and supporting its international expansion.
Shift4 to acquire cross-border payments provider Finaro in $575m deal
The company also confirmed the acquisition of cryptocurrency fundraising platform The Giving Block.
Volopay raises $29m in equity and debt for international expansion
Volopay is “building the control centre for modern companies for all their financial management needs”.
Digital bank Wio set to launch in UAE following central bank approval
The digital bank will initially cater to the country’s SMEs, with a beta launch expected in Q1 2022.
Digital-first “bank for youth” LINC launches in Jordan
The neobank has been built by Cairo Amman Bank, a full-service bank in Jordan and Palestine.
Challenger bank Blink appoints Zein Malhas as CEO
Malhas moves from Capital Bank of Jordan, where she was chief digital officer.
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.
