Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, Deputy CEO Operations & Client Affairs at Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and Matthias Kröner, Founder and CEO of Fidor led the inauguration of Fidor’s regional headquarters in the presence of senior officials from DSOA and Fidor.
The Middle East is quickly becoming an important region for digitalisation, with digital consumer adoption in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain being amongst the top countries in the world. The region has more than 100 percent smartphone penetration and over 70 percent social media adoption—even higher than the United States, according to McKinsey’s ‘Digital Middle East’ report.
Given the high adoption rate, businesses and government bodies within the region have realised the need to innovate and transform themselves in response to the growing needs of these new tech savvy consumers and considering that Fintech is emerging as one of the most rapidly growing industries.
With the reinforcement of its presence in the region, Fidor also aims at extending its solutions and services’ availability across Africa responding to the financial needs of dispersed population leveraging on its cutting-edge fidorOS platform.
Fidor is committed to contributing to the region’s growth by helping strengthen the fintech community, and support the region’s economy through local employment and new talent searches. Fidor plans to further increase the number of employees in line with the newly expanded regional hub in Dubai and to answer to a rapidly growing global customer base. Recruitment for these opportunities is already underway.
Since the launch of its Middle East Africa regional office in Dubai Silicon Oasis, Fidor Solutions has experienced rapid growth and high demands from banks wishing to shift their current offerings to digital banking for their customers. Last year, Fidor signed a partnership agreement with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank to launch their first digital brand.
The strategic location of Dubai Silicon Oasis, and its position as a reputable and much sought-after ground for technology-based companies, leverage the free zone as ideal headquarters for Fidor. The UAE has become a central hub for innovative fintech companies and is at the crossroads of many regions. Currently, the Fidor Group has offices in Munich, Berlin, New York, Singapore and Dubai, and is operating in the UK and France.
Commenting on the expansion, Matthias Kröner, founder and CEO of Fidor said: “When founding Fidor Bank and eventually Fidor Solutions, I could not have imagined the path that lie ahead. Seeing the company go from a small fintech company and grow into a global player that works with many industry leaders, I’m incredibly proud of the work our team has done. Our vision resonates with the market and is driven by consumers. Dubai is the natural next step for us at Fidor, especially because of the region’s growth within ecommerce, payments and its overall digitisation. As we continue to grow and thrive, I only expect more great things as we expand across more borders and into new regions and markets.”
Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, said: “Since its establishment, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority has worked relentlessly to establish Dubai Silicon Oasis as an enabling hub that caters to the needs of technology-focused startups and multinational corporations. Today, our efforts have reinforced DSO’s status and credentials as the go-to free zone offering tech enterprises top-of-the-line facilities, services, and ease of access. We embrace efficiency as a core value that enables us to meet the dynamic and ever-expanding scope of requirements within the technology sector in the UAE and the wider region.
He added: “We congratulate Fidor Solutions on its momentous step in expanding its regional presence in the Middle East. We are confident the digital banking solutions provider will significantly benefit from its location in our integrated hi-tech park.”
Ge Drossaert, Group CCO at Fidor said, “The growth of our UAE office aligns with our long-term strategy for global expansion. In addition to our ambition to excel within digital banking solutions that are relevant to customers, we’re conscious of our impact on the way we will bank in the future. It is also a testimony to offer service excellence to our growing global client base.”
About Fidor:
Fidor has emerged as a leader in creating digital financial solutions and is actively driving innovation as a co-entrepreneur with banks and non-financial organisations to design and build their digital banks as well as their digital payment solutions, by helping create value added services, products and solutions that consumers want and can be easily adopted at scale.
The success of its digital bank ‘Fidor Bank’ showcases Fidor’s expertise in building and launching digital banks to market by being at the forefront of fintech innovation, building on APIs, open banking, middleware solutions, community based-banking, front end mobile app and internet banking solutions delivered in a hosted or cloud environment.
Fidor designed an innovative digital platform ‘fidorOS’, that uses open APIs that gives access to digital brands, developers and fintech firms to innovate on a digital banking ecosystem by plugging into the platform to offer their own financial products.
Its banking solutions have been further recognised by the industry with ‘Fidor Bank’ receiving the Celent’s ‘Model Bank 2015’ award as well as brands for which Fidor has contributed towards their digital banking transformation such as O2 Banking recognised as “2016 Digital Bank of the year” by Handelsblatt and Telefonica receiving the equivalent reward for “2016 Digital Bank of the year” by EUROFORUM.
About Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority
Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), a 100% owned entity by the Government of Dubai, is a free zone that is strategically placed on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed road. DSOA's urban master-planned community spans 7.2 square kilometers of state of the art office towers, R&D and industrial zones, educational institutions, luxury apartments, villas, hotels, healthcare and a full range of lifestyle facilities which translate into a dynamic commercial and social environment. Businesses can flourish under the unrivalled package of incentives, including 100% ownership, and high end IT infrastructure that allows companies to begin operating immediately. DSOA is a technology park that provides both a living and working integrated community. For more information, please visit: www.dsoa.ae
