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- Crowdsourcing Platform fosters collaboration between MENA’s fintech hubs including UAE, KSA, Jordan, Egypt
- Fintech Galaxy connects financial institutions with over 500 Fintechs worldwide
Dubai: Fintech Galaxy, the MENA region’s first and only fintech digital crowdsourcing platform, announced the launch of its exclusive event, the MENA Fintech Hackathon, aimed at solving issues and challenges faced by regulators, banks and financial institutions within the region.
The event, which was held on September 30th, 2019, brought together 25 shortlisted fintechs from around the globe in a competitive, 16-hour long hackathon to create disruptive and enterprise ready solutions based on specific briefs from participating institutions - that include National Bank of Fujairah, Finablr, Commercial International Bank - Egypt, Al Baraka Group and Emirates NBD Egypt. During the hackathon, the fintechs pitched their solutions related to areas such as customer experience, credit ratings, payments, digital lending, smart contracts and trade finance.
The fintechs were shortlisted from Fintech Galaxy’s open crowdsourcing platform, home to hundreds of regional and global fintechs. The platform allows organizations based in MENA to post challenges for its global network of fintechs to solve and earn cash rewards. It also provides fintechs with exclusive access to a testing environment (i.e. technical sandbox), which allows for development and coding using banking APIs.
A judging panel comprising of high-level executives from each of the banks, along with regulators and subject matter experts, will decide the winners on October 2nd, based on the fintech start-up achieving the brief’s requirements as well as other select criteria. Winning fintechs will be awarded with monetary prizes and proof-of-concepts (POCs) with potential for business contracts.
“Fintechs have redefined the financial services industry over the last few years. Due to their agile and innovative nature, it is now a prerequisite for all financial institutions around the world to explore mutually collaborative partnerships with them; to not only create high value products and solutions but also ensure customer relevance and differentiation in their offerings,” said Mirna Sleiman, Founder & CEO, Fintech Galaxy.
She added: “At Fintech Galaxy, we aim to empower the regional fintech ecosystem, by acting as the conduit between the MENA region’s most innovative and disruptive fintechs as well as reputable, market leading banks and institutions. This also fits into our overarching goal of enabling financial inclusion as well as ensuring that banks, financial institutions, regulators and policy makers collaborate more closely to help spur growth and much needed investment in the region’s fintech ecosystem.”
Speaking about their participation in the event, Devid Jegerson, Head of Customer Experience and Platform Development, National Bank of Fujairah, said: “We are very excited to have promoted and be a part of this collaborative and forward-thinking platform that aims to address some of the most prominent challenges in the industry. Fintech has become an integral part of banking today – our customers are tech-savvy and want innovation to focus on enabling them to bank seamlessly, and hassle-free from wherever they are. Our participation in this growth-oriented platform cements our support to empowering talent to come up with innovative solutions that will help drive this industry forward. At NBF, we pride ourselves in constantly striving to find new and improved ways to create the best of experiences for our customers and in helping them navigate their banking relationship in the easiest way possible.”
On their part, Promoth Manghat, Group Chief Executive Officer, Finablr, said: “Platforms such as Fintech Galaxy facilitate the democratization of innovation bringing together emerging and established entities as a larger community focused on solving real-life problems through technology. We see these as symbiotic and enabling relationships through their collaborative efforts. Such partnerships are integral to our ongoing efforts at Finablr to leverage the best of disruptive technology and create relevant propositions attuned to evolving market dynamics.”
Separate to the MENA FinTech Hackathon, Fintech Galaxy also provides support to startups in their early stages of growth within the areas of legal, marketing and communications, investor relations and business development. Finally, the company also offers on-demand access to top level expertise in sectors such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, payments and more. For more information, please visit www.fintech-galaxy.com or follow @FintechGalaxy via Twitter.
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About Fintech Galaxy
Fintech Galaxy is a digital crowdsourcing platform that empowers fintech entrepreneurs and connects them to financial institutions, consultants, tech companies, mentors and investors.
Fintech Galaxy works as an open innovation marketplace for organizations based in the MENA region to post challenges for our global network of startups to take a crack at solving them in order to gain business contracts or cash rewards. The company advises startups on fund raising, operational growth and business development. The platform also brings to the MENA market a network of global fintech experts in areas like blockchain, AI, payments, robotics and data science.
With a wealth of content and a virtual gallery of the best success case studies in the financial technology space, Fintech Galaxy supports the world’s most promising entrepreneurs throughout their journey from inspiration to global growth. Sign up on www.fintech-galaxy.com and join us on our journey!
About National Bank of Fujairah
About National Bank of Fujairah PJSC:
Incorporated in 1982, National Bank of Fujairah PJSC (NBF) is a full services corporate bank with strong corporate and commercial banking, treasury and trade finance expertise as well as an expanding suite of personal banking options and Shari’a compliant services. Leveraging its deep banking experience and market insight within Fujairah and the UAE, NBF is well-positioned to build lasting relationships with its clients and help them achieve their business goals.
NBF’s key shareholders include the Government of Fujairah, Easa Saleh Al Gurg LLC and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Rated Baa1/Prime-2 for deposits and A3 for counterparty risk assessment by Moody’s and BBB+/A-2 by Standard & Poor’s, both with a stable outlook, the bank is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange under the symbol “NBF”. It has a branch network of 18 (of which 1 is an electronic banking service unit) across the UAE.
About Finablr
Finablr is a global platform for Payments and Foreign Exchange solutions underpinned by modern proprietary technology. With deep regulatory know-how, a relentless focus on innovation and leading industry partnerships, Finablr’s group companies provide a broad array of tailored and trusted financial solutions for consumers and businesses across a wide network of digital channels, payments platforms and retail stores.
Finablr is present across the entire payments and foreign exchange value chain, from origination to processing to last-mile distribution. An integrated platform is at the heart of group’s proposition, supporting an omni-channel strategy underpinned by best-in-class operating capabilities and connectivity to global payment networks. Driven by technology, the platform combines flexibility with significant economies of scale, making Finablr a partner of choice for leading global banks, financial institutions, retailers, mobile wallet providers and payment & technology companies.
Through its category renowned brands, including UAE Exchange, Travelex, Xpress Money, Unimoni, Remit2India, Ditto and Swych, Finablr processed over 150 million transactions in 2018, managing nearly USD 115 billion in volume for its customers. The groups global reach spans over 170 countries with relationships with more than 100 regulators.
For more information, visit the Finablr website: www.finablr.com
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