Emirates NBD joins hands with AFIN as a founding industry partner for its global fintech registry

Global FinTech registry, ChekFIN to assist financial institutions in easy identification and evaluation of FinTechs for potential collaborations

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO SUPPORT AFIN, FOR ITS GROUND-BREAKING NEW PLATFORM, WHICH ACTS AS A CREDIBLE REGISTRY OF FINTECH FIRMS

Emirates NBD has announced its association with ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), as a member and as an industry partner to support its global fintech registry, ChekFIN.

Created in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group FinTech Control Tower (BCG FCT) and Temasek-founded Affinidi, ChekFIN was officially launched at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2021. Scheduled to go live on 01 December 2021, the registry will provide a decentralised, open standard, and trustbased solution enabling and empowering financial institutions to reduce the amount of time spent searching for and assessing a suitable partner firm. The platform includes unique features such as a comprehensive taxonomy and tagging system to facilitate easy search, easy access to aggregated and relevant information on firms in a single place. A key feature of the platform is the use of Verifiable Credentials (VCs), cryptographically secure digital certificates, to assess the digital reputation and credibility of various FinTechs. Emirates NBD is one of the ten global pioneer industry partners working with APIX to issue the first set of VCs.

The presence of a global registry where consolidated information on vetted FinTechs is readily available, will benefit financial institutions by bringing greater connectivity in the Fintech ecosystem, thus enabling smoother and more reliable collaborations.

Commenting on the announcement, Miguel Rio Tinto, Group Chief Information Officer, Emirates NBD said, “As a leading banking group in the region, Emirates NBD is always looking for opportunities for innovative collaboration in and outside the region. Exploring partnerships with FinTechs can have a big impact on enhancing the financial services industry through their innovative capabilities, business models and cutting-edge solutions that can help enhance customer experience. However, onboarding FinTech partners comes with its set of complex challenges including a long lead time and regulatory and compliance hurdles. We are delighted to support AFIN, for its groundbreaking new platform, which acts as a credible registry of FinTech firms.”

He added, “As we continue to lead innovation in digital banking in the region, we see this as an important milestone in our long-term digital strategy. We will continue to contribute to the growth of the FinTech start-up ecosystem and pave the way for more collaborations between financial institutions and FinTechs across the globe.”

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said, “Emirates NBD joining ChekFIN as a pioneer partner from the MENA region shows their transformational approach in engaging with FinTechs and innovation enablers. As a pioneer partner, it will contribute to the development of this new game-changing engagement mode, leading to accelerated and sustainable innovation.

Miguel Rio Tinto Group Chief Information Officer, Emirates NBD

Mashreq signs strategic MoU with Dubai South to support SMEs

Mashreq and Dubai South’s strategic partnership will financial platforms and infrastructures will offer help to SME’s and so add to the strength of the local digital economy

Ahmed Abdelaal Group CEO Mashreq Bank and H.E. Khalifa Al Zaffin Executive Chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation and Dubai South

Mashreq has entered a strategic partnership with Dubai’s largest single urban master development, Dubai South, with a remit to build banking and financial solutions for its aviation and logistics ecosystem.

The partnership sets out to develop and deploy digitally advanced financial platforms and infrastructures to support the SME ecosystem and value chains across the development. Dubai South provides entrepreneurs and growing businesses with enormous potential for investment and expansion thanks to its position as a global transport hub and as a major contributor to the economic growth of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.

In his comments, H.E. Khalifa Al Zaffin,

Executive Chairman of Dubai Aviation

City Corporation and Dubai South, said: “The partnership with Mashreq Bank will allow us to develop a strong financial ecosystem that will benefit SMEs that operate out of our well-established facilities. It will also enable us to provide revolutionary financial solutions that would pave the way for our valued clients to take even greater leaps forward and establish themselves as global leaders in their respective fields. Ultimately, we seek to be the preferred choice for investors looking to operate in a well-integrated, economically sound environment. We also strive to be a premier launchpad and international business hub for small and medium-sized businesses, allowing them to connect with international markets through a multi-modal platform.”

Ahmed Abdelaal, Group CEO,

Mashreq Bank, said: “By entering into a strategic memorandum of understanding with Dubai South, we are committing Mashreq Bank to lead the creation of an advanced digital banking ecosystem capable of catalysing SME development within and beyond the walls of Dubai South. This is of fundamental importance as we seek to accelerate the potential of digital economy in the country. This partnership comes with the backdrop of Expo 2020, which aims to build a connected robust economy in the country driven by SMEs.”

Vikas Thapar, Head of Business Banking and NEOBiz, Mashreq Bank,

said: “As part of our strategic partnership, Mashreq will provide Dubai South’s SMEs and its aviation and logistics ecosystem with a robust portfolio of banking and financial solutions. This will allow business owners to focus on kick-starting and scaling up their businesses with ease of access to a variety of benefits, including discounts for accounting packages, cloud infrastructure, digital tools and mobile point-of-sale solutions, all designed with the ultimate aim of supporting their operations.”

SMEs based in Dubai South will benefit from Mashreq Bank’s proprietary support when opening digital bank accounts and from a suite of value-added services, alongside business mentorship. As Dubai South’s key banking partner, Mashreq Bank will also leverage the MoU to explore API integration for business banking onboarding within Dubai South and further afield.