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Two of Bahrain FinTech Bay’s (BFB) founding partners have been talking about their support for the project which will help spearhead the kingdom’s move to become a leading technological hotspot.
BFB, with an area of more than 10,000sqft of usable space, is located in the Arcapita building overlooking the waters of Bahrain Bay and the Arabian Gulf and comprises state-of-the-art facilities, co-working spaces, communal areas and a variety of other shared infrastructure, as highlighted in last week’s FinTech Focus.
“The objective of the collaboration between BBK and BFB is to strengthen Bahrain’s position as a leading financial and economic centre in the region and a hub for innovation,” said Reyadh Yousif Sater, chief executive of BBK. “We always look forward to new initiatives that promote the best solutions and alternatives for the growth of the financial and economic sector of in Bahrain.”
As a co-founding partner, BBK has rented an office at the hub to have its own station in the fintech incubator. The contract was signed on March 13 between Dr Adel Salem, assistant general manager retail banking of BBK and Khalid Saad, chief executive of Bahrain FinTech Bay.
Payment International Enterprise (PIE), one of the first and largest FinTech companies in Bahrain, has also signed an agreement announcing itself as a founding member of the hub in a bid to help transform Bahrain’s financial landscape and develop its FinTech ecosystem.
PIE says it ‘bridges the gap’ between local banks, telecom operators and numerous billers, as well as the Government of Bahrain to reach towards a cashless society, and with the support and helping tools from BFB, the company will be able to achieve its objectives more efficiently, as well as boost Bahrain’s bid to remain the ‘beating heart of innovation and finance in the region’.
“It’s an exciting time for us to be exposed internationally by working with BFB and contribute to building Bahrain’s and the region’s FinTech ecosystem, while setting Bahrain as a FinTech mecca,” said Fawaz Ghazal, PIE’s CEO.
He also thanks the Economic Development Board and the Central Bank of Bahrain for ‘their continuous support and nurturing of this growing industry’ which aims to create more jobs and opportunities to all its stakeholders.
Khalid Saad, CEO of Bahrain FinTech Bay, described the opening as ‘exciting’. “With the support of our founding partners who represent some of the leading financial institutions, we look forward to facilitating collaboration across borders and between governments, corporations and start-ups to accelerate innovation in the financial services sector both here and around the world,” he added.
