The financial world is witnessing a monumental shift in both the way it conducts business with individuals and corporates, and in the client expectations when it comes to services and lifestyle integrations. In the past decades, banks and financial institutions have evolved from being simply the place where money is stored and loans given out, to institutions entrenched in people’s daily lives as users become more digitally savvy. Even the 30% discount on your next holiday could be a deal facilitated by the bank nowadays.
This has also fueled a tidal wave of fintech companies that aim to either disrupt banking and take a piece of their market share, or simply partner with them to give them a competitive edge. Fintech companies are tackling all aspects of value transfer in the financial industry such as financial inclusion, financial services comparison, online and instore payments, and even customer service among others. This is not only limited to new fintech startup companies either, large established companies in the region such as Careem has also started to act more like a fintech than just a ride hailing app with the launch and marketing of Careem Wallet.
Forbes Middle East, in an effort to highlight the most innovative fintech companies in the Middle East and North Africa, has named the Top 20 Fintech in the region for 2019 in its September issue ranked based on funds raised and scalability of the business. Below is a list of the fintech companies making waves in the region: