Fintech Galaxy has raised $2 million in seed funding to support the growth and spread of its Open Finance platform, as it seeks to expand its reach and increase financial inclusion across major MENA countries.
The seed round was led by Jordan’s Ahli Fintech and joined by Raz Holding Group, OMQ Investments, Egypt’s EFG EV Fintech, and INSEAD Saudi Angel Investors.
Commenting on the successful closing of the funding round, Mirna Sleiman, Founder & CEO, Fintech Galaxy, said: “Fintech Galaxy is driving the development of a much richer, broader financial technology ecosystem that goes well beyond banking to include insurance, asset management, exchanges, and pensions. We have designed the platform in collaboration with institutions and regulatory bodies from multiple jurisdictions across the region. Our main goal is to democratize financial services by building a stable and secure infrastructure and enabling smooth and standard integration between financial institutions and solutions providers.”
Fintech Galaxy is developing an Open Finance platform with the goal of reimagining financial services through an open API infrastructure that allows fintechs and institutions to collaborate. Through its Open Banking APIs, the platform will give developers access to consumer data from partner banks, allowing them to create new apps and services.
The next phase in the Open Banking path is Open Finance. Mortgages, savings, pensions, insurance, and consumer credit – in other words, a customer’s whole financial footprint – might be made available to trusted and regulated third-party APIs (with their permission). Open Banking, which is now widely used in many countries throughout the world, allows third-party developers to access consumer data from banks and function as a link between them and financial technology platforms.
Sleiman added, “For several years now, the financial sector of the MENA region has been abuzz with the concepts of ‘Open Banking’ and ‘Open Finance’. Our vision is to provide not only the technology infrastructure but rather enabling the whole ecosystem to access data and payment channels via a unified API gateway; and supporting financial institutions in their compliance with international and local Open Banking frameworks. This is a natural development of our Open Innovation platform and services.”
Regulators all throughout the area are establishing frameworks to help with Open Banking adoption and harmonising technical standards including APIs, customer experience guidelines, and cyber security requirements. The Bahrain Central Bank (CBB) authorised all retail banks and financial institutions in the kingdom to implement the requirements for the second phase of the Bahrain Open Banking Framework (Bahrain OBF) last month, making it the first jurisdiction in the MENA region to do so. During the first half of 2022, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) will implement a framework for Open Banking in the Kingdom.
While it’s too early to say how huge the Open Finance industry will be in the long run, Fintech Galaxy has already laid the groundwork with its cross-border cloud-based innovation platform, which aims to foster collaboration, innovation, and integration between financial institutions and fintech firms. Fintech Galaxy’s API Sandbox is now used by many government agencies, banks, and hundreds of fintechs for innovation and proof of concept operations (PoCs). These figures will only rise as the MENA region’s broader fintech industry matures and affects the economy’s future.
