In an effort to strengthen the region’s financial ecosystem, an open banking platform in the Gulf successfully tested a new API service in Bahrain’s regulatory sandbox. Spire Technologies, a subsidiary of Aion Digital, a Bahraini business that assists in the development of digital banks, stated that their service seeks to make financial data exchange and payments easy, safe, and efficient.
Spire Technologies will be situated in Bahrain, but it will serve the Middle East as a whole. To help regional banks build and launch their own open banking enabled products and services for increased consumer engagement and experience, the company has worked with Salt Edge, a Canadian fintech solutions firm, as well as other global banking heavyweights including KFH Bahrain.
This new open banking platform addresses all three open banking verticals: compliance, API gateway, and use cases, which entail safe real-time data access via financial APIs. Budgeting assistance, a single-page view of all banks, personalised products, and quick, easy, and transparent payments are just a few of the advantages of open banking for end-users.
Ashar Nazim, managing director of Spire Technologies, said that the success of open banking is “changing the way banks and fintechs run their businesses”.
He said: “With the aim of achieving an Open Economy, all business and customers alike will see the benefits from services like this. We thank the CBB and the Economic Development Board for their continued support in Bahrain’s Regulatory Sandbox.”
Recognizing Bahrain’s financial services sector’s transition in recent years, the CBB established a dedicated FinTech and Innovation Unit tasked with creating a favorable fintech ecosystem based on a solid regulatory framework.
Dalal Buhejji, Executive Director – Investment Origination at Bahrain’s EDB, said: “The EDB congratulates Spire on its promising progress. Thanks to our forward-thinking regulators, Bahrain was the first in the region to bring in mandatory open banking and drive the creation of a strong open banking ecosystem with regional reach. In addition to other advantages, like the region’s best-value operating costs, Bahrain is delivering a competitive, innovative financial services sector and Spire and Aion Digital are just some of the companies benefiting from this vision and the collaborations fostered by Team Bahrain across the ecosystem.”
The $11 billion global open banking market, which is set to reach a value of more than $52 billion by 2027, is shaking up the banking sector. Bahrain, is now at the forefront of innovation in this space. Ashar Nazim said “Spire aims to bring globally acclaimed open banking technologies and know-how to Bahrain, for example Salt Edge, which is connected to more than 5,000 banks and data providers across 68 countries.”
Further said, “Spire will introduce innovative open banking enabled solutions to strengthen Bahrain’s leadership position in the financial services industry. We are geared up to create jobs and career opportunities in the fintech space.”
