i2C, Qatar’s KARTY Form Digital Wallet Partnership

Digital payment firm i2C has joined forces with FinTech KARTY to launch a digital-first prepaid mobile wallet for customers in KARTY’s home country of Qatar.

“Leveraging i2c’s global payments platform, Karty’s mobile wallet will provide Visa-branded digital cards, enabling instant, cashless P2P transactions on the Visa network,” the companies said in a news release Sunday (Feb. 13).

“The mobile wallet will also feature data-backed financial management tools to empower users to master budgeting while gaining transparency into their spending habits across a range of categories (groceries, transportation, health care, and more),” the release said.

Once fully operational, KARTY is due to be regulated by Qatar Central Bank Sandbox. The company won the Qatar Science & Technology Park Accelerator (QSTP) program last year, along with other accolades.

“i2c’s best-in-class payments platform allowed us to design an intuitive mobile wallet that works to simplify both budgeting and spending for residents in Qatar,” said Mohammed Suleiman, co-founder of KARTY. “We chose i2c as our issuer processing partner because of their global reputation for unparalleled reliability, best-in-class security, and deep experience within the payments industry — all of which is especially important to us as a startup.”

As from the the QFTH and QSTP, KARTY is also backed by the Research Development Innovation Sector of Qatar Foundation, Qatar Financial Centre and Qatar Development Bank.

Read more: Regulators Walk Fine Line Between Protecting Consumers, Stifling FinTech Innovation

PYMNTS has spoken to and collaborated with i2C in the past, most recently in an interview earlier this month with company president Jim McCarthy.

Speaking to PYMNTS’ Karen Webster on Feb. 1, McCarthy talked about the thin line between regulating Big Tech, banks and FinTechs to promote healthy competition and unwittingly hamstringing innovation.

“Banks are an easy target,” McCarthy said. “They always have been and always will be.”

Right now, several regulators are looking at card fees, on what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) calls “junk fees” as well as several other business practices. But, he noted, there’s a real risk that the powers that be will go too far, hurting innovation and benefits that are funded by new revenue streams.

The sectors under scrutiny, from payday lending to revolving cards and buy now, pay later platforms, McCarthy said, offer tremendous liquidity to consumers worldwide.