Startups Drive Payment Innovation in Jordan’s Emerging FinTech Hub

For businesses in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), regional growth often follows a predictable pattern.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a popular choice for international businesses, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai both attracting global companies looking for a regional base from which to run their MENA-wide operations.

For example, when the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) firm NymCard outgrew its founding office in Beirut, Lebanon, the company looked to set up shop in Abu Dhabi. It brought them closer to “customers, tech startups, and payment innovators looking for different types of modern payment solutions,” the company’s CEO and founder, Omar Onsi, told PYMNTS in an interview.

Read Onsi’s interview: The Key to Solving MENA Banking Challenges Starts With Regulators

From Abu Dhabi, NymCard can now easily orchestrate its operations across the MENA region, where it is looking to remain long-term.

“[NymCard] is not trying to serve the whole world, we are laser-focused on solving the MENA problems. You will never see us in Europe, the U.S. or in parts of Asia,” Onsi added.

Beyond those two Emirati mega-cities, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Egypt are the biggest Arab-speaking economies in the region, offering large markets for companies to tap into.

When it comes to the FinTech sector, Bahrain is an attractive proposition due to its established banking sector and friendly regulatory environment. In recent years, the small country has given rise to companies like Tarabut Gateway, which has gone on to become a key player in the broader MENA FinTech ecosystem.

See also: PYMNTS GCC Series: Bahrain Drives Open Banking Adoption in MENA

Kuwait, too, is home to several large banks, a wealthy population and has a strong track record for inward investment.

FinTechs Boost Jordan’s Digital Economy

While Jordan has not been a popular destination for businesses looking to grow across the MENA region in the past, that appears to be changing.

Increasingly considered one of the region’s foremost BaaS providers, NymCard made its first foray into the Jordanian banking sector last year through a partnership with the UAE’s INVESTBANK. Using NymCard’s technology, INVESTBANK is now able to offer its customers contactless mobile payments using the NymCard app.

Another example is the recent news that the ePayments business Ziina, which operates out of the Dubai International Financial Center, is launching its platform in Jordan.

As the first market outside of the UAE in which Ziina has ventured, the move to Jordan represents something of a homecoming for the company’s co-founders, who are both natives of the country.

Electronic payment solutions like Ziina and NymCard lay the groundwork for further FinTech innovation in Jordan, and funding will be critical in fostering a healthy tech sector.

As a promising sign, Jordan-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform liwwa last week secured a $18.5 million pre-Series B raise to enable more of its retail clients to fund loans and earn returns, while helping to improve financial inclusion in the country.

This shows that FinTechs will play a central role in boosting growth in the digital economy, bringing the more than 750,000 refugees registered in Jordan into the financial fold.

Recognizing the critical role the FinTech sector can play in supporting such marginalized populations, the government’s national financial exclusion strategy has been built around the three pillars of microfinance, digital financial services and small- to medium-sized business (SMB) finance.

In these areas, firms like liwwa have much to offer and will no doubt play an important role in the years to come.

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