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Middle East

Fintech reporting from Middle East. Stories across banking, payments, infrastructure, capital and policy that touch this region.

142 STORIES PUBLISHED · UPDATED DAILY

MIDDLE EAST · 3 MIN READ · 5 OCT 2026

UAE Central Bank Signs Deals With Egypt, Syria and Morocco in Five Days

The Morocco agreement adds a third country to the CBUAE's plans to link national instant payment systems, none of which is live yet.

MIDDLE EAST

Citi Takes Its Tokenised Deposit Network Live in the UAE and Japan

5 OCT 2026

MIDDLE EAST

China Securities Opens DIFC Office as Dubai Builds Capital Markets Links With China

29 SEP 2026

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MIDDLE EAST

Belgium’s Banqup Built the UAE Tax Authority’s E-Invoice Reporting Hub Ahead of 2027 Mandate

The Euronext-listed firm built the node that will receive tax data on every B2B invoice once the UAE's rules take effect for large companies in January.

29 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Entrepreneur Al-Salloum Acquires 10% Stake in UAE’s GlobalPay

GlobalPay's own leadership confirmed the holding company carries no UAE central bank licence and that the deal's value is confidential.

29 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Five Minutes With… David Ogg, Vice Chairman of MEX Exchange

HotspotFX founder David Ogg on how MEX Exchange keeps its matching independent of MultiBank's CFD brokerage, why sanctioned BRICS entities can't join, and why the ECN won't name the GCC banks trading on it.

29 SEP 2026

Analysis MIDDLE EAST

Dubai becomes focal point for payments, FX and trade finance as UAE fintech expands

Dubai's fintech ecosystem has grown quickly. The DIFC's combined AI, fintech and innovation community reached 1,933 companies in the first half of 2026, up 39% year on year.

28 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Oman Launches National Fintech Strategy and a Single Entry Portal for Startups

The Central Bank of Oman's new strategy pairs policy ambitions with a practical fix: one portal for fintech firms to find out what actually applies to them.

28 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Jordan’s Bank al Etihad Signs MoU to Set Up a Category 1 Bank in ADGM

The move marks Bank al Etihad's first expansion beyond Jordan and Iraq, partnering with Abu Dhabi's Ethmar International Holding.

28 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

PhonePe Secures CBUAE Approval for Its First Overseas Market

India's largest UPI platform is building around the UAE's own payment rails, not importing its India stack, for its first international regulatory approval.

27 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Dubai’s Huspy Buys Italy’s Integra Finance, Commits $86M

The acquisition is Huspy's fifth in credit intermediation and its first move into Italy, its fourth market after the UAE, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

27 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

UAE Central Bank Bars Bank Melli Iran Branches From All Transactions With Iran

The regulator cited anti-money laundering and proliferation financing failures a month after the US sanctioned the bank's Dubai branch manager.

24 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Paymob Raises $35 Million as Gulf Business Nears Half of Revenue

Mubadala and the EBRD co-led the Egyptian payments firm's pre-Series C after its GCC revenue grew sevenfold in 18 months.

24 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Five Minutes With…. Ahmet Kayhan, Chief Payments & Digital Assets Officer at VEON

VEON's Chief Payments & Digital Assets Officer Ahmet Kayhan on what's actually driving the group's 48.5% fintech revenue jump, the lesson shaping VEON's Bangladesh launch, and why "Digital Assets" still can't be pinned to a specific product yet.

22 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Foloosi Secures CBUAE In-Principle Approval for Payments Licence

The UAE payments company has processed AED 7 billion for more than 10,000 merchants on a comparatively small disclosed funding history.

22 SEP 2026