Middle East

MIDDLE EAST

Foodics Launches Capital 2.0, an AI-Driven Restaurant Financing at Money20/20

Foodics has launched Capital 2.0, an automated financing product that pre-qualifies restaurants using their own performance data and disburses funds within four hours.

15 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

baraka Brings DFM and ADX Stocks to Its Investment App

baraka now lets customers invest directly in Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange listed stocks, funded in dirhams, through its existing app.

14 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

TerraPay Connects Xend Network to Alipay+ for Cross-Border QR Payments

TerraPay has linked its Xend wallet interoperability network to Alipay+, letting African digital wallet users pay at more than 150 million merchants worldwide by scanning a QR code.

11 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Network International Launches UAE’s First In-Store Stablecoin Pilot

Network International has launched a pilot letting shoppers pay with DDSC, the dirham-backed stablecoin, at two UAE retail locations using existing card terminals.

11 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Dubai’s AXON Registers as Money Services Business in Canada

AXON has registered its Canadian entity with FINTRAC as a Money Services Business, part of a push into North America alongside a European neobank partnership.

10 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

PayTabs to Acquire Amazon Payment Services’ MENA Arm for $100M+

PayTabs Group has agreed to buy Amazon Payment Services' Middle East and North Africa business, a deal expected to make it the region's largest payments infrastructure provider.

9 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Five Minutes With…. Saurabh Shah, Co-Founder of Spare

Spare co-founder Saurabh Shah on how one Open Finance infrastructure layer serves partners as different as landlords and lenders, what Rentify's affordability check actually pulls from a tenant's bank, and what replaces a post-dated cheque's sense of security once the cheque is gone.

8 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Standard Chartered Becomes First G-SIB to Offer UAE Crypto Trading

Standard Chartered has extended its institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading service to the UAE, becoming the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer it in the region.

8 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Dubai’s VARA Signs Tokenisation Cooperation Deal With NYSE-Listed Securitize

Dubai's virtual assets regulator has formalised cooperation with Securitize, the tokenisation platform already running BlackRock's on-chain fund, as its shares jumped on the news.

7 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

FAB Becomes First Middle East Bank to Complete Live Transaction on Swift’s Tokenised Deposit Ledger

First Abu Dhabi Bank has completed a live US dollar tokenised deposit transaction with Citi through Swift's new blockchain-based Ledger platform, reaching a stage of Swift's 17-bank global pilot no other Middle East or Africa lender has yet reached.

3 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

UAE Fintechs Face September 16 Deadline Under New Central Bank Law

A one-year reconciliation period under the UAE's overhauled Central Bank Law closes on or around September 16, 2026, bringing open finance, money transfer and stored-value providers formally inside the regulatory perimeter, with fines reaching AED 500 million for non-compliance.

3 SEP 2026

MIDDLE EAST

Alpha Dhabi Doubles Commitment to Mubadala Capital’s Micad Credit JV to $1 Billion

Alpha Dhabi Holding has doubled its capital commitment to the Micad Credit joint venture with Mubadala Capital to $1 billion, raising its stake to 40% as the vehicle's mandate broadens beyond US and European direct lending.

2 SEP 2026