This document describes the Dubai FinTech landscape, approaching the analysis from a FinTech, regulatory, Investment and talent standpoint.
This document serves as a snapshot of the key pillars of a FinTech ecosystem in a country and provides a good overall view of the state of FinTech at a glance.
Dubai, the second largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with total population of ~2.7m of which 80% are expats. UAE has internet user penetration at 99%, social media penetration at 99% and unique mobile user penetration at 77% as per the We Are Social 2018 report, reflecting the country’s potential for digital banking services.
Dubai is taking initiatives in boosting application of blockchain. In 2017, Dubai announced its plan to become the world’s first Blockchain-powered government by 2020 and launched the Dubai Blockchain strategy, a collaboration between the Smart Dubai office and the Dubai Future Foundation, aimed at saving AED5.5bn annually in document processing.
Key Findings:
- The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), Dubai’s financial district, has 2,003 active registered companies operating, with a combined workforce of 22,768 people.
In January 2017, DFIC established FinTech Hive, an accelerator that aims to bring financial and technology firms together. During the first six months of 2018, 50% of start-ups from the FinTech Hive programme have set up in DIFC. These start-ups have raised a total funding of US$10million.
- Banks are leveraging technology in their services. The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) launched its first personal finance management platform in October 2015. In the remittance and payments space, Emirates NBD launched P2P payments to its customers via MePAY in 2014, while RakBank launched ATM card-less cash withdrawals in 2014. CBD launched in April 2017 CBD Now, Dubai’s first digital only bank.
- As of March 2018, the UAE Banks Federation, a body representing 50 banks in the country, was planning to launch its mobile wallet project – Emirates Digital Wallet by the end of 2018.
- In September 2017, Emcredit, a subsidiary of Dubai Economy, and the UK-based Object Tech Group Ltd announced that they’re working to develop and implement emCash, an encrypted digital currency, which people can use to pay for various government and non-government services in Dubai.
- In November 2017, DIFC launched a US$100m FinTech-focused fund to accelerate the development of financial technology by investing in start-ups from incubation to growth stage.
- In June 2018, DIFC announced a partnership with incubator network Startupbootcamp. The partnership will explore setting up multiple programmes for early stage startups within the fields of FinTech, InsurTech and RegTech, in collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders from various sectors – beyond the realm of financial services.
