Following the launch of its Bahrain workplace two years in the past, the fintech firm Faucet Funds has expanded its consumer base by 60 per cent as worldwide curiosity within the GCC e-commerce market intensifies.
For the reason that launch of its Bahrain workplace in 2020, Faucet Funds has onboarded 30,000 new retailers who’re fascinated about utilising Faucet Cost’s tailor-made fee options to faucet into the area’s promising e-commerce market; which is at present valued at $29billion.
Retailers worldwide have turned to the fintech’s companies as a result of its capability to tailor fee options within the MENA area with a multidimensional method that addresses fee clearing, product, know-how, relationship, and the regulatory surroundings.
The corporate connects international retailers to the area via its fee infrastructure by facilitating connection to the native fee networks in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.
The funds surroundings in Bahrain
Bahrain facilitates the area’s oldest and most established monetary sector, being house to over 350 monetary establishments. For an financial system that derives a substantial proportion of its GDP from oil, the Kingdom’s monetary sector accounts for 17.3 per cent of its GDP. On this mild, it’s clear how monetary companies will proceed to be a key contributor to Bahrain’s financial system and can contribute in the direction of the Kingdom’s financial restoration plan; announced in October 2021.
There are at present a complete of seven country-specific native fee networks throughout the GCC and Egypt, along with the internationally recognized funds networks, which means that it’s typically an costly course of for e-commerce firms to broaden their providing regionally.
Faucet Funds’ system unifies the industrial and technical points of every native fee community so that companies might settle for funds from one other area. The corporate’s options embody a fee gateway that accepts funds on-line and on cellular, in addition to peer-to-peer fee request options so companies can ship fee hyperlinks to clients.
“We’re happy with the expansion fee of our operations in Bahrain, because of the best-in-class enterprise and regulatory surroundings,” stated Ali Abulhasan, Co-Founder and CEO of Faucet Funds. “We’re eager to function beneath a developed regulatory surroundings that pulls monetary innovation. We respect the welcoming surroundings that the EDB has put in place to draw our funding in Bahrain and worth the function of the CBB in guiding us via establishing a wholesome regulatory setup that helps our monetary actions within the nation. In lower than a yr, our native crew was in a position to safe a big variety of purchasers in Bahrain and the broader area.
“With our working mannequin, we’re filling a region-wide fee options market hole for any dimension of enterprise with a particular angle centered on SMEs, at a really aggressive worth proposition. Faucet Funds’ enterprise mannequin is worthwhile and fewer dangerous. Our resolution means clients can purchase merchandise on-line from one other nation within the GCC whereas nonetheless utilizing their house nation’s fee technique and forex.
“These native fee networks make up an enormous per cent of on-line funds in a lot of the GCC international locations – 65 per cent in Bahrain, 80 per cent in Kuwait and 70 per cent in Saudi Arabia. So, companies want to think about how vital their attain to the markets is and now not downplay their impression.”
Dalal Buhejji, Govt Director – Funding Origination at Bahrain’s Financial Improvement Board (EDB), added: “We’re delighted to see Faucet Funds’ fast progress in Bahrain, benefiting from our sturdy, agile and pioneering monetary companies ecosystem. By working with firms like Faucet Funds, we proceed to encourage progress in e-commerce, a sector that’s anticipated to succeed in $50billion throughout the GCC by 2025. The younger, tech-savvy inhabitants we’ve got right here will provide Faucet Funds’ new hub with all of the native expertise it wants. Actually, over 65 per cent of the monetary companies workforce within the Kingdom are Bahrainis.”