Beehive and Direct Debit System partnership fuels $1 Bbillion in digital SME funding - Middle East Business News and Information
Direct Debit System (DDS), the fintech platform for automated collections, licensed by UAE Central Bank, is celebrating its one-year partnership with Beehive, the first peer-to-peer lending platform in the MENA region to be regulated by the DFSA. The milestone comes as Beehive surpasses USD 1 billion in SME financing across the GCC. The year of collaboration has enabled Beehive to execute collections and repayments in a paperless, secure, and instantly reconcilable environment, by replacing legacy cheque-based processes with DDS's fully digital direct debit solution, powered by UAE PASS.
'Reaching the USD 1 billion milestone is a testament to Beehive's commitment to fueling SME growth in this country,' said Vivek Harikrishnan, Head of Product & COO at DDS. 'Our direct debit integration eliminates the delays and risks inherent in manual cheque handling, meaning no more lost cheques, no more uncertainty over collection timing or signature mismatch. Beehive's finance team now enjoys end-to-end visibility, IBAN validation, the ability to postpone and retry collections digitally, automated notifications, and same-day reconciliation, so they can focus entirely on supporting SMEs in the UAE to scale their business.'
Since integrating DDS's API-driven direct debit technology, Beehive has achieved a number of milestones to streamline processes. The platform has gone paperless, meaning the entire loan disbursement and repayment cycles are now handled electronically, cutting out physical paperwork and courier delays. Operational hassle has been reduced with automated mandate management and UAE PASS authorization, removing the need for manual signature hunting, drastically lowering back-office overheads. The reconciliation process has also been accelerated, with real-time transaction reporting and instant settlement data shortening reconciliation times from days to hours.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Jason Stewart, Head of Partnerships and Products at Beehive, stated, 'At Beehive, we've always believed that SME finance should be fast, secure, and frictionless. Our partnership with DDS has allowed us to digitize and streamline a core part of that journey, collections and repayments.'
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About Direct Debit System
Direct Debit System is the UAE's first Central Bank–licensed platform offering digital, paperless direct-debit collections from bank accounts and credit cards. The solution automates recurring payments for school fees, rents, memberships, loan repayments and more—replacing cheques, unnecessary credit card charges and manual follow-ups with secure and bank -bank direct settlement process that simplify cash-flow management for businesses of all sizes. The Direct Debit solution is now widely used by education institutions, real estate firms, service industries as well as most of the leading alternative lending platforms. Find out more at https://www.directdebit.ae/
About Beehive
Founded in 2014, Beehive is the first peer-to-peer lending platform in the MENA region to be regulated by the DFSA. Headquartered in Dubai, Beehive connects businesses seeking finance with investors willing to support their growth, offering a faster, more affordable funding option for SMEs. Through technology and a commitment to supporting regional businesses, Beehive has become a trusted partner for SMEs across the GCC. Learn more at https://www.beehive.ae/
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