Bahrain's Arab Financial Services wants to put its stamp on UAE's payments processing market
Dubai: UAE consumers and businesses have any number of ways to make their payments – digital wallets, credit/debit/pre-paid cards, and, when needed, some cash too.
But these days, it's not just the sheer number of payments options that are available, the choices even extends to payment processing platforms too. The UAE has Magnati and Network International alongside the global names Visa and Mastercard. There are others too – and it is into this fray that Bahrain's Arab Financial Services logged in earlier this year.
It followed the granting of a 'retail Payment Services License – Category 2 from the UAE Central Bank. And which meant AFS could provide its set of payment solutions. But in an already crowded UAE payments marketplace, how can AFS build up a spot?
That's exactly what Samer Soliman, CEO of Arab Financial Services, is intent on doing.
Within the UAE's payments processing space, is there any sub-category AFS will focus on?
We were founded in Bahrain 40 years ago as a traveler's cheques business, then we pivoted into processing. Recently, we got into (merchant) acquiring business, and once we did that, we decided that we needed to be in four key markets across Middle East - Bahrain. Oman, Egypt and UAE. There is a fifth market, but I don't want to get into those details…
But why get into the acquiring space? Was it about higher margins?
We were looking at expanding on the value chain a little bit more. Yes, we realize the penetration in the UAE market is quite high – but we wanted to get into a market with a value proposition for merchants. Even one that's already highly penetrated.
Then you look at the merchants: what do they really need? He needs to get his money settled fast and as AFS, we need to have a ready solution for that. The merchant needs to have a bridge for his funds.
We have partnered with a financial institution to do that for SMEs.
Additionally, he wants to manage all his outlets at his fingertips. Today, someone using a smartphone can access his various bank accounts and transactions at the same time. Why can't the same ease be provided for the acquiring space. When we came in, it was the plan to disrupt the current value system.
Arab Financial Services (AFS) was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment eco-system. A key to the growing and continued success of the company was an executive team determined to invest in the most up-to-date, cutting edge technologies. AFS is owned by a total of 37 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across MEA. Today, AFS is the region's leading digital payment solutions provider and Fintech enabler, regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. AFS's innovative approach to the provision of financial services is evidenced by a series of pioneering payment services that covers card processing services, merchant acquiring, fintech solutions and an impressive array of value-added services. The emphasis that AFS places on innovation has positioned the company as a driving market force, delivering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including digital mobile wallets, customer orientated Merchant Acquiring services; Bahrain's leading digital payroll solution Al Rateb, global Contact Centers and much more.
But your focus being merchants in the SME space?
One of the benefits – as I said earlier – was to enable merchants to manage all his financials while at the shop. He doesn't need to go to the bank, nor does he have to call in. He can get his things done at his fingertips.
The second would be how to give SMEs a service similar to what's given to large-scale merchants. I've been in the payments business for 30 years – what we going to do is help build the second-generation of payments in the UAE.
And you settle funds to merchants earlier than the market average?
The market is running on what we call 'Transaction plus 1', and we are running the same. But which hour of the 'Plus 1' is what makes us different.
There is always room for players who brings in additional benefits. We already have more than 200 customers on-boarded from incumbents in the market.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Zawya
02-06-2025
- Zawya
AFS and Mawarid Finance spearhead digital transformation in credit card services
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain: In a significant leap forward for digital finance, Mawarid Finance, in strategic collaboration with Arab Financial Services (AFS), the leading digital payments solutions provider and fintech enabler across the Middle East and Africa, has officially launched a comprehensive digital application poised to redefine credit card issuance and management. This pioneering initiative underscores a shared commitment to accelerating digital transformation and elevating the customer experience within the financial services landscape. The newly introduced application represents a robust smart solution, offering a fully digitized journey from initial application submission and approval to card issuance and direct, real-time management via a smartphone. This seamless process effectively eliminates the conventional necessity for branch visits or physical signatures, translating directly into considerable time savings and enhanced convenience for customers. This pivotal launch is the direct outcome of a strategic agreement between Mawarid Finance and AFS, meticulously crafted to deliver advanced digital financial solutions. These solutions not only cater to the evolving needs of the local market but also align with prevailing global trends in financial technology. The application empowers users to instantly and securely issue credit cards, seamlessly track transactions, and manage their accounts in real-time, all fortified by state-of-the-art data protection and privacy technologies. The official signing ceremony, marking this collaborative milestone, was attended by key leadership, including Mr. Samer Soliman, CEO of AFS, and Mr. Rashid Al Qubaisi, CEO of Mawarid Finance. Both executives emphasized the profound significance of this partnership in stimulating innovation and expanding the breadth of digital services accessible within the vibrant UAE financial market. Commenting on this transformative development, Mr. Rashid Al Qubaisi stated: "At Mawarid Finance, our core commitment revolves around delivering digital solutions that not only meet but exceed our customers' expectations. This innovative platform is a testament to our relentless pursuit of empowering customers with secure, efficient, and exceptionally easy access to our comprehensive suite of products." Echoing this sentiment, Mr. Samer Soliman added: "This collaboration exemplifies a highly successful model of integration between established financial institutions and agile fintech companies. Together, we are meticulously crafting and delivering innovative digital experiences that not only adhere to rigorous global standards but also provide users with an intuitively seamless and highly secure financial journey." This strategic launch is an integral component of Mawarid Finance's broader vision to expand its customer base and introduce agile, digital-first products designed to support the diverse needs of both individual consumers and corporate entities, thereby significantly accelerating access to modern, secure, and user-centric financial services across the region. AFS Media Relations Email: pr@ About AFS: Arab Financial Services (AFS) was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment ecosystem. AFS is owned by 37 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across the Middle East and Africa. Today, AFS is the region's leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler. Regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Central Bank of Egypt and licensed by the Central Bank of UAE, its dedication to innovation has made AFS a driving force in the market offering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including Open Banking Hub, popular digital wallets, market-leading merchant acquisition services, digital payroll solutions and more. Providing the highest quality payments solutions that are trusted by businesses, AFS has offices and data centers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Arab Republic of Egypt, Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. About Mawarid: Mawarid Finance PJSC is an Islamic finance and investments group licensed by the UAE Central Bank. Mawarid Finance was formed in 2006 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a paid-up capital of AED 1 billion to launch a new vision in Islamic Finance by adding more value to the industry through developing innovative Shariah compliant products for both individual and corporate customers Mawarid was founded upon and continues to believe in Innovation. We aim to be different, unique and 'special' in everything we do. Mawarid's focus has also been on supporting and developing the national economy through the provision of Islamic financial products and services for small & medium enterprises, enabling them to grow and in turn fostering the growth of the economy. Over the years, Mawarid's strategic approach has been on emerging from an Islamic financial services company to a Conglomerate building synergy through the acquisition of complimentary and supplementary shariah compliant businesses. Today, Mawarid maintains a healthy and well diversified portfolio of investments across a wide spectrum of industry sectors and asset classes across the MENA region Mawarid Finance in its young history has collected several awards, locally and internationally, in business, gained ISO 9001:2008 certification, and is considered as a very successful brand in the UAE.
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Zawya
Paytm appoints Ramana Kumar as CEO for Middle East business
DELHI NCR, India--(BUSINESS WIRE/AETOSWire)-- Paytm (One97 Communications Limited), India's leading payments and financial services distribution company and pioneer of mobile payments, QR codes and Soundbox, today announced the appointment of Mr. Ramana Kumar as Chief Executive Officer for its Middle East business. He brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the fintech, payments, and banking sectors along with deep expertise in driving innovation and business growth in financial services. Before joining Paytm, Mr. Kumar was the founding CEO of Magnati, a leading payments company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a subsidiary of First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), where he led key initiatives to modernize payment systems and drive business growth. He also served as Executive Vice President at FAB, overseeing the bank's payments and digital banking businesses. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Banking – Product and Business Management at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), where he played a key role in developing digital banking and payment solutions. Over the years, Mr. Kumar has built a strong reputation for creating scalable, innovative, and secure payment solutions. Mr. Kumar will lead Paytm's expansion in the UAE and the broader Middle East, focusing on developing digital payment solutions tailored to local needs. He will leverage the company's proven technology and expertise as a pioneer of mobile payments and payment devices in India to drive regional growth. His appointment marks a key step in Paytm's journey to bring its digital financial services to new international markets. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO - Paytm said, 'We welcome Ramana, who has built a formidable merchant payments business in the UAE. We aim to serve the region by building and bringing strong regional leadership, backed by our proven technology.' Mr. Ramana Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Middle East, Paytm said, 'I am excited to join Paytm and lead its Middle East business. The region is rapidly adopting digital payments, and there's a strong demand for innovative, secure, and scalable solutions. Paytm's technology, built and refined in India, is well-suited to meet these needs. We will work closely with regulators and ecosystem partners to introduce impactful innovations and strengthen the digital payments landscape.' The company sees strong potential to expand its technology-driven merchant payments and financial services distribution model to international markets. Paytm is exploring select global opportunities as part of its long-term growth strategy, with meaningful results expected over the next few years. About Paytm Paytm is India's leading mobile payments and financial services distribution company. Pioneer of the mobile QR payments revolution in India, Paytm builds technologies that help small businesses with payments and commerce. Paytm's mission is to serve half a billion Indians and bring them to the mainstream economy with the help of technology. View source version on *Source: AETOSWire Contacts
Gulf News
25-04-2025
- Gulf News
Bahrain's Arab Financial Services wants to put its stamp on UAE's payments processing market
Dubai: UAE consumers and businesses have any number of ways to make their payments – digital wallets, credit/debit/pre-paid cards, and, when needed, some cash too. But these days, it's not just the sheer number of payments options that are available, the choices even extends to payment processing platforms too. The UAE has Magnati and Network International alongside the global names Visa and Mastercard. There are others too – and it is into this fray that Bahrain's Arab Financial Services logged in earlier this year. It followed the granting of a 'retail Payment Services License – Category 2 from the UAE Central Bank. And which meant AFS could provide its set of payment solutions. But in an already crowded UAE payments marketplace, how can AFS build up a spot? That's exactly what Samer Soliman, CEO of Arab Financial Services, is intent on doing. Within the UAE's payments processing space, is there any sub-category AFS will focus on? We were founded in Bahrain 40 years ago as a traveler's cheques business, then we pivoted into processing. Recently, we got into (merchant) acquiring business, and once we did that, we decided that we needed to be in four key markets across Middle East - Bahrain. Oman, Egypt and UAE. There is a fifth market, but I don't want to get into those details… But why get into the acquiring space? Was it about higher margins? We were looking at expanding on the value chain a little bit more. Yes, we realize the penetration in the UAE market is quite high – but we wanted to get into a market with a value proposition for merchants. Even one that's already highly penetrated. Then you look at the merchants: what do they really need? He needs to get his money settled fast and as AFS, we need to have a ready solution for that. The merchant needs to have a bridge for his funds. We have partnered with a financial institution to do that for SMEs. Additionally, he wants to manage all his outlets at his fingertips. Today, someone using a smartphone can access his various bank accounts and transactions at the same time. Why can't the same ease be provided for the acquiring space. When we came in, it was the plan to disrupt the current value system. Arab Financial Services (AFS) was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment eco-system. A key to the growing and continued success of the company was an executive team determined to invest in the most up-to-date, cutting edge technologies. AFS is owned by a total of 37 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across MEA. Today, AFS is the region's leading digital payment solutions provider and Fintech enabler, regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. AFS's innovative approach to the provision of financial services is evidenced by a series of pioneering payment services that covers card processing services, merchant acquiring, fintech solutions and an impressive array of value-added services. The emphasis that AFS places on innovation has positioned the company as a driving market force, delivering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including digital mobile wallets, customer orientated Merchant Acquiring services; Bahrain's leading digital payroll solution Al Rateb, global Contact Centers and much more. But your focus being merchants in the SME space? One of the benefits – as I said earlier – was to enable merchants to manage all his financials while at the shop. He doesn't need to go to the bank, nor does he have to call in. He can get his things done at his fingertips. The second would be how to give SMEs a service similar to what's given to large-scale merchants. I've been in the payments business for 30 years – what we going to do is help build the second-generation of payments in the UAE. And you settle funds to merchants earlier than the market average? The market is running on what we call 'Transaction plus 1', and we are running the same. But which hour of the 'Plus 1' is what makes us different. There is always room for players who brings in additional benefits. We already have more than 200 customers on-boarded from incumbents in the market.
