Open banking platform Tarabut Gateway has secured a licence by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to provide money services in and from the Dubai International Financial Centre.
It marks the first time the DFSA — the independent regulator of financial services in the DIFC — has authorised a company to provide account information services and payment initiation services activities.
“There is a huge potential for open banking across the UAE and the region, and it is the commitment from regulators and authorities that helps companies like ours take those initial steps,” Abdulla Almoayed, founder and chief executive of Tarabut Gateway, said in a statement on Thursday.
“We look forward to working in close collaboration with DIFC to drive innovation in financial services,” he added.
Mr Almoayed started Tarabut Gateway in 2017 to create an open banking platform, using Application Programming Interfacing, or APIs, to allow banking systems to integrate with each other and with the growing band of regional FinTech companies.
An open banking platform gives a customer the ability to access accounts from different banks, credit card providers and other financial services companies in one place, allowing them to instantly transfer payments between several accounts.
Tarabut Gateway provides the software to facilitate this, and charges the banks to use it under a "software as a service model".
Regulators across the region are warming up to the potential benefits of open banking. Abu Dhabi Global Market published its framework for open banking last April.
Open banking enables more choice and efficiency for customers as well as more product innovation for financial institutions, said Salmaan Jaffery, chief business development officer at the DIFC.
“Attracting leading FinTech companies is in line with our strategy to create a global innovation ecosystem in Dubai that can contribute to shaping and developing the future of finance,” Mr Jaffery said.
Tarabut Gateway, which has partnerships with multiple banks, financial institutions and FinTech companies across the region, raised $13 million in a seed funding round last February, led by Berlin-based venture capital firm Target Global. It was followed by another $12m in a pre-Series A led funding round by Tiger Global.
With offices across Bahrain and the UAE, Tarabut Gateway went live with its API infrastructure in December 2019.
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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