Dubai-based FinTech VaultsPay and US digital payments company Wibmo are to roll out a prepaid card platform that aims to accelerate financial inclusion in the Middle East by serving the needs of the underbanked.
The prepaid card will help ease the financial transactions and salary deposits of blue-collar workers who may not have bank accounts or the resources to carry out online transactions, the two companies said on Thursday.
“With millions of people who serve in unskilled jobs, their participation in seamless financial transactions and online engagement is limited,” said Mohammed Afifi, chief executive of VaultsPay.
“As the region pivots to digitalisation and the move towards cashless transactions, our solution aims to drive economic inclusion for a large pool of unbanked and underbanked people.”
About 22 per cent of the GCC's population is unbanked, compared with 60 per cent in North Africa, according to consultancy Strategy&.
Seventy-nine per cent of young adults in the Middle East and North Africa region are unbanked and 72 per cent of the poorest citizens can benefit from financial inclusion, according to the Arab Monetary Fund.
Set to go live in the third quarter of this year, the prepaid card platform will be launched across the GCC in stages.
Through the platform, companies will be able to pay employees by depositing their salaries into prepaid accounts. Employees can use the prepaid cards to withdraw money for payments in shops.
The UAE's Wage Protection System, which was introduced in 2009, requires private companies to transfer the salaries of employees to bank accounts on fixed dates to avoid fines.
All companies registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation must subscribe to the WPS and pay salaries through the system, according to ministerial decree No 739 of 2016.
Salary transfers can be done through banks, exchange houses and other financial institutions that have been authorised to provide the service.
Under the partnership, VaultsPay will leverage Wibmo’s prepaid platform to build card issuance capabilities that can be configured to specific requirements, the statement said.
“We will build a complete issuance ecosystem that will drive multi-institutional transaction processing and corporate payments serving both workers and corporates,” said Chitrajit Chakrabarti, head of Middle East and Africa at Wibmo.
Wibmo, which is based in California, is a subsidiary of PayU and works with more than 130 banks across 28 countries.
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Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
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There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
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Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
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