Bahrain ‘regional leader in FinTech sector’

Manama : Bahrain is leading the way in the field of FinTech in the region and can soon become leaders globally as well, according to a senior government official. FinTech is growing quickly in Bahrain as various government initiatives have removed obstacles for the private sector, said the Chief Executive Officer of the Economic Development Board (EDB), Khalid Al Rumaihi. Speaking to Tribune, he said FinTech being a new area, countries are just beginning to get a fix on it and Bahrain has managed to become a leader in the FinTech sector in the region.

“This is a new global phenomenon. Being a young industry, countries are still filling up regulations. Everyone is trying to come to terms, especially with regulations in financial services. You need to protect consumers, money flows, ensure transparency, protect against money laundering etc,” he pointed out. “I see Singapore, and the United Kingdom to be at the forefront globally. We are behind these countries but we are not that far behind. When we look at the region, we are right at the forefront. We have set up an onshore regulatory sandbox and we are the only country in the Middle East to have done this, although some neighbouring cities have a sandbox but are limited to a zone.

“We need to continue to innovate and I don’t believe we should limit ourselves to being a regional leader in the sector; we could become global leaders or be amongst the global leaders. “When I talk about moving to the cloud and blockchain, it is to pursue our goal of how we can continue to push the envelope. By doing this we will attract innovation, from all over the world. They would want to incubate their ideas in Bahrain in a similar fashion as to what is happening in Singapore. “If we are nimble and agile then we have the opportunity to become not only a region leader but also a global one, this is the ambition,” he said.

He said that Bahrain’s leadership as well as the authorities remains all committed to make this happen. “Yesterday we were honoured by HRH the Deputy King visiting the Bahrain Fintech Bay. He reiterated instructions to remove all obstacles to innovation and to continue to encourage innovation. “On the tour were also other senior officials, who also echoed support for innovation. I think the government has done a lot, a regulatory sandbox was introduced and also made it easier for banks and companies to move to cloud computing etc. We are going to put everything in place for FinTech to thrive.”