India fintech companies invited to set up base in the Kingdom

In a bid to promote Bahrain as financial tech hub, the country is seeking participation from Indian firms to become a part of the growing fintech space in the region, The Economic Times, a leading Indian business daily reported yesterday. Bahrain provides a plethora of opportunities to Indian fintech firms for open banking, blockchain, crypto assets, robo advisory and remittances, the newspaper said.

“Financial service sector is the second biggest contributor to the GDP behind oil and gas and the effort is to grow the sector further,” Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) Senior Manager (business development - financial services) Dalal Buhejji was quoted by the newspaper. “The Central Bank of Bahrain has put in the right ecosystem to support growth and innovation. We have seen different new regulations coming out recently to support open banking, crypto asset trade regulation and draft regulation on robo advisory,” she said.

Bahrain acts as the test bed for innovations in financial services space as the country provides many advantages including low cost of doing business, right accelerator and incubators, among others, she said, adding some Indian companies have applied for sandbox. Generally, sandbox is seen as a safe zone to test financial innovation which sees a limited rollout of new products to select customers. Terming India as a key market, Buhejji said EDB had a roadshow in Mumbai to attract fintech companies in December.

The EDB, the investment promotion arm of Bahrain, also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to provide a framework for co-operation to promote fintech in their respective markets. To promote startups, a public private partnership platform in the name of Bahrain Fintech Bay has been created that provides physical space for fintech companies, the newspaper added.