Fintech: A force for financial inclusion in Palestine

Fintech: A force for financial inclusion in Palestine

Majd Zghyer is the strategy officer at uMake, an entrepreneurship support organisation (ESO) based in Ramallah, Palestine.

This year has seen shifting investor appetite towards innovative startups that aim to disrupt and transform the financial services industry. A recent report by KPMG recorded that in the first half (H1) of 2021, investments in financial technology (fintech) companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) reached $39.1 billion across 792 deals – almost double  the fintech investments of 2020 which totalled $26. Importantly, the global fintech market is anticipated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 20 per cent over the next four years.

The global boom in fintech investments in 2021 points to the enormous opportunities that are being unlocked in this dynamic and rapidly evolving space in the post Covid-19 era. Indeed, transformative and bigger opportunities have been made possible through advancements in digital technologies including big data, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, crypto-assets and blockchain. Strictly speaking, these technologies have resulted in the proliferation of fintech startups that aim to provide efficient and cost-competitive solutions to problems in various subsectors such as payments, open banking, personal finances, wealth management, insurance services and many others.