INTERVIEW: ‘BaaS represents a $7trln opportunity’ – Finastra Middle East

INTERVIEW: ‘BaaS represents a $7trln opportunity’ – Finastra Middle East

Open banking and open finance adoption are accelerating in the Middle East. Financial services players are already embracing APIs to facilitate data exchanges and enable collaboration between banks, financial institutions, corporates and fintechs.

Zawya spoke with Serge Tohme, Vice President of Sales MEA – Treasury and Capital Markets, at Finastra, the global financial services software company, to get a glimpse into the future of financial services in the region.

What are the services Finastra offers in the Middle East/GCC region, and who are your key clients?

We support over 230 banks in the MEA, including financial institutions such as Banque Misr, which selected Finastra’s Fusion Trade Innovation and Fusion Corporate Channels to digitalise its trade finance services and provide its customers with a premium user experience.

Additionally, the National Bank of Bahrain and Banque Saudi Fransi use Fusion Kondor for automated treasury operations, enabling the banks to reduce risks, grow and provide new capital markets products and services to clients.

We also partnered with the Union of Arab Banks to help enhance the digital services of financial institutions across the Arab League member states. Finastra and UABdigital, the Union’s digital arm, will create a model digital bank licensed to Union of Arab Banks members to