How fintech innovations are helping the unbanked across the GCC

How fintech innovations are helping the unbanked across the GCC

Covid-19 has been a massive global disruptor on the way we live, work, eat and shop.

But a common thread across all these aspects has been the massive decline in cash usage. Indeed, in some countries like the UK and Italy, ATM withdrawals fell by 60-90 per cent in the early days of the pandemic. Although they have now recovered, for the UK they are still 35 per cent down from the past year and the CEO of the largest ATM operator in UK has said that cash machines may disappear altogether in the coming years.

But this is not just a European story; even in this region, a recent report by payment gateway checkout.com shows that digital transactions have surged 85 per cent and that 47 per cent of buyers are more likely to shop online and pay digitally. While this is great news for e-commerce players and digital providers, it raises an interesting question - how do the people who are not banked pay without cash?

More than two billion adults globally do not have access to a bank account. Even in the GCC, we estimate around 70 per cent of the adult population does not have a