From pearl trade to e-wallets: The rise of digital payments in the GCC

From pearl trade to e-wallets: The rise of digital payments in the GCC

Dalal Buhejji is the director of business development, financial services at the Bahrain Economic Development Board

At the turn of the 20th century, Bahrain's illustrious pearl trade was at its peak. While formal banking was yet to be properly established in the kingdom, a number of savvy merchants took deposits from the pearl traders, which they kept in their shops. In 1919, these deposits were estimated to be worth some 2 million rupees. This exceptional wealth led to the merchants opening branches of their companies in Bombay, where local pearl traders could deposit their money and send it to Bahrain - a kind of early proto-banking. These merchants long opposed the establishment of formal banking, which they saw as being disastrous to their own economic interests. But eventually on 3 June 1920, with the support of the British foreign office, the Oriental Bank officially opened its first branch in Bahrain. Thus, 100 years ago in Bahrain, the GCC banking industry was born.

Since then, the rise of GCC banking has been vertiginous, with Bahrain, the region's oldest and most established banking and financial services centre leading the charge. Today, nearly 400 financial institutions call the island home, enjoying a stable, predictable and proven