Arthur Zhuravsky

At Money20/20 Middle East, Aamir Aftab, Chief Product Officer at JazzCash joined Abdulaziz A Aljasser, Ahmed Al-Ben Saleh and Jan Malas on the “Next-Gen Money” fireside chat to discuss how digital financial services are driving inclusive growth across emerging markets. The conversation explored how contactless payments are reshaping the retail landscape in Pakistan. With over 600,000 merchants and powering one-third of all e-commerce transactions, JazzCash is leading the charge in digitizing the country’s merchant ecosystem. Aamir shared how technologies like QR codes and NFC are doing more than speeding up transactions—they’re building trust, unlocking valuable data, and creating new economic opportunities for small businesses and consumers alike. As part of VEON’s broader digital financial strategy, we continue to scale these innovations, helping to make financial systems more inclusive, transparent, and sustainable across frontier markets.

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The GCC region isn’t just going cashless, it’s rewriting the future of money. At Visa GCC Connect 2025, Dr Saeeda Jaffar, SVP & Group Country Manager, GCC at Visa, outlined a bold vision for payments in 2030: • Agentive AI: digital “buddies” that transact on your behalf. • Stablecoins & digital assets: moving into the financial mainstream. • Real-time, borderless payments: making commerce instant and seamless. Yet as innovation accelerates, trust remains non-negotiable. With $12 billion invested in fraud prevention, Visa is ensuring that progress never comes at the cost of security. The GCC isn’t following global trends, it’s setting the pace for the world. Speaking at Visa GCC Connect 2025, Milan, Italy.

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United Arab Bank (UAB) has announced a strategic #partnership with Lune®, a leading UAE-based fintech company specialising in AI-driven transaction enrichment and financial data analytics. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dSxeeTQk United Arab Bank, Lune®, Emre Yalcin, Helal Tariq Lootah, Alexandre Soued #FintechNewsUAE #UnitedArabBank #UAB #Lune #AI #Fintech #MobileBanking #digitalbanking #MiddleEast #BankingTech #UAEFintechNews

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Astra Tech’s flagship platform, botim, has partnered with Jingle Pay to enhance the remittance experience for Pakistani users in the UAE. This strategic collaboration introduces faster, more transparent, and user-friendly money transfers directly within the botim app.   Users can continue to choose from trusted local options including bank deposits, cash pickup, or wallet credit, now with improved integration and competitive PKR exchange rates.   By combining Jingle Pay’s licensed financial infrastructure with botim’s scale and accessibility, this partnership makes cross-border payments simpler and more seamless. It also builds on botim’s redesigned interface, developed to make sending money as intuitive as everyday communication.

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Walid Hassouna, CEO & Founder at Valu, joins Patricia Wu at Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh to discuss the dynamic #fintech landscape in the region, which has seen rapid growth since its early days focused primarily on payments. Walid highlights how the introduction of consumer lending, inspired by the global buy now pay later trend, marked a significant shift in the industry. #fintech

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📢 Live in Oman. Mamun is now providing embedded finance liquidity to merchants on Paymob creating real impact for SMEs while opening wealth opportunities for investors. With Paymob’s trusted payment infrastructure powering thousands of businesses, this step ensures that merchants in Oman can access seamless finance at the point of payment, strengthening cash flow and fueling growth. 🌍 Oman is just the beginning — we’re building the future of embedded finance across the region.

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Our team is back from Money20/20 Middle East, where they connected with fintech leaders, innovators, and policymakers shaping the future of finance across the region. A few themes consistently came up in their conversations: 🤝 Cross-border and interoperability – With the Middle East’s diverse markets and high levels of international trade, the ability to move money seamlessly across borders isn’t just a convenience, it’s a growth enabler. Regulators and innovators alike are asking how infrastructure can catch up with demand. 🤖 AI – Far beyond chatbots, AI is being explored for smarter compliance, fraud detection, and hyper-personalised financial experiences. The challenge now is balancing innovation with trust, governance, and transparency. 🏦 Digital assets & tokenisation – From real-world assets to central bank digital currencies, tokenisation is gaining traction as a way to increase liquidity, efficiency, and financial inclusion. Leaders are keen to understand where the real business cases will emerge first. 📈 Open banking – With adoption accelerating in the region, open banking is moving from regulatory mandate to commercial opportunity. The discussion is shifting to “what’s next” – how ecosystems will monetise data, create new partnerships, and unlock value for customers. The team left Riyadh energised and more convinced than ever that the Middle East is set to become a truly dynamic fintech hub. What were your biggest takeaways?

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🔥 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗖𝗖 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵! Mastercard is partnering with one of our portfolio companies, qlub, to transform digital and contactless payments across the region. This includes a minority investment from Mastercard, plus rolling out Mastercard Gateway to enable card-not-present transactions in markets like the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. 🌟 With qlub’s QR-based payment tech already live in 3,000+ restaurants and serving 3M+ users, this partnership pushes them further into seamless dining experiences with speed, security, and scale. 🌏 Congratulations to Eyad Alkassar, Dr. Mahmoud Fouz, and the Qlub team on building the rails for the future of hospitality payments 👏 👉 Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gD2iSTgk #Shorooq #Venturecapital #Credit #Privateequity #Investments #Qlub #Mastercard #Fintech #DigitalPayments #GCC #HospitalityTech

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Dubai-based payments gateway Telr has partnered with fintech newcomer Kema to transform B2B payments in the Middle East. Under the leadership of Khalil Alami and Michael Ghandour, the collaboration aims to streamline invoicing and cross-border payments for SMEs, offering solutions that integrate seamlessly with popular accounting software. ✅ Telr, established in 2014, facilitates transactions in over 120 currencies and 30 languages, solidifying its presence with a UAE Central Bank Retail Payment Services licence. ✅ Kema, launched in 2023, focuses on accelerating collections and managing receivables for small businesses, leveraging automation to cut late payments by 60%. ✅ The partnership seeks to convert static invoices into dynamic checkout pages using Telr’s payment links, potentially doubling Kema’s B2B card payment processing next year. ✅ With added features such as compliance, security, and competitive rates, the alliance provides a valuable alternative to traditional banking channels, especially for SMEs in the region. #B2BPayments #FintechInnovation #MiddleEastBusiness #SMEs #DigitalTransformation #Arageek

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