Helping Series A+ fintechs Expand and Sell in GCC | Partnerships • Sales Growth • Market Entry | Founder – The Founders Majlis | Chair, MENA Fintech Association | Ex-Mastercard
Kuwait: GCC’s quiet BFSI story In the BFSI and fintech world, Kuwait rarely makes headlines. No big conferences. Few unicorn stories. But after multiple trips, I can tell you it’s one of the most interesting markets in the region. Here’s the flavor: • Banks: KFH, NBK, Boubyan, Burgan - strong retail and Islamic players, many still modernising their cores. • Wealth & investment: Markaz and others experimenting with digital wealth and brokerage tools. • Payments: Tap Payments, MyFatoorah are active. KNET remains the backbone for debit cards and real-time rails. Its real-time payment system “WAMD” onboarded ~30% of banked Kuwaitis in just 3 months - 12× transaction growth. Next is P2M merchant payments. • Telcos: Zain and others are pushing beyond connectivity into digital finance. • Regulator (CBK): building open banking frameworks and e-payment regulations. • Consumers: Apple Pay launched here later than the rest of key GCC markets, but consumer adoption has been one of the fastest. Compared to Saudi or UAE: • Less competitive. • More relationship-driven. • Entry is complex, but partnerships are sticky once you are in. Kuwait may not shout like Dubai or Riyadh. But sometimes the markets that stay quiet are the ones with the most untapped potential.
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Yes and KNET’s dominance makes Kuwait a fascinating case... single-rail systems can either bottleneck or accelerate innovation depending on how open they stay
UAE Business Set Up Expert with 15 years of UAE Banking experience
1moGreat breakdown! Kuwait may not make headlines, but it’s clearly building a strong, steady foundation in BFSI and fintech, one to watch closely.