UAE - The Rising Hub for Fintech Sector

Dubai is known as an important investment center where businessmen can analyze and test the market in various fields, especially where there is interest for innovation and technology. Most commonly used and talked about thing in business world today is “Fintech”. Let’s first understand what exactly is Fintech? Financial technology, abbreviated as “fintech”, is the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing services and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies aiming to make financial services more accessible to the general public.

Conditions to Start a Fintech Company in Dubai

Fintech companies can be set up in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), one of the city’s most important and developed free zones. The process starts with the “innovation testing license” (ITL) which is issued by Dubai Financial Services Authority. There is no minimum share capital required, which makes a businessman more inclined to establish a fintech company in Dubai. A fintech company can offer varied products for financial entities interested in developing their tech area to provide quality, fast and reliable services for their clients. All kinds of applications that can help in easing the transactions or exchanges like Electronic bill payments, online payments, internet banking, inside country or abroad are among important facilities a financial company must provide for its customers. One important aspect to be kept in mind is that a fintech company in Dubai needs to use innovation when designing its products and services for a financial entity and it must be ready to test and implement the services with the clients. The financial market in Dubai is much ahead in terms of tech requirements required in current times, which is why fintech companies have met a huge development in the past years and are in continuous search of providing top quality services.

Government Support

The government of Dubai sustains the financial development in every way and has always offered support for all entrepreneurs who wish to have a setup in this field. Plenty of programs have been introduced, to help fintech companies to develop in a fast and consistent manner. The FinTech Hive, the UAE Innovation Strategy, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy and the Dubai Future Accelerators are among important programs which help fintech companies in Dubai to progress in the financial sector. Below are few statistics that reflects the way FINTECH industry has evolved

• Talking about fintech landscape in MENA region, UAE was at the top for having maximum startups in the segment & $237 million investments have been made in the last 4 years in MENA’s fintech companies
• Fintech has been the most preferred start up option that surpassed other sectors like e-commerce business, food & beverage, IT, healthcare and education
• The overall funding in 2018-2019 was $74 million, where most of the funding was for accelerator program in the segment
• Fintech companies with a focus on payments and remittances topped the list in deals being made, accounting for 45 per cent of all deals in 2019

This blog post is written by Ms. Divya, Senior Business Advisor at Flyingcolour business setup, accounting & VAT services, who has helped many clients to setup their fintech companies in Dubai and across UAE. Call us for any business setup consultation in UAE. Please send inquiry to info[at]flyingcolour[dot]com or call +971 4 4542366.