Al Baraka Banking Group partners with Bahrain FinTech Bay

Manama, Feb. 27 (BNA): Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is delighted to announce its partnership with Bahrain FinTech Bay, the largest FinTech Hub in the MENA region. This partnership comes as part of series of FinTech initiatives that Al Baraka Banking Group is taking towards establishing an innovation culture and embracing the development of Islamic Finance in the age of digitalization and technological disruption. The Group has recently announced the launch of world’s first Islamic FinTech consortium "ALGO" along with its partners, Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain) and Bahrain Development Bank. That is in addition to number of FinTech activities taking place in Al Baraka’s subsidiary in Turkey such as the establishment of Al Baraka Garage, which acts as an accelerator for technology and FinTech startups, also the organization of Al Baraka FinTech Hackathon, where it has received more than 500 applications from all over Turkey. It is worth noting that as part of Al Baraka’s strategy towards digitalization and FinTech, Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group has announced that the Bank will be expanding into new markets through establishing a digital bank in Germany. Meanwhile, Mr. Ahmed Albalooshi, Senior Vice President, Head of IT at Al Baraka Banking Group mentioned that "In Al Baraka we believe that partnerships and collaboration in the age digitalization and FinTech is the key for development and improving our customer experience. For this reason, today we are announcing that we will be working hand in hand with Bahrain FinTech Bay to achieve our goals". He also added that "we believe that the opportunities in the FinTech space are tremendous for our growth specially that we are existing in 16 markets globally". In this regard, Khalid Saad, Chief Executive Officer of Bahrain FinTech Bay, said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Al Baraka Banking Group on this important national initiative. This partnership will further Bahrain’s FinTech ecosystem and help position it as both a regional hub as well as a global Islamic FinTech hub." Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term) / A2 (bh) (short term) on the national by Islamic International Rating Agency & Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor's at BB+ (long term) / B (short term). Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari'a. The authorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2.1 billion. The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in 16 countries, which in turn provide their services through over 700 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, including two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.