Qatar Progresses Open Banking Push to Drive Islamic Fintech Innovation

Qatar is positioning itself as a regional hub for open banking and Islamic Fintech, supported by robust regulatory frameworks, advanced API infrastructure, and strategic partnerships, according to the latest Islamic Finance Report by the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC). The report outlines how Doha is building a pioneering open banking ecosystem aimed at transforming the financial…

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Fintech Bolt lands Klarna as a partner

Klarna and Bolt have recently announced a partnership, which will see Klarna’s payment options integrated into Bolt’s checkout operating system. This deal means Klarna will show up as a buy now, pay later choice on Bolt devices. Merchants using Bolt can offer Klarna’s Pay in 4 or monthly financing options to shoppers in physical stores,…

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Carlyle teams up with Citi to invest in fintech lenders

Investment firm Carlyle Group has partnered with U.S. banking giant Citigroup  to provide asset-backed financing to fintech lenders, the companies said on Thursday. As part of the partnership, Carlyle and Citi will share market intelligence, and explore co-investment and financing opportunities, the companies added. The rise of fintech lending, fueled by convenient application processes and flexible credit,…

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Swedish FinTech Polar raises €8.6 million for its monetization platform

Stockholm-based, Polar, has announced a €8.6 million Seed funding round to expand its remote-first team across Europe and invest in growth, developer relations, and strategic partnerships throughout the payments ecosystem. The round was led by Accel, with continued backing from Abstract and Mischief, including Angel invetors Guillermo Rauch (Vercel), Paul Copplestone (Supabase), Tobi Lütke and Harley…

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Mastercard and enza collaborate to enable fintech innovation across Africa

Mastercard and enza have collaborated to connect fintech companies across Africa to the Mastercard network. This collaboration will enable fintech players to build propositions on the enza platform that serve both consumers and businesses with embedded Mastercard payment solutions capabilities. According to a report by the European Investment Bank, the number of fintech companies in…

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Walmart uses own fintech firm to provide credit cards after dumping Capital One

Walmart’s majority-owned fintech startup OnePay said Monday it was launching a pair of credit cards with a bank partner for customers of the world’s biggest retailer. OnePay is partnering with Synchrony, a major behind-the-scenes player in retail cards, which will issue the cards and handle underwriting decisions starting in the fall, the companies said. OnePay, which…

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Qatar’s Islamic fintech market to reach QR16.1bn in volumes by 2028

Doha’s Islamic fintech market is expected to record a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the years to 2028, reaching QR16.1bn in total transaction volumes, according to the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) report.”This robust growth is being driven by increasing consumer demand, favorable regulatory frameworks, and strategic investments in fintech infrastructure,” said the report….

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Opentrade Secures £5.5M To Boost Stablecoin Yield Services

OpenTrade, a London-based fintech infrastructure provider, has closed a £5.5 million funding round, led by Notion Capital and Mercury Fund, raising its total capital to around £8.5 million since inception. The investment is earmarked to scale its build-out of real-world asset-backed stablecoin yield services across high-inflation markets in Latin America and Europe. OpenTrade embeds“yield-as-a-service” into…

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