AFS selects Brankas to Strengthen MENA Open Finance Infrastructure

In this new partnership, AFS will work with Brankas to create direct bank integrations to allow for easy credit scoring, payroll disbursements, account-to-account payments, and new bank account openings.

Manama, 13 February 2023 — Brankas, a Singapore-based fintech, today announced that it has been appointed by Arab Financial Services (AFS), the leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler in the Middle East and Africa, to provide new and improved open finance infrastructure in the region.

Brankas is a leading open finance technology company with an established network across the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 2016, Brankas technology enables embedded finance and banking-as-a-service for the region’s top financial institutions and is integrated with over 100 enterprise partners to enable broader financial inclusion.

This new partnership with AFS will see Brankas bring its established open finance practices to MENA to promote more inclusive financial services in countries including Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The APIs that will be made available through AFS’ platform are critical in allowing tech platforms to offer essential financial services such as credit scoring, payroll disbursement, account-to-account payments, and new bank account openings.

Samer Soliman, Chief Executive Officer of Arab Financial Services (AFS) said: “Today, AFS already works with over fifty regional banking institutions. This strategic move to integrate with the banks’ infrastructure is a natural step in our expansion and innovation. Our vision is to empower our clients to deliver relevant and customer-centric products that positively impact the lives of customers, and we are proud to partner with a well-established open finance vendor like Brankas to help us achieve our goal.”

In 2020, the Central Bank of Bahrain (“CBB”) launched the Bahrain Open Banking Framework (Bahrain OBF) to ensure holistic implementation of Open Banking services by the industry. The framework includes detailed operational guidelines, security standards and guidelines, customer experience guidelines, technical open API specifications, and the overall governance framework needed to protect customer data.

For Brankas, this move represents its entry into new MENA markets as it sets its sights on establishing a global open finance network following successful partnerships in 2022 with Visa, CRIF, among others.

“Financial inclusion forms the foundation of everything we do at Brankas. We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to work with AFS to hone our open finance expertise in a new market with its own regulatory bodies. Bahrain is leading the charge in the region to drive the holistic adoption of open finance, and we look forward to working with the visionaries here to improve the availability and quality of financial services for the everyday person.” said Todd Schweitzer, CEO and Co-founder of Brankas.

About Brankas

Brankas is a leading global open finance technology provider. We provide API-based solutions, data and payments solutions for financial service providers (like banks, lenders and e-wallets) and online businesses. Brankas partners with banks to build and manage their open finance infrastructure, producing APIs for real-time payments, identity and data, new account opening, remittances, and more. With Brankas’ secure open banking technology, online businesses, fintech companies and digital banks can use Brankas APIs to create new digital experiences for their users.

About AFS

Arab Financial Services was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment ecosystem.

A key to the growing and continued success of the company was an executive team determined to invest in the most up-to-date, leading-edge technologies. AFS is owned by a total of 37 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across MEA.

Today, AFS is the region’s leading digital payment solutions provider and Fintech enabler, regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

AFS’s innovative approach to the provision of financial services is evidenced by a series of pioneering payment services that covers card processing services, merchant acquiring, fintech solutions and an impressive array of value-added services.

The emphasis that AFS places on innovation has positioned the company as a driving market force, delivering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including digital mobile wallets, customer orientated Merchant Acquiring services; Bahrain’s leading digital payroll solution Al Rateb, global Contact Centers and much more.

Trusted by businesses across the region AFS has been recognized as the “Best Payments Solutions Provider – Bahrain” by MEA Finance Awards 2022, “Best New Payment Solutions Provider for MSME Business Bahrain 2022" by Global Business Magazine, “Leading Payments Innovator Bahrain 2022” by Global Business Outlook and “Best Payment Solution Provider Bahrain 2022” by Global Banking & Finance Review.

Visit www.afs.com.bh for more information and join the conversation on LinkedIn.