Fintech platform is driving innovation

MANAMA: Bahrain’s open application programme interface (API) sandbox is now fully operational with 150 apps connected and over 570,000 API calls made during the last quarter of 2020, it has emerged.

The open API sandbox enables banks and other financial institutions in Bahrain to seamlessly integrate with fintechs to support them in their digital transformation journeys.

Reviewing progress on FinHub973, Bahrain’s digital lab launched in October last year, a statement by Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) yesterday said more than 100 regional and global fintechs have been onboarded since the AI-powered marketplace went live.

The announcement follows FinHub973’s first virtual meeting of the year chaired by CBB Governor Rasheed Al Maraj and attended by the executive leadership of the regulator’s strategic partners in the lab including Bank ABC deputy group chief executive Sael AlWaary, Bahrain Islamic Bank chief executive Hassan Jarrar, Benefit Company chief executive Abdulwahed Janahi, Economic Development Board financial services manager Yasmeen AlSaffar and Fintech Galaxy founder and chief executive Mirna Sleiman.

FinHub973 is the Mena region’s first cross-border digital innovation platform that connects and facilitates collaboration between financial institutions and fintechs under the supervision of the CBB.

Powered by Fintech Galaxy, FinHub973 enables the testing and prototyping of innovative solutions on a centralised digital sandbox, leading to more rapid digital transformation in the banking sector.

The meeting also discussed the roadmap of the CBB’s end-to-end Regulatory Sandbox process via FinHub973, with the launch of a minimum viable product targeted for the second quarter of the year.

The regulator and strategic partners were also briefed on a number of new features to be introduced on FinHub973 over the course of the year.

Each of the strategic partner banks presented the innovation challenges that they have conducted on FinHub973, as well as those that are curently in progress, expressing how the platform is boosting their internal and external innovation activities.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/937092/Fintech-platform-is-driving-innovation