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FINTX, the newly minted fintech arm of Emirates Post group, was launched during GITEX Global 2022, which concluded last week, but CEO and Managing Director Ahmed Al Awadi has already laid out strategies to get into a fintech domain.
“We are a well-known UAE Central Bank-licensed company in the UAE with over two decades of experience in the business of financial services. This makes us well-equipped to provide funding, expertise as well as shared support services to startups and help them scale up,” he said.
Al Awadi has four strategies in mind: “We will first transform our existing assets and launch several digital channels with a fintech approach to building customer journeys and experiences.”
The second way, he continued, “is to create a company from scratch, hire new people and invest in technologies. Another way to do that is to partner with like-minded companies. The fourth way is to transform FINTX into a venture capital firm that would not only look for opportunities to invest in existing startups but will also act as an incubator for such startups.”
FINTX’s origins go back to 2005, when Emirates Post Group began acquiring shares in Wall Street Exchange LLC, one of the first exchange houses to be licensed in the UAE. In 2012, Emirates Post Group fully acquired both Wall Street Exchange LLC and the latter’s subsidiary, Instant Cash FZE, which focused on global money transfer.
Fintech company for the future
In 2021, responding to the opportunities created by the UAE Central Bank’s new regulations, Emirates Post Group created United Fintech Solutions as a holding company to anchor Wall Street Exchange LLC and Instant Cash FZE and to explore future opportunities within the sector.
That same year, United Fintech Solutions created Vertex Management Services to manage and provide all the shared functions and services that both companies (and possibly future companies) need, such as human resources, finance, strategy, risk and admin, and procurement.
According to Al Awadi, while United Fintech Solutions has three companies under its umbrella, “the vision has been to move beyond being a traditional financial services company to a tech-driven fintech company. Therefore, in pursuit of this strategy, we launched United Fintech Solutions with a new brand name, FINTX, on the first day of GITEX. FINTX will own, oversee, and transform the existing financial services companies of Wall Street Exchange Centre LLC and Instant Cash FZE.”
Al Awadi now plans to execute the four strategies based on the business opportunities at hand and thereby “create the digital financial services of the future, for the UAE and beyond.”
He noted that given FINTX’s product offering, large customer base, global reach in the money transfer business and well-structured support services, it can bring in a lot of resources and value addition to the table compared to any other investor, who would only be able to put capital into the game.
He added, “FINTX will focus on building an efficient fintech ecosystem providing a suitable setting for the synergy of all types of financial technology services. We have almost 90 percent of the capability and resources of what startups need, and we can be a dedicated incubator for startups and ventures into the market.”
“While FINTX carries the rich legacies of traditional financial services companies and will oversee and transform its existing financial services companies, it is at the same time geared to provide and excel as a fintech company for the future,” Al Awadi said.
(Reporting by Sunil S; editing by Seban Scaria)
(seban.scaria@lseg.com)
