Manama, Bahrain: The Kingdom’s leading regional player in electronic financial transactions; BENEFIT, announces the introduction of its open platform remittance marketplace as part of its BenefitPay service. This announcement comes after the launch of BenefitPay’s remittance service last November, enabling all app users to make international money transfers. This service is the first of its kind within the region, and it underlines BENEFIT’s commitment to playing a significant role in today’s financial ecosytem.

BenefitPay’s remittance marketplace provides an open platform for all licensees who are delivering remittance services, making integration across entities significantly easier as APIs can be shared across the group, resulting in a faster time to market. The remittance platform serves as a one-stop-shop for the consumers to obtain the best services from the listed providers. As the marketplace evolves, BENEFIT will soon be welcoming over three partners to join the platform.

BENEFIT is introducing straight-through processing (STP) as a value-added feature to virtual payments as part of this service, simplifying online on-boarding with service providers, and making the payment process totally electronic and automated from start to finish. As a result, there is a reduction in transaction time as well as positive user experience through convenience. Furthermore, as a seasoned player in the fintech and financial services landscape, BENEFIT has ensured the implementation of a more advanced STP technology, allowing for a faster settlement process in order to keep up with the continuously changing aspects of STP technology without compromising security.

Ahmed Al Mahri, Manager Business Services, BENEFIT, commented “As BENEFIT, we always go the extra mile to provide platforms and solutions that enable seamless and safer experiences for service providers and users. The COVID -19 pandemic has put remittance flows under threat, hence, the remittance marketplace will create an inclusive environment enabling simple and cost-effective cross-border money transfers. We look forward to onboarding more partners and providers creating an opportunity for users to make global payments, anytime, anywhere.”

It is worth noting that this service is in line with the National Electronic Wallet Payment System, BenefitPay's expansion of offerings in response to its users' need for high-quality services. Today, more than 800,000 registered users benefit from the app, which provides services that range between money transfers, bill payments and various purchases in a fast, convenient and safe manner.

Furthermore, there have been approximately 42K transactions totalling over BD 6M in value. This statistic illustrates BENEFIT's important contribution to the Kingdom's financial sector when combined with their latest technology to expand its products, as well as the secure and easy user interface.

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About BENEFIT

BENEFIT was established in 1997 and is licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) as an ancillary service provider to the Kingdom’s financial services industry. BENEFIT is owned by Banks in Bahrain, regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), to provide innovative Payment Capabilities, Information Management Solutions, and Business Process Outsourcing Services across different sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Region.

BENEFIT’s range of services – supported by GCCNet in countries within the region – includes operating of Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sale (POS), GCCNet, The GCCNet Dispute Management System, Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), Telecom Bill Payment (Tele BP), Direct Debit (DD), Payment Gateway (PG), Internet Banking (IB), Bahrain Cheque Truncation System (BCTS), Amex Cards withdrawal and recently national eWallet and national eKYC Platform for the financial sectors.