Manama, Bahrain:– BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, recently participated in the 2nd Edition of the Visa CEMEA Payment Forum 2024, hosted in Istanbul from May 28th - 30th under the theme ‘Tomorrow's Blueprint, Today’. The forum brought together more than 700 attendees from nearly 90 markets across Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa to explore the future of payments, commerce and money movement.

Yousif AlNefaiei, Deputy Chief Executive of Business Development & Services at BENEFIT, joined a panel session titled ‘Capturing New Money Movement Using Visa Direct Capabilities’.  The session, moderated by Ali Bailoun, Vice President and Regional General Manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman at Visa, also featured other senior leaders from the financial sector. The panel explored the significance of money movement within the GCC and how the synergy of Alias and Visa Direct can enhance convenience and transparency, thereby elevating the overall customer experience through mobile solutions and cross-network access.

Discussing the GCC's preeminence in digital payments and remittances, Yousif elaborated on how customer expectations for remittance services have transformed. He underscored the region's position as a global leader, driven by factors such as increased competition from fintech players. He further explained how customer expectations have shifted towards transparency, affordability, convenience (including 24/7 access), and security, with customers readily switching providers for better deals.

“The Global market size of the Remittance was around $740 billion in 2023, the size of the GCC's remittance market is projected to be around $150 Billion in 2024, reflecting the high demand for remittance services. This presents a significant opportunity for further digitization and tailored solutions, the GCC digital remittance is projected around 23 billion in 2024 representing around 15% from the overall GCC remittance, and it is growing massively”

Yousif emphasized the success of BENEFIT's payment infrastructure and solutions, which reflects the rapid evolution of Bahrain's payment landscape. BENEFIT boasts over 1 million subscribers, a remarkable figure considering Bahrain's population of approximately 1.5 million. This high penetration rate positions Bahrain as the second-ranked country globally for digital payment adoption and the leader in the MENA region.

“We at BENEFIT have responded to evolving customer demands by creating a remittance marketplace two years ago, integrating major exchange houses for seamless cross-border transfers. This year, the marketplace expands its offerings with Instant Payment Systems (IPS) for added convenience.” Yousif further emphasized BENEFIT's strategic partnerships, including an MoU with India with plans to target Thailand, Egypt, and Jordan, showcasing their commitment to wider reach and diverse remittance options.

Yousif also mentioned how their collaboration with Visa Direct partnership further solidifies Bahrain's leadership in digital payments, “Our partnership with Visa Direct simplifies payments and expands options by streamlining back-end processes like eKYC, screening, and AML checks. This, in turn, translates to a more convenient user experience with simpler and potentially 24/7 access to remittance services.”

Yousif AlNefaiei, Deputy Chief Executive of Business Development & Services at BENEFIT commented, "Participating in the 2nd Edition of the Visa CEMEA Payment Forum was a privilege. The forum provided a valuable platform to engage in meaningful dialogue and exchange knowledge with a distinguished group of industry leaders.”

He added, “This experience underscores BENEFIT's unwavering commitment to fostering collaboration with Visa. We believe this strategic partnership holds immense potential to shape the future of financial services and develop innovative solutions that enhance the financial landscape for all stakeholders within the MENA region.

BENEFIT's commitment to shaping the future of regional financial transactions is further solidified by its participation in the 2nd Edition of the Visa CEMEA Payment Forum 2024. This engagement builds upon the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between BENEFIT and Visa in the previous year to drive innovation in Bahrain’s FinTech sector.

-Ends-