Lebanon & FinTech
Lebanon & FinTech
Lebanon is fast growing as a FinTech hub.
It has really emerged as a major player in the space with both government and private sector capital investments into the industry. Plus, with an archaic financial system, as a result, FinTech is poised to flourish and maybe even dominate Lebanon.
However, the emergence of the industry has not been perfect.
Of course, there are terribly safety concerns.
Just look at the recent attack.
According to think tank Rebellion Research:
“Lebanon has the third most competitive FinTech startup ecosystem in the MENA region. It hosts 14% of the region’s fintech startups and receive services from 27% of them, trailing just behind Saudi Arabia.
Lebanon’s robust financial sector makes up 8% of the GDP in 2015 while its banks’ assets amount to 4 times of its GDP. Yet, it has a low bank account penetration rate of 44.8%, leaving FinTech companies room to explore.
Today, Lebanon hosts 28 Fintech companies.
Among them, the first mobile payment app in Lebanon PinPay. Launched in 2011, and has since sparked growth of similar services like Simba and Tap2Pay.
Other leading companies include Murex, Areeba, and Foo, providing services ranging from Business-to-Business (B2B) solutions to integrated platforms for major banks worldwide.
Despite Lebanon’s terrible credit rating, Beirut is still attracting investments—Gulf-based FinTech FlexxPay has opened its telesales center earlier this month, and aside from FinTech, electric car manufacturer Electra also plans to launch its factory in Beirut.”
In conclusion, we will keep our eyes out for Lebanon’s emergence as a major player in years to come!
