The United Arab Emirates (UAE) still has its sights set on making itself a global centre capital for fintech activity. The likes of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are becoming fintech powerhouses in their own right.
At this year’s Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) in the UAE, The Fintech Times aimed to explore the country’s fintech growth by sitting down with Mohammad El Saadi, VP at Careem, the Dubai-based company aiming to build an ‘everything app’ for the Middle East. Its super app encompasses ordering food and groceries, hailing rides, and managing payments, amongst other features.
El Saadi first explained how Careem has expanded its remittance service throughout 2024, as well as some of the company’s expansion plans for the near future.
“We launched in the Philippines back in July. About a month and a half ago we launched our first few corridors in Europe. So now Careem Pay is live in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany and Italy. We are also planning to launch in Lebanon soon as well.”
He also shared how Careem’s expansion strategy differs from other firms: “There are ways to it in which you just go live globally. I think a lot of players end up going with the strategy of partnering with one of the global network, which gives them access to almost every country in the world.
“But that’s not our strategy. We’re continuing our commitment to launch corridor by corridor. We want to get the experience right in each corridor because we believe that enables us to serve customers better. We also get a larger share of the market as a result of that.
“If you just go globally, you’re effectively building a generic experience anywhere you go. In our experience, what you find is every corridor you launch has its own set of problems, so actually understanding how to solve those makes it so that we’re able to offer a much better experience for customers.”
Cross-border collaboration
El Saadi also explained how the UAE is aiming to set itself apart from other countries aiming to ensure fintech growth.
“For the longest time, I think one of the struggles for the fintech sector in general, is it is very hard for companies to scale globally. Part of the reason is regulatory, and part of it is just infrastructure. It’s just really hard to operate in multiple jurisdictions.
“We are starting to see central banks around the world forming at least some allegiances and alliances, as they try to build that direct connectivity to make it easier for fintechs to operate across markets, but also to move money between markets.
“I think the UAE does seem to be leading the charge on that, by working with central banks in various markets. And that could open up some interesting use cases. Ultimately, these are enablers. If you think of domestic payment systems, such as UPI, India’s real-time payment system, what popularised it was the apps and services that are built on top of it. That’s what Google Pay did so well in India, PhonePe also came in, as well as Paytm, which shifted a lot of activity from wallets onto the UPI infrastructure.
“Ultimately, this activity opens up use cases for us to build on. And so we’re excited about seeing where that goes and the opportunities that emerge.”
To stablecoin… or not to stablecoin
“From our vantage point, it feels like every week or so, we get inquiries asking if we want to use stablecoins to power our remittance business,” said El Saadi. “We’ve had a chance to sit with some people on the regulatory side and it appears, even in the UAE, there is a push for stablecoins. I think they’re taking a very healthy approach towards being accepting of the market.
“Stablecoins do provide pretty strong rails, with that speed users want, because it’s near instant Often that can result in some pretty good margins overall, simplifies your treasuries, etc. However, there’s still a cloud of uncertainty around the use of stablecoins.”
Feeling the effects of UAE growth
Finally, El Saadi discussed how ADFW has evolved in comparison to previous years he has attended: “It feels like a lot more is happening this year, if I’m being honest. I think it’s a testament first to what the UAE has done to position itself as a capital for fintech innovation, with fintech-friendly policies.
“I’ve had some really good conversations here. What I like about it is it’s not overly large. so you actually get to meet the people that you want to meet, with the right stakeholders. There’s a really good level of energy around it, so I’m very happy to be here.”