Bahrain woos Indian FinTech firms to set up base

Bahrain is positioning itself as hub for Fintech innovation and wants Indian tech companies to set up their base at FinTech Bay and take advantage of growing economy of the gulf region.

Development of the FinTech ecosystem has been a top priority and this builds upon Bahrain's position as a leading and established financial services hub, Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) Chief Executive Khalid Al Rumaihi told PTI.

"Bahrain has been committed to introduced and improve both the regulatory framework and supportive environment needed by startups and existing companies to grow and succeed. Bahrain FinTech Bay, the region's biggest and first FinTech accelerator was launched earlier this year and a perfect example of what we call our Team Bahrain' approach - a successful economic model of public-private sector collaboration," he said.

The EDB will lead a high-level delegation focusing on trade and investment to India specifically Mumbai from December 3-5.

"Our main aim during the roadshow is to boost bilateral trade relations and promote the investment opportunities available to Indian companies in the USD 1.5 trillion GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) market and across multiple sectors in Bahrain like Financial Services, FinTech and Real Estate," he said.

Rumaihi further said that the collaborative approach between the government and private sector as illustrated by Bahrain FinTech Bay, has been instrumental to the advancement of the FinTech activities in Bahrain, he said.

With a dedicated FinTech unit, the Central Bank of Bahrain, has shaped a pro-innovation regulatory framework, including the region's only onshore Regulatory Sandbox, established last year, which has become a test bed for FinTech startups, he said.

"This year, we have seen the introduction of multiple laws that benefit the digital economy, including a nationwide standalone Personal Data Protection law, which is modelled after the global code of best practice. A Cloud-First policy to move government entities to the cloud, enabling them to deliver additional services more efficiently and at a lower cost," he said.

Ultimately up to 90 per cent of costs can be reduced by integrating cloud technology. And finally, an updated Bankruptcy law which aims to allows individuals or organisations to fail and start again, he said.