MANAMA — Businessman Yaqoob Al Awadhi said that reducing reliance on cash and increasing the use of digital and electronic services like e-wallets, mobile phones, and internet banking are one of the pros and gains of the corona pandemic crisis. He expressed his expectation that recent developments resulting from precautionary measures to prevent coronavirus infection will turn more Business owners and businessmen into investing more in the financial technology and e-payment sector in Bahrain.

"It's crucial to expand e-payment services to a broad range of micro, small and medium enterprises such as auto repair shops, barbershops, farmers' markets, street vendors, and others. About 60% of financial transactions in the GCC states are made in cash, while this percentage drops in the United States and Europe to less than 20%, and the law in Sweden, for example, allows stores to refuse to receive cash," Al Awadhi said.

Al Awadhi, CEO of NGN a full-fledged systems integrator and IT consultant headquartered in Bahrain, stressed that accelerating the steps to reduce cash dependence runs on three parallel axes, which represent digital transformation, e-payment systems, and cybersecurity.

He considered that the prosperity of the e-payment business in Bahrain accelerated the efforts of the digital transformation and the knowledge economy, and he pointed to the success of Bahraini e-payment companies in benefiting from the users’ trend in increasing the number of e-payment transactions.

"The boom in the business of e-payment platforms and companies at these times establishes them as an opportunity for investors. We are witnessing a decrease in investor’s interest in sectors like hospitality, tourism, construction, and real estate, in return for their noticeable demand for the information and communications technology sector and non-banking financial services companies such as e-payment companies, and financial technology, in addition to the health and logistical sectors," Al Awadhi added.

In this context, he pointed out the importance of promoting the successes recorded by e-payment companies in Bahrain, whether those operating independently or that has graduated or still working within the experimental control environment in the Gulf of Bahrain for financial technology, primarily since many Bahraini banks and financial institutions invest in that experimental environment, and can highlight these companies and attract local, regional and global investors to them.

"Investing in financial technology was positive even before the crisis of coronavirus outbreak, in light of the need for it as a logical development as well as the result of the significant trend towards it, and we realistically expect the emergence of more e-payment forces during the coming period independently or with immense contributions from banks, in an attempt to reserve a place for them in the future competition’s profits," Al Awadhi said. — SG