The Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) is a global innovation program that sees local fintechs pitch their ideas to solving real commerce challenges, further enhance their product propositions and provide innovative payment solutions for Visa’s network of partners and consumers.

This year, the winners from the recent Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman edition of VEI – the third event of its kind – have shown exceptional innovation, promising to extend the benefits of digital payments to more consumers and businesses in the region.

From Saudi Arabia, the spotlight shines on MoneyLoop, a digital rotating savings and credit association that employs KYC to ensure low risk to users. Their vision is to revolutionize fintech in the Middle East by empowering individuals and businesses through their innovative Jamaih digitization and AI-powered credit scoring solutions. By integrating Visa's secure payment infrastructure into their e-wallet, MoneyLoop aims to drive financial inclusion and provide their 90,000 users with enhanced convenience and rewards.

Their core differentiator is an AI-powered credit scoring engine and the ability to offer Jamaih members higher returns on their savings. By leveraging advanced analytics, MoneyLoop provides more accurate and inclusive credit assessments, enabling them to serve a wider customer base.

For Saleh Balilah, MoneyLoop Founder and CEO, getting first place for Saudi Arabia at VEI has been a “game-changer, providing us with industry recognition, valuable mentorship, and the opportunity to leverage Visa's extensive network to accelerate our mission of driving financial inclusion and empowerment in the region.”

Representing Bahrain, CNPSecure is a turnkey solutions provider for issuers to adopt dynamic CVV and virtual cards. The Bahrain winner will also go on to compete at a virtual Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) competition on July 23. CNPSecure’s vision for the future of fintech is to create a more secure and seamless online transaction environment, reducing fraud and enhancing user trust. CNPsecure does this by providing advanced dynamic CVV and virtual card features that significantly reduce the risk of online fraud. What makes CNPSecure different, according to CNPSecure Chief Operation Officer, Y Hua, is its turnkey nature, requiring no coding for fast implementation, and its ability to seamlessly integrate with card issuers' existing systems. This allows for rapid deployment and immediate enhancement of security measures.

Gaining credibility and trust from card issuers were some of the challenges CNPSecure faced during business development, according to Hua. That’s where he sees VEI helping CNPSecure in its mission: “Winning VEI helps us gain recognition and resources, accelerating our mission to revolutionize online payment security.”

And from Oman, HAL Capital, a Sharia-compliant embedded direct financing FinTech platform for underbanked Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and individuals. HAL Capital’s vision is to foster financial inclusion, economic growth, and empowerment by making finance accessible to underbanked small and micro businesses and individuals. They aim to achieve this by offering innovative and tailored financing solutions to bridge the financial gap and support the underbanked in realizing their economic potential.

HAL Capital’s solution provides seamless access to finance for their partners' customers. By embedding HAL Capital’s technology within the partner ecosystem, they can offer a diverse range of financing products. This integration enhances the customer experience, co-creates value within the partner network, and helps HAL Capital maintain a low customer acquisition cost, ensuring efficient and scalable growth. This approach is designed to empower partners to enhance their offerings and focus on their core competencies, while HAL Capital ensures their customers have access to the necessary financial products, driving growth and customer satisfaction across the board, benefiting all stakeholders.

According to Lutfi Al Shukaili, Co-Founder and CEO of HAL Capital, their VEI win will enable the Oman-based fintech to “offer our customers a seamless, cashless experience. We see the physical or digital card as a versatile distribution channel for accessing and using finance. By leveraging Visa's ecosystem and developer platform APIs, we can enhance our solutions and deliver superior financial services.”

The VEI winners are a testament to the power of innovation in the digital payments industry. Their groundbreaking solutions will help in extending the benefits of digital payments to more consumers, businesses, and economies in the region, bringing us one step closer to a world where everyone, everywhere can benefit from the digital economy.

Ali Bailoun, Visa’s Regional General Manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, said: “While fintechs in the region have great potential to drive digital payments forward and contribute to the wider economy, they need support to grow and access infrastructure, resources, and guidance. Through programs like the Visa Everywhere Initiative, we are offering fintechs our extensive knowledge and technology to help them grow. We are eager to working with MoneyLoop, CNPSecure and HAL Capital on transforming the payments landscape in the region.”

Visa is proud to support these innovators as they continue to lead the charge in transforming the digital payments landscape in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman. The future of digital payments in these regions looks bright, and we can't wait to see what these trailblazers do next.