Israel, Bahrain organizations ink fintech cooperation agreement
Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI), an umbrella organization of high-tech and life science firms, is partnering with a fintech (financial technology) hub in Bahrain to develop joint initiatives and support the fintech industry in both countries and regionally.
According to the new cooperation agreement, announced on Tuesday, IATI and Manama-based Bahrain FinTech Bay will work together to facilitate introductions and communication between startups, companies and venture capital firms seeking investment and expansion in both countries.
Israel and Bahrain normalized ties in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which also established diplomatic relations between the Jewish state and the United Arab Emirates. The agreement paved the way for normalization with Morocco months later.
Bahrain and Israel have worked to strengthen bilateral ties. In February, Israel signed a technological and scientific cooperation agreement with Bahrain, although details were scarce, followed by an agreement to collaborate on health and medical innovations and medical research.
The two countries are believed to have maintained secret security and defense ties over the years.
The new fintech agreement was signed on Tuesday in Tel Aviv with senior officials from the fintech industry in Bahrain and leaders from the Israeli fintech ecosystem. They were joined at the event by Bahrain’s ambassador to Israel Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who now heads SoftBank’s Israel operations, and IATI CEO and President Karin Mayer Rubinstein.
IATI chief and president Karin Mayer Rubinstein (right), Bahraini ambassador to Israel Khaled Yousif Al-Jalahma (center), and Yossi Cohen, former Mossad chief and current head of SoftBank’s Israel operations, in Tel Aviv, 2 . August 2022. (Courtesy )
Rubinstein said the deal marked “a significant step for Israeli fintech companies” and a “fantastic opportunity for the Israeli industry to develop new connections and collaborations that were not possible until now.”
“Bahrain FinTech Bay is among the leading fintech organizations in the Middle East, and together I believe we will be able to create quality and ground-breaking cooperation between the countries,” she added in a press release.
Billing itself as the “largest fintech hub” in the Middle East, Bahrain FinTech Bay serves as an incubator, accelerator, innovation lab and co-working space for startups and companies looking to integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data into the financial industry .
The Gulf country is an important financial center, once the most prominent in the region before being overtaken by the UAE. It is home to around 400 licensed financial institutions and around 120 fintech startups, according to a 2022 report by Bahrain FinTech Bay.
Bader Sater, Managing Director of Bahrain FinTech Bay, said the country “has taken huge steps to adopt and promote innovative technologies and we are delighted to launch this partnership to enable the further development of the fintech industry in Bahrain and to develop new opportunities for Bahrain’s fintech industry and our partners in IATI.”
“This exciting step towards cross-border cooperation with the Israeli fintech industry will pave the way for future partnerships and will strengthen the ecosystems of both countries,” Sater said.
Israel has over 500 fintech companies, according to the Start-Up Nation Finder database. The local fintech sector enjoyed a funding boom in 2021 (like all other sectors) with investments in fintech startups and companies reaching $4.5 billion during the year, according to a March report by Israeli investment firm Viola Group.
Amid a market slowdown in 2022, Israeli fintech companies raised around $1.5 billion in the first half of this year, according to the latest IVC Israeli Tech Review report for H1 2022 compiled by research center IVC and LeumiTech.
