Visa partners Bahrain FinTech Bay

Opened last year with government-backing, Bahrain FinTech Bay is a hub for all things financial technology, providing co-working spaces, communal areas, workstations, hot desks, and a variety of other shared infrastructure designed to attract international corporate innovation labs and fintech start-ups.

The venture has already amassed around 100 partners and has now signed up Visa, which will focus on the development of joint innovation and educational initiatives alongside a payments focused event to discuss the latest trends in payments, e-commerce, security and risk. 

Dylan Kaloo, country manager, Bahrain, Visa, says: "We look forward to working with startups and innovators to foster and potentially bring new payment experiences to life in a secure and scalable manner."

Bahrain is one of several Middle East centres building a dedicated infrastructure to capitalise on an expected boom in fintech innovation over the coming years, propelled by a large unbanked population, VC inflows and the rapid emergence of a host of new startups.