Another day, another big boost to Bahrain’s already-thriving FinTech ecosystem. This time, it’s a new agreement between Visa and Bahrain FinTech Bay (BFB), one of the key pillars of support for the Kingdom’s established, as well as up-and-coming startups dealing in financial technologies.

The newly forged alliance between the two entities will be primarily aimed at bringing forth new innovation and educational initiatives to help expand the role of FinTech in the country. As part of this initiative, BFB and Visa will jointly organize a payments-focused event to brainstorm and educate the masses about the latest trends in e-commerce, security, and payments technology.

Additionally, the collaboration will also chip in all global and regional initiatives where BFB is a stakeholder. Considering that BFB is a key member of FinTech Consortium’s global hub network, the partnership is also expected to leave a positive impact across the Consortium's entire platform (including Singapore and Silicon Valley).

Khalid Saad, CEO of Bahrain FinTech Bay, took the opportunity to briefly brush upon the potential of the new partnership by saying: “We are excited about the partnership with Visa, the world’s leading payments technology company. As Bahrain and the region’s FinTech ecosystem continues to develop coupled with Bahrain FinTech Bay’s deepening connections to global centers of FinTech innovation, the partnership with Visa will be instrumental in furthering this development”. Meanwhile, Dylan Kaloo, Visa’s Country Manager for Bahrain, stated that the collaboration with BFB will further enable the global payments heavyweight to build a better relationship with the region’s startups and innovators. This, he added, could help “bring new payment experiences to life in a secure and scalable manner."