At Bahrain’s third annual Fintech Ahead, fintech’s grown-up period was clear: align with regulators, staff with banks, ship issues individuals use.
Held on 8 to 9 October at Exhibition World Bahrain, Fintech Ahead 2025 is the Kingdom’s flagship fintech discussion board, hosted by Bahrain EDB (the funding promotion company) with Bahrain FinTech Bay (the nationwide fintech hub) and robust help from the Central Financial institution of Bahrain (CBB).
Now in its third version, FF25 drew virtually 2,000 attendees, 40-plus audio system and a report 38 MoUs/strategic agreements. The UK Division for Enterprise & Commerce introduced its largest-ever delegation – 70 delegates from 36 fintechs – because the occasion leaned into its theme, ‘The Period of Integration: The Maturing Age of Fintech’.
What was on the desk? Integration in all places: immediate funds shifting into on a regular basis use; the CBB’s push into supervisory know-how (suptech); digital belongings as sensible rails (stablecoins, custody, tokenisation); interoperability throughout borders; open banking and Islamic finance; and inclusion with measurable outcomes.
On the agenda
First up, the occasion addressed the state of world fintech. Host Joshua Roberts, capital markets editor at The Economist – the occasion programmer, framed the temper: sturdiness over grow-at-all-costs enlargement.
Simon French, MD, chief economist and head of analysis at UK funding financial institution Panmure Liberum, defined why capital deployment is adjusting “to a really, very totally different world value of capital atmosphere”, noting that funding phrases from the near-zero-rate period received’t fly when “the worldwide value of capital is 4, 5 per cent,” and {that a} “big battle for abilities” with, “pre-existing compensation packages” limiting mobility, has left “one thing of a static ecosystem”.
Subsequent, H.E. Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Growth and chief govt of Bahrain EDB, introduced that world image right down to floor degree.
If French described the squeeze, she described how Bahrain is rising by way of it: regular, diversified and intentionally collaborative. Monetary providers now make up the biggest slice of GDP, and, as she put it, Bahrain’s benefit is its scale – sufficiently small for choices to maneuver quick, large enough to matter.
The method is partnership-first: regulator, banks, academia and world corporations at one desk, targeted on constructing abilities and retaining the ecosystem open for enterprise. She defined: “whenever you’re confronted with challenges, the perfect factor to do is to innovate… and in Bahrain it’s innovation that’s partnered.”
Digital belongings, minus the drama
From there we shifted to crypto as plumbing, not spectacle. On stage: Revolut, Ripple, the UK authorities and Nationwide Financial institution of Bahrain (NBB). The thread was institutional and sensible – custody, settlement, payouts – quite than slogan-y.
Usman Ahmed, group chief govt at Nationwide Financial institution of Bahrain, revealed that the financial institution is “going to announce… the adoption of a blockchain-based resolution that permits us to do extra programmable liquidity administration” alongside programmable funds that don’t care about cut-off instances.
Reece Merrick, MD Center East and Africa at Ripple, famous how briskly sentiment has turned in boardrooms – “within the final couple of years, it’s fully flipped” – whereas Katie Ramsey, head of fintech on the UK Division for Enterprise and Commerce (DBT) saved the belief recipe easy: “readability, not hype. Readability is what’s going to drive that belief.”
The regulator’s playbook
In a one-to-one, H.E. Khalid Humaidan (Governor, CBB) mentioned the way forward for finance will likely be “a digital future” and regulators must maintain tempo. He steered that Bahrain is “main the world in relation to immediate funds,” averaging about 25 per particular person monthly within the first half of 2025.
Past funds, the financial institution is overhauling supervision: part one (this yr) opens raw-data feeds from licensees; part two automates ratio and guidelines checks; part three makes use of the dataset to forecast dangers – suptech in apply.
On authorisations he caught to first rules – compliance, governance, shopper safety and systemic danger – as a result of “after we deal with an important dangers, we are able to say sure to virtually the whole lot else”.
Inclusion, measured… not simply marketed
In a panel on constructing a sustainable fintech ecosystem, the speak targeted on outcomes over optics.
Cynthia Wandia, co-founder and CEO at Kwara, mentioned retention solely counts if customers return for issues that tangibly assist eg greater credit score scores, extra ladies borrowing, worth chains really funded.
Durreen Shahnaz, founder and CEO of Impression Funding Change, highlighted how measuring last-mile influence and baking it into merchandise can decrease portfolio danger. Whereas Mathias Wikström, CEO at Doconomy, argued inclusion ought to include local weather literacy – rating on a regular basis transactions so individuals see trigger and impact.
And Gerrit Sindermann, govt director of Inexperienced Digital Finance Alliance, pointed to regulation plus knowledge rails that may steer actual capital into greener company and infrastructure tasks.
Crypto in transition
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the previous Binance chief, stayed sensible in his keynote interview. His greatest lesson from the scrutiny period? “All the time, at all times respect the federal government, particularly the US authorities”… and work intently with regulators.
On funds infrastructure, he steered that whether or not you’re speaking stablecoins or CBDCs, the title isn’t the purpose: “the label issues a lot much less… the convenience of use, the payment of transfers, the comfort and the liberty is actually essential”. He additionally argued on-chain exercise is less complicated to police than money and expects stablecoins and CBDCs to dwell facet by facet.
Wanting forward, he mentioned “AI goes to drive crypto like loopy… one million instances extra transactions for everybody on the planet.” In his view, AI-native brokers received’t use playing cards; they’ll transact on blockchains, pushing crypto deeper into on a regular basis monetary plumbing.
Classes from Shazam
Dhiraj Mukherjee, co-founder of Shazam and now a tech-for-good investor, shared hard-won ideas for fintechs from his music recognition journey in addition to his investor seat.
Begin helpful. Shazam launched earlier than the App Retailer; “we needed to invent the know-how from scratch”. Its actual moat turned out to be knowledge, recognizing tracks earlier than radio did. The fintech tip: construct one thing individuals really want, then let the information compound.
Associate sensible. Have empathy for incumbents with manufacturers and regulators to reply to. Don’t attempt to run by way of the wall; work with the foundations and convey individuals with you.
Keep adaptable. Resolve an actual buyer ache, however anticipate to vary course. “Know-how evolves on a regular basis… what issues is being fluid – in a position to adapt to the tempo of change.”
And look forward. “AI is the working system of this decade.”
Bahrain-UK in motion
To shut Fintech Ahead 2025 out, Bahrain EDB, Bahrain FinTech Bay and the UK’s DBT ran a joint Bahrain-UK session on the primary stage. H.E. Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, CBB governor H.E. Khalid Humaidan, British ambassador Alastair Lengthy, and DBT’s Ramsey – rocking spectacular Bahrain impressed red-and-white nails – did the welcomes.
Briefly: pro-partnership, get-stuff-done.
The UK delegation was large by any measure: 36 fintechs throughout id, open banking, AML, wealth tech and knowledge, similar to Raidiam, Velexa, MonetaGo, Umazi, Sumsub, Finbridge International, Sensfish, Savea and extra.
Umazi formally launched in Bahrain (digital id/KYC), whereas Velexa and Ajyad unveiled a wealth-tech tie-up. AMAN, powered by Themis, launched the AMAN AI Investigator – a part of a nationwide rollout to assist shield the Kingdom towards worldwide and transnational crime and cash laundering.
As Ambassador Lengthy mentioned, the goal is “a shared way forward for innovation, sustainability and belief”.
A flavour of Bahrain
There wasn’t simply panels and pitch decks at Fintech Ahead 2025. The Exhibition World Bahrain flooring had queues for Mohammed Redha, a classical Arabic calligrapher and lettering artist taking on-the-spot commissions.
Just a few steps away, a craftsman was weaving baskets from palm leaves – Bahrain’s conventional khous work – whereas DANAT (the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gem stones) ran dwell oyster-shucking demos.
Guests picked three oysters, watched the consultants open them, and, if luck struck, took residence a Bahraini pearl. Our haul? A thimble of pearl glitter!
On the fintech facet of the corridor: stands from the likes of stc pay, Visa, BENEFIT and Flooss had been saved busy throughout networking breaks.
Additionally introduced at FF2025
The occasion served up some headline information, too.
Bahrain revealed it had efficiently piloted Google Cloud’s Common Ledger (GCUL) forward of the occasion. Coordinated by Bahrain FinTech Bay with BENEFIT, NBB, Bahrain Islamic Financial institution (BISB), Financial institution of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), the managed check settled high-value BHD funds immediately utilizing tokenised industrial financial institution cash.
“We proved you are able to do cross-border-grade funds immediately at a fraction of the price,” Bahrain FinTech Bay CEO Bader Sater advised The Fintech Instances, including that Bahrain will “maintain enjoying first-adopter and test-bed” to convey big-tech rails into manufacturing.
Ripple expanded its footprint by way of a brand new partnership with Bahrain FinTech Bay to help the event of proofs-of-concept and pilot tasks related to Bahrain’s fintech ecosystem; showcasing options throughout areas similar to blockchain know-how, cross-border funds, digital belongings, stablecoins and tokenisation.
It additionally lays a clearer path, as Merrick says, for Ripple to supply its “digital belongings custody resolution and stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) to Bahrain’s monetary establishments”.
As Fintech Ahead 2025 wrapped, H.E. Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif gave a 2026 teaser: “Subsequent yr, we’ll make it greater!”
