Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the US’ Accenture have signed agreement to establish the region’s first accelerator for financial technology in Dubai.

FinTech Hive will launch in the first quarter of 2017 and it aims to bring new financial services technology to the region, while providing a platform that brings financial and technology firms together. Its goal is to increase access to, and improve customer experience and drive operational efficiencies in the financial services sector.

The accelerator will start with a 12 week programme to catalyse growth and efficiency in a variety of areas including trade finance, alternative finance such as peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, and Sharia based services.

The global FinTech sector has attracted more than $50bn in investment since 2010. DIFC says the Middle East and North Africa only attract around 1 percent of that investment.