Financial technology companies (fintechs) operating in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region are expected to generate revenues worth an estimated $20bn by 2022, according to research conducted by US-based consultancy Accenture.

This revenue will account for 8 per cent of the region’s total financial services revenues in four years time, which are projected to be about $284bn, the report said.

Fintechs are estimated to have generated $6bn, or 3 per cent, of the sector’s overall revenues in 2017.

While 3 per cent is small compared to the total market, the report highlights that revenue capture by fintechs has grown threefold in the last five years. “The majority of fintech players now entering the market are small, but they are beginning to generate significant revenues in areas such as payments, money transfers and lending,” the report said.

It also noted that the number of fintechs operating in the region has grown from 91 companies in 2010 to 839 in 2017.

Low investment

The increase in the number of fintech companies has not so far drawn a parallel increase in funding and investment. According to the report, four countries – the UAE, Turkey, South Africa and Bahrain – together accounted for 85 per cent, or approximately $195m, of the regions' total fintech investment between 2010 and 2017.

“Compared to global totals, fintech investment in MEA is very low,” the report said, adding that the region so far accounted for only 1 per cent of the $90bn funding that has been invested in fintechs globally.

Accenture released the report in time for the 2018 edition of Fintech Hive, Dubai International Financial Centre’s fintech accelerator programme.

FinTech Hive

The programme has seen the number of fintech start-up participants double to 22 compared to the programme's initial launch last year.

DIFC expanded the programme this year to include insurance, regulation and Islamic finance technologies.

According to Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, participants in last year’s programme already raised over $16m in capital.

Amiri said the innovative and diverse pool of start-ups in FinTech Hive this year illustrates "the growth and success they are seeing in the sector, as industry leaders realise the potential of this technology”.

The 23 start-ups that were represented at the 2018 FinTech Hive Investor Day, inclusive of the winner of Accenture’s Innovation Awards at Gitex this year, were:

• Addenda (UAE)
• Amani Technologies (UAE)
• Amplified Payment System (Nigeria)
• Bankbuddy.ai (India)
• BetterTradeOff FinTech Solutions (UAE)
• Blinking.id (Serbia)
• bondsmart (UK)
• ebooc (UAE)
• Game Change Solutions (UAE)
• Haseed (Saudi Arabia)
• InsureVite (Singapore)
• iWealth (UAE)
• Jaib (Jordan)
• Jibrel (Switzerland)
• Limitless (UK)
• Money Mall (UAE)
• PaySky (Egypt)
• Slidr Group (Lebanon)
• Spare (Kuwait)
• Turnkey IS Technologies  (UAE)
• Verify Payments (Bahrain)
• Verismart (US)
• Virtual i Technologies LLC (UAE)