News

Fintech In The UAE Is Set To Add $900 Per Capita By 2030

The United Arab Emirates will add the highest value to its GDP per capita, followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Published

3 years ago

February 13, 2024

Nour Nasir

RMJM

Analysts from UnaFnancial have calculated the value of fintech investment for the Gulf Coast Countries (GCC) in terms of the per-capita increase to GDP using Tracxn data.

In 2022, the United Arab Emirates was a regional leader, with $636.4 (1.01%) in GDP per capita coming from fintech. It was followed by Bahrain with $89 (0.24%) and Saudi Arabia with $75 (0.18%), highlighting the substantial gap between the UAE and its neighbors.

una financial uae fintech gpd per capita

For the GCC region as a whole, the impact of fintech equaled $161 added to the GDP per citizen. Meanwhile, according to UnaFinancial’s forecast, the UAE will still have the highest value of fintech contribution to GDP per capita by 2030, equaling $915.6 (a 44%-increase over 2022). Saudi Arabia is expected to remain in second place but with a massive 650% increase to $561.5. For the GCC region as a whole, fintech will add $506.7 to the GDP per capita by 2030.

Also Read: A Guide To Digital Payment Methods In The Middle East

UnaFinancial’s analysts commented: “In terms of investment in fintech, the UAE makes up 62% of the entire GCC region. This is explained by the level of economic development of the country compared to other countries in the region. The GDP per capita for the population aged 15+ in the UAE equals $63,359, which is almost 4 times higher than the average in the GCC (excluding the UAE). Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are the countries with high average annual growth rates of fintech influence – 182.4%, which exceeds the region’s average by 1.5 times. Meanwhile, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar are in a transition phase. The average growth rate of fintech influence on the well-being of their citizens equals 166.3% per year. Yet, there are higher investment risks due to lower economic stability”.

Related Topics:FinTech United Arab Emirates

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

6 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.