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Whish Money Gains Canadian Licenses In Global Expansion Push

The Lebanese fintech takes its first step beyond the MENA region with regulated entry into North America.

Published

7 months ago

October 27, 2025

whish money gains canadian licenses in global expansion push

Lebanon’s Whish Money has been granted financial services licenses in Canada, its first regulatory approval outside the MENA region and the opening move in a wider expansion plan. The fintech is now seeking licenses in the US, UK, EU, and Australia, aiming to build fully regulated operations in each market rather than rely on agent networks or third-party partners.

The company said the Canadian approval gives it a regulated base for North America and confirms its strategy of direct, in-country licensing — a model it says ensures control over customer experience, compliance, and security. The approach contrasts with many regional money transfer operators that operate under lighter agent models or partner licenses.

“Securing our Canadian license is a monumental step that validates our compliant, customer-focused model and sets the foundation for our international expansion,” explained Toufic Koussa, chairman of the board at Whish Money. “This move is about more than just entering a new market; it’s about strategically connecting high-diaspora communities with reliable financial infrastructure, beginning with North America. We are committed to building a regulated, transparent global ecosystem that truly serves our users”.

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Whish Money, headquartered in Beirut and regulated by the Central Bank of Lebanon, came to prominence during Lebanon’s financial collapse, providing digital payroll, transfer, and bill-payment tools when banks were paralyzed. It now counts more than 1.5 million users and operates through over 1,200 agents in Lebanon and 3,000 points of sale in the UAE, according to company figures.

The firm’s network includes partners such as Visa, Mastercard, Ria, and Terrapay, strengthening its cross-border payment system. With the Canadian licenses secured, Whish Money is positioning itself to shift from a regional payments player to a regulated global platform linking diaspora markets worldwide — a move that underlines the growing push by MENA fintechs to formalize their reach into mature, highly regulated markets.

Related Topics:FinTech Lebanon Whish Money

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At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

6 days ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

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Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.