Fintech Abu Dhabi: India, Singapore startups emerge victorious

Abu Dhabi - FRSLabs, Silent Eight bests 11 short-listed candidates

Two startups from India and Singapore were declared Innovation Challenge winners at the inaugural Fintech Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
India's FRSLabs and Singapore's Silent Eight were declared winners among the 11 short-listed candidates. Initially, 166 startups from around the world had applied for the challenge.
Silent Eight offers artificial intelligence against money laundering and terror financing to institutions and government entities with offices in different countries around globe. The company is also planning to open office in the UAE. FRSLabs, meanwhile, aims to bring unbanked people into the banking fold. It offers a solution where people can open a bank account in just a couple of minutes in real-time. The company is currently working with 20 global banks, hence, saving time and cost for both the banks and the customers. It is estimated, according to World Bank, there are around 85 million unbanked people in the Middle East.
Most of the finalists on the opening of the two-day at Fintech Abu Dhabi's Innovation Challenge startups focused on offering solution to the financial institutions, cognitive intelligence, anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing solutions.
Among the other players who made it to the top of the list were the UAE's New Bridge, UK's Everledger, Hong Kong's Prive Managers, India's FTCash, Canada's Market IQ, China's Pivot and Singapore's Alpha Fintech, Canopy and SQReem.
Ambareen Musa, founder of Souqalmal.com, said fintech is one of the most regulated industries and it's something the regional governments have to look into because it takes about six to seven months to start operations when startups move from one country to another country in the region.
She said the industry is moving 100 times faster and the players have to be consistently aware of what is going on in the industry otherwise it can take them out of the business.
"Change is always a threat in industries like insurance and finance industries; it's scary," she added.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi