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Author: Qamar

  • From Batch Payouts to Self-Serve: Giving Merchants Instant Access to Their Own Money

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    A customer taps their card at a restaurant, the sale clears in seconds, but the money the restaurant just earned won’t be theirs to touch for days; it lands with the POS operator first, pooled with every other merchant’s takings, and gets paid out in a batch once or twice a week. So when payroll…

  • Embedded Finance Beyond Payments: What Comes After the Wallet

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    Ask most people what embedded finance means today, and they will describe a wallet. A digital balance sitting inside an app. A button that moves money. A checkout experience that feels a little smoother than going to a bank. That mental model is not wrong, but it is incomplete. The wallet is where embedded finance…

  • Embedded Finance in the MENA Region: A Cultural and Economic Revolution

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    How Embedded Finance is Shaping a New Era for MENA’s Societies and Economies The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is witnessing a transformation that transcends technology, it’s stirring the very foundations of culture, commerce, and daily life. Embedded finance, where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms, is quietly revolutionizing how people…

  • What Regulators May Be Asking About Your BaaS Program

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    Regulators have the job of keeping on top of technology developments and looking out for potential risks that could threaten a bank’s safety and soundness. Embedded Finance (EmFi) and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), where a third-party “owns” the customer relationship, is an emerging delivery channel that regulators in many countries are exploring. They are right to be…

  • The Complete Guide to Embedded Finance: From Strategy to Launch

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    Modern-day businesses face numerous challenges, including customer expectations for faster, more convenient financial transactions. It applies to a variety of scenarios, whether a customer requires credit at checkout or embedded insurance when making a purchase. Transaction convenience has become crucial, enabling businesses to allocate more time to other meaningful tasks, such as product research.  According…

  • Exploring the Surge of BNPL: Consumer Trends and Business Opportunities 

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    Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is rapidly transforming the way consumers shop. In the United States, the number of shoppers using this payment option is expected to reach 105 million by 2028, more than double the figure from 2021[1]. But what is BNPL, how does it work, and what is driving its popularity? Let us…

  • A GRC Framework for BaaS

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    Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) has made waves in the financial world, giving non-bank companies a chance to offer banking products. It’s been a game-changer for making financial services more accessible, but it’s not without its challenges—especially around Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). Take the collapse of Synapse in the US, for example. Their bankruptcy left over 100,000…

  • Know Your Customer, Know Your BaaS Providers: AML Compliance Challenges and Solutions

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    Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance would most likely make everyone’s list of the main requirements faced by financial institutions worldwide. AML laws and regulations have definitely been around for a while. In the US, AML rules were first established as part of the Bank Secrecy Act in 1970, whereas the European Union (EU) is currently on…