AECB & DIFC Innovation Hub partner to empower FinTechs in UAE

By Leandra Monteiro

Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), a UAE federal company that provides information and analytics to support credit decisions, has signed an agreement with the DIFC Innovation Hub to foster the development of a partner ecosystem for startups across the UAE.

The collaboration agreement reinforces AECB’s position as an enabler of premium FinTech solutions supported by a data-driven API ecosystem and further complements AECB’s ongoing commitment to supporting entrepreneurs, start-ups and early adopters within the UAE’s FinTech sector.

Marwan Ahmad Lutfi, CEO of AECB, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with DIFC Innovation Hub to empower the fintech startup community and enable innovation and growth in the UAE fintech sector. This collaboration aims to play a pivotal role in the fintech sector’s development as we work towards shared goals of facilitating SME growth, fostering innovation and enabling the UAE to become a centre for FinTech ecosystem. We look forward to working closely with DIFC Innovation Hub to develop initiatives and programmes that will empower new business opportunities and expand the reach usability of credit scores and indicators to the wider fintech and business sectors.”

AECB empowers FinTech solutions by streamlining reliance on information to facilitate access to credit and increase financial responsibility and awareness. The bureau continues to make itself available as a platform to connect and access credit-related products which will in turn enable the DIFC Innovation Hub community to tap into new data sets to boost FinTech development in the UAE market.

The strategic collaboration strengthens AECB’s role as a supporter of innovative ecosystems as the sole source of credit information in the country, facilitating access to reliable data for instant business decisions.

Arif Amiri, CEO, DIFC Authority said, “At DIFC we are passionate about bringing talent to the forefront of everything we do. Dubai’s ecosystem and the DIFC Innovation hub brings start-ups, scale-ups, and financial institutions like AECB together, to ultimately drive growth in an agile, yet solid regulatory environment that facilitates dialogue that delivers sustainable innovation. The Dubai FinTech Summit is amplifying this notion, and we look forward to further drive this ambition forward for the benefit of the industry”.