So you want to start a Fintech?

So, you are a founder who believes in financial inclusion and wants to start a Fintech startup. You have narrowed down on offering your customers the functionality of sending money quickly and cheaply.

What is the “railway” network that you can use to transfer funds? You typically have two choices- either use the banking rails or the payment network rails.

If you want to use the banking rails- you could tie-up with a bank and use the UAE’s Direct Debit system to send funds between bank accounts, and your fintech could function like a wallet (Venmo / Zelle) on top.

The other option is to use the payment network rails. Visa and MasterCard both have APIs that allow FinTechs to use them to send and receive funds. MasterCard’s APIs are called MasterCard Send. Visa’s version is called Visa Direct.

Visa has its Fund Transfer API that can pull and push funds between Visa cards (Credit/debit/prepaid) within the UAE. Check out the graphic.

Technically speaking, it can be used to perform money transfer across geographies.

Imagine, taking a share of the multi-billion dollar remittance market between UAE & UK or UAE & India?

Quite sure you can negotiate a lower rate than the 6–9% that the banks’ charge (they use the SWIFT network). Plus, you can offer better exchange rates than what the customer currently gets.

Design a great customer experience using your app, and you have the recipe for creating the next Fintech unicorn in the Middle East.