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Last Thursday was a big day for everyone associated with Bahrain’s thriving FinTech sector as it marked the celebration of Bahrain FinTech Bay’s first anniversary.

The celebratory event was hosted at the Arcapita Building in Bahrain Bay in the presence of BFB residents, partners, as well as high-level representatives from financial institutions, government bodies, educational institutes, and community members.

Launched in Feb 2018, BFB is one of the first-of-its-kind entity in the Middle East that helps local early-stage FinTech startups to live up to their true potential by offering a physical hub for exchanging ideas, resources, and co-create new ventures.

Over the past year, BFB has established relationships with 75 regional and global partners, and eight Venture Acceleration Platform partners. It has published five insightful market ecosystem reports to highlight the scope of future growth potentials of the Kingdom’s homegrown FinTech ecosystem. Additionally, BFB has also organized two highly successful annual events:

  • BlockOn: An event dedicated to the innovators and entrepreneurs dealing in the still-nascent, but the fast-evolving realm of blockchain technology.
  • RegFact: Held last week, RegFact facilitates a platform where regulators, financial institutions, FinTechs, and other stakeholders can get together and brainstorm over the latest happenings in the industry and provide insights into regulatory technologies.

Speaking of BFB’s roadmap for 2019, Khalid Saad (CEO), said: “We will focus this year on providing more value to our partners, deepening linkages with the region and other jurisdictions through the launch of sister platforms in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Additionally, we will be focusing on creating sustainable job and education opportunities for Bahrainis in FinTech and innovation through the National FinTech Talent Development Program.“