Finance

Beyond Amman

Financial Inclusion in Jordan

Thanks to Fintech, Jordanian citizens are gaining unprecedented access to financial services.

Fintech, with its broad applicability to insurance, banking, and the stock market, seems to be all we speak about these days, and not without good reason.

A range of innovative solutions are being employed in both mundane, everyday areas such as e-banking, and more futuristic realms such as AI-assisted investment.

Fintech may be more associated with startups and fancy apps, but the truth is that, from London to Amman, it has become the focus of many national banks and governments, too.

In a sense, the advent of technological solutions for the finance industry is not unlike the arrival of autopilot to the aviation sector, which made flying an airplane far easier than before without making human pilots redundant.

Thanks to technological solutions, financiers now have the liberty of shifting their focus to the Big Picture, instead of worrying about mundane technicalities.

Often described as a disruptive innovation, emerging financial technologies such as Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and AI-powered stock-trading apps are changing the financial ecosystem every day, ushering in a new era of monetary transactions.

What is more, the difference between old-school finance and Fintech is not simply a quantitative one manifested in faster services and lower operational costs; offshoots of the Fintech revolution such as crowdfunding and P2P banking could redefine the very concepts of banking and finance.

Those who take the arrival of Fintech lightly may need to pay a large price in the coming years, and this has not escaped the attention of financial institutions in the Middle East. Banks such as Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank in the UAE and Riyad Bank in Saudi Arabia have been among the first to embrace Fintech and adjust their operations and services accordingly.

Known to have one of the most suitable environments for technology-related initiatives in the Middle East, Jordan is not lagging behind either. Admittedly, the country’s finance sector is far from well-developed, but this may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

In the absence of long-established financial institutions which tend to resist change, the Kingdom may be able to build a digitalized finance sector right from the start, especially as the internet penetration rate in Jordan is now well over 87%.

In 2014, Jordan’s nationwide mobile payment switching system, JoMoPay, came into service, enabling all citizens to carry out financial transactions using their mobile phones.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBI), which according to its governor, Ziad Fariz, “has the leading role in fintech for financial inclusion,” has been behind the initiative.

Since 2014, JoMoPay has been incentivizing more Jordanians to open bank accounts and stop carrying cash, which used to be commonplace in the country.

The best feature of the initiative, however, is that even those Jordanians who do not have a traditional bank account are not left out thanks to JoMoPay’s mobile wallet, which can be used by all citizens with only a national ID number.

The benefits of JoMoPay is not limited to Jordanians, and the country’s sizable population of refugees can benefit from it as well. A 2017 report on the financial inclusion of refugees living in Jordan by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy observed, “a mobile wallet provides a secure, convenient way for refugees not only to transact but also to receive humanitarian assistance. It’s also a potential gain for those looking to do business with refugees, as well as for aid organizations hoping to make cash distributions a more efficient and more dignified process.”

In the banking sector, Jordan’s Ahli Bank, as one of the oldest financial institutions in the country and a major player in the sector, has launched a spin-off fully dedicated to Fintech.

Since 2017, Ahli Fintech has been acting not only as a provider of digitalized financial services but also as a promoter of finance culture in the Kingdom by organizing events and workshops, raising awareness of the potential impact of Fintech on everyday life.

Ahli Fintech also has an incubator-like support program for Fintech innovators, which helps participants by providing partial funding, mentorship, and access to the bank’s wide network of customers. It is hoped that an explosion of Fintech startups will enhance the citizen’s access to credit, banking, and insurance in years to come.

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