The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | February 19th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Unified powerhouse in your wallet

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), an Islamic bank in the UAE, has launched the “SHAMS” Credit Card in partnership with Visa. The SHAMS Visa credit card is tailored to the diverse needs of every segment, including the affluent and emerging affluent.

The card goes beyond rewards, offering a comprehensive suite of daily relevance and lifestyle benefits, including 5% back on dining spends, 5% back on travel expenditures, complimentary Fitness First access, Costa Coffee, golf rounds, valet parking, and many more benefits.

Sanjay Malhotra, Chief Consumer Banking Officer, DIB, said, “In partnership with Visa, we have been able to develop a truly innovative credit card that merges the very best benefits, complimentary services, and rewards in an “all-in-one” unified powerhouse in your wallet, the SHAMS card. Multiple plastics for different benefits are now a thing of the past, as we, at DIB, are offering customers ‘The Only Card They Need’ for an elevated financial experience and unmatched offerings.”

Revolut has announced the launch of an advanced scam detection feature to help protect customers from card scams.

Revolut customers can now experience an added layer of security protection, on top of the technology already in place, to detect APP (Authorised Push Payment) scams, where criminals trick the user to get them to transfer money to another account.

The new AI-scam feature uses sophisticated machine learning to detect if a customer is being scammed, and therefore before they send their money to the criminal. Built internally by Revolut’s financial crime team, the feature can determine if there is a high likelihood that the customer is making a card payment as part of a scam, and if so, decline the payment.

Merchant acceptance network

American Express has announced an agreement with Ottu, a FinTech in the Middle East. Through this collaboration, AmEx Card Members will get a seamless, quick, and secure online shopping experience when they use their cards at thousands of Ottu’s online merchants.

This agreement aligns with American Express Middle East’s goal to increase the number of merchants that accept American Express and create opportunities for merchants to attract a broader customer base.

For merchants, this agreement will streamline the payment solution by facilitating the acceptance of AmEx Cards without the need for additional hardware or complicated integration processes. Moreover, it will enable them to attract consumers and businesses from a global base of AmEx Card Members – from the Middle East and all around the world.

Graziela Martins, Vice President of Merchant Business of American Express Middle East, said, “We are delighted to sign an agreement with Ottu as part of our commitment to expand our merchant acceptance network and enable our Card Members to use their cards more and more for everyday spend. This agreement will enable new merchants to attract AmEx Card Members from all around the world while providing them with a seamless and secure online shopping experience.”

Ayekart, an agrifood FinTech platform, has raised $6.5 million (INR 53 crore) in a Series A round led by Omnivore, Siana Capital, and Unleash Capital Partners.

With this capital infusion, Ayekart aims to expand its operations nationwide and cater to a larger audience of FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations), food manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

Founded in December 2020, Ayekart launched its commercial operations in September 2021 with a team of six and has since expanded into a team of over 150 members across six locations. The startup provides FinTech and supply chain solutions for traditional businesses in the agrifood value chain, boosting efficiency and convenience while preserving trust within the ecosystem.

Debarshi Dutta, Co-Founder & CEO of Ayekart, stated, “Since its inception, our unwavering commitment to positively impact the lives of smallholder farmers, Farmer Producer organisations (FPOs), and agrifood MSMEs across India has been the cornerstone of our journey. We understand the critical pain points that agrifood MSMEs face the need for market linkages, access to finance, and an efficient technology ecosystem to enhance their businesses.

What is the buzz

Dilip Asbe, the managing director of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), highlighted the Reserve Bank of India’s push towards implementing programmability and offline capabilities in the central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the driving force behind the upcoming fintech surge. Speaking at a panel discussion during the Mumbai Tech Week, Asbe emphasized that the recent announcements by the RBI governor regarding programmable money and offline features, among other CBDC initiatives, will propel the next wave of advancements in the financial technology sector.

“In the recent monetary policy meeting, the RBI governor announced the programmable money, offline functionality and some of the new initiatives on CBDC… These efforts on CBDCs are going to drive the next wave in my assessment,” Asbe said.