Verestro at Seamless Middle East & Africa 2025: Bridging Financial Technology with Regional Needs

In May 2025, the Verestro team participated in Seamless Middle East & Africa in Dubai — one of the region’s most influential events dedicated to innovation in banking, fintech, insurtech, and lendtech. This event brought together key players from across the globe, from established financial institutions to agile startups shaping the future of financial services in the Middle East and Africa.

Why Seamless, and Why Dubai?

Dubai stands as a strategic hub for finance and technology, offering a fertile ground for scaling financial innovation. With a favorable regulatory environment, an open economy, and a rapidly growing and diverse population, the region is becoming a magnet for global fintech players. Seamless serves as a central meeting point for industry leaders exploring the future of payments, banking, cards, and digital platforms.

For Verestro, the event was more than just a trade fair. It was an opportunity to connect directly with local players, understand their specific market needs, explore regulatory nuances, and evaluate how Verestro’s product setup — including card issuing, cross-border transfers, invoicing, and customer-facing frontends — could align with the region’s needs.

Local Insights and Market Potential

A clear takeaway from Verestro's presence at Seamless was the immense demand for modern financial platforms that are both modular and scalable. Across the Gulf region, strong interest was observed in:

• Launching payment card programs (physical and virtual, Visa and Mastercard),

• Building cross-border money movement capabilities,

• Supporting mass payouts, invoicing, and FX settlements,

• Deploying branded or white-label frontends (mobile apps, portals, digital wallets).

A rapidly expanding user segment has been identified: migrant workers from countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, who form a large share of the workforce in Gulf countries. Their financial needs center heavily around sending money home efficiently, affordably, and securely.

Many local companies recognize that traditional banking models cannot serve this group effectively — opening up clear opportunities for fintech-as-a-service providers like Verestro to step in with tailored solutions.

Where Verestro Fits in

Verestro offers a flexible and robust platform for launching financial services quickly, without the need for lengthy infrastructure development. With the Verestro technology, partners can:

• Launch branded or white-label card issuing programs,

• Enable local and international transfers,

• Build custom apps or integrate via SDKs and APIs,

• Manage invoicing and transaction reconciliation with built-in compliance tools.

During the meetings in Dubai with partners from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, and beyond, it became clear that Verestro’s product architecture and go-to-market approach resonates strongly with the ambitions of local players — especially those building solutions for underbanked and mobile-first users.

Key Takeaways from Seamless

The Seamless event confirmed several important trends and insights:

1. Unprecedented market growth – The pace of innovation and customer acquisition in the Gulf is among the fastest in the world. Fintechs are launching faster than ever, and regulatory bodies are often open to agile models — provided compliance and security are prioritized.

2. High receptiveness to partnerships – Companies in the region are increasingly open to working with foreign technology providers. Instead of building everything in-house, many are seeking plug-and-play platforms and global expertise to accelerate their roadmap.

3. Massive demand for migrant financial solutions – Cross-border remittances remain a central use case. Verestro had discussions with several founders and executives focused on building low-cost, mobile-first apps that combine cards, wallets, and transfer rails under one UX.

4. Beyond fintech: insurance and credit – Many companies are expanding into embedded micro-insurance, lending, and loyalty services. Verestro’s flexible backend and integration capabilities were of particular interest in these conversations.

5. Explosive growth of decentralized finance and blockchain-based platforms – The

   region is also seeing a rapid rise in DeFi applications and blockchain adoption, including crypto platforms as well as systems focused on blockchain-based digital currencies. These systems aim to support both internal settlement layers and international commerce, with use cases ranging from money transfers to retail POS payments.

The ambition to incorporate such technologies within regulated markets is high — however, widespread adoption will depend on the region’s ability to educate and onboard end-users.

Innovation Meets Infrastructure: The Education Challenge

The Gulf region is not only open to innovation — it is actively shaping regulatory and commercial environments to absorb new technologies at scale. Yet, there is a crucial caveat: much of the population, particularly among immigrant communities, includes low- to mid-skilled workers who may lack familiarity with digital or blockchain-based tools.

This presents both a challenge and an opportunity. While innovation is welcome, scaling adoption requires significant investment in digital education, user onboarding, and trust-building mechanisms. Governments, startups, and global partners alike must recognize that infrastructure alone is not enough — understanding, accessibility, and inclusion are equally vital.

Future Outlook - Fintech in MEA

The Seamless MEA event proved to be more than a valuable learning experience; it signaled the beginning of a new chapter in Verestro's international expansion. Interesting conversations with several promising partners let Verestro explore the co-creation of localized financial ecosystems. This effort will start with cards and wallets, then expand into remittance and embedded finance services.

Ultimately, the insights from Seamless MEA highlight a crucial imperative for any fintech eyeing the region: success hinges on a deep understanding of local market dynamics and a commitment to building solutions that directly address the unique financial needs of diverse populations. The Middle East and Africa region is poised to play a central role in shaping the global financial landscape in the years ahead, and companies that prioritize tailored innovation and strong partnerships will be best positioned to thrive.