Empowering the Future: MENA’s Largest Fintech Investment Unveiled

[Music] thank you um good morning everyone uh Lord Cameron I wasn't sure that I was teeing you up this morning but uh welcome to the audience um I would like to announce as was just mentioned and we're very proud of this and we're proud to be announcing this at Abby Finance week which we believe is the best Forum to make this announcement that astrotek subsidiary Quantic has just secured a $5500 million well it's the largest security securitization deal ever in the UAE a $500 million hopefully going to grow soon with our partners at city um thank you I want to say that none of this would have happened without the leadership that we have in this country without the team that it is that I have at uh at astrotech that have been working on this very diligently um because we have big goals for what it is that we're doing at astrotech we believe that the region is ripe and not just the region but beyond the region is ripe for an ultra app that focuses on financial inclusion that provides the easiest way for people to communicate with one another and ultimately helps to bring up the users that we have on that platform to be relevant in the financial ecosystem you know the previous panel was on here they were talking about inclusion they were talking about global Bridges we believe that with City support and the partnership that we now have with City that this is only going to expand the reach that we've already accomplished and it's going to help us set a precedent for this Market that we believe will be replicated but we've got a head start uh from everybody else so with that I'll hand over to Maria to give her views on why the UAE and why astrotech uh in particular thank you Tark uh good afternoon all and by the way I have a special permission from his Excellency Dr Tark to call him a which speaks to the strength of our partnership I believe is very proud to be here to announce and celebrate this transaction it is very important for us in City not only in the UE but it has been recognized as an important big transaction globally for us for a few specific reasons number one it fits very well into the mission that we have as a firm in City our mission is to service our customers by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress and I think this is exactly what what this transaction will allow us to achieve now uh T spoken about the fact that that financing that we will provide will allow um quantics and ACH to uh widen access to the financial services uh including also to underserved communities it's going to drive increase in the financial literacy it's going to drive increase in the digital SS of the population ultimately it's going to drive growth economic progress and and Improvement in the wellbeing being of the population second the structure itself for us it is the first and the largest securitization transaction in the UE to a fintech company I think it has a quite unique um quite unique asset backed financing that that that is done for the benefit of the consumer credit as well now it is the first one but by all means it's not the last one I'm sure we're going to see more of those transactions done by us done by other banks in the market done through Finch similar to asch and to other finex and maybe other banks in the market as well uh I think it's just great to bring another capability to the market that's going to support again and and support progress and support uh driving growth of the economy now lastly I want to go back to to the fact that you are a ftech company which is a very important topic for us in city as well we do have our own Innovation Labs uh we do partner with fex to deploy the Technologies uh but we also extend financing to the finex such as asch is to help um enabling you to create new technologies and drive Innovation forward so again very proud to announce and celebrate today I think it's a big milestone big achievement for all of us and it gives a good start uh with the new financing structures to the market as well yeah I think it's a testament to one the infrastructure that has been built in the UAE but also as I me mentioned earlier the ambition when I was previously in my role at AIO for example we looked at how it is that we could build for the world from the UAE and in particular from Abu Dhabi and if I look at everything that astrotech has built when I look at BM um and the 140 million plus users that we have on that platform and I look at the opportunity that this transaction allows us uh in terms of upscaling the financial literacy that a lot of the population that uses BM currently doesn't have or do not have it at the level that we believe that they should have it at I think this facility is going to allow us to be able to get them more involved to participate to look at everything Beyond just a transactional relationship with a platform and that is ultimately what it is that we are building at astrotech we want this to be a holistic platform for users to be able to grow Beyond just a transaction that's everything from savings to investment and and everything beyond that a lot of the people that use the platform are using it not just for themselves but also for their families abroad you know the UA is a great place to test this technology because we have a lot of people that are based here that are here working and supporting their families abroad especially the the blue collar lower income workers and we believe that this facility is going to help us enable them to bring themselves up from where it is that they are today and hopefully contribute to not just the success that we're having here in the the UAE but in their local markets with how it is that they support their growth development and perhaps their time after being in the UAE now that being said I do think it's very important to point out that competition is growing in the region we love being the first but we're not resting on that Laurel we are going to push very hard we have a lot of plans with the supportive City and some of the introductions that they've made we're going to be growing internationally at a very rapid pace and we believe that this is just the start of a very great relationship that we already have with City and with other uh institutions that we're currently partnering with we've only got a few more seconds left I don't if you want to share anything no I think the last few seconds we're going to use to say big thank you to our teams who actually worked on this transaction for for a decent period of time work hard many of the members sitting here in the room as well so congratulations to all of you thank you to all the teams and again it's great to it's great to partner on this transaction yeah thank you thank you all and welcome Toby [Applause] [Music] what