A UAE-Israeli consortium is in talks with Bahrain outfit BFC Group Holdings about a merger that would create a remittances and currency player with more than 24 million customers.
Prism Group and Abu Dhabi’s Royal Strategic Partners formed a consortium in December 2020 and agreed to buy the assets of London-listed payments firm Finablr - including the UAE Exchange, Unimoni and Xpress Money brands.
Finablr collapsed last year after uncovering a hidden debt pile of £1.3 billion
Now they are in advanced discussions with BFC - which has its own forex and payments brands - about a merger that would create the largest remittance services and currency exchange group in the Mena region.
Hamad Al-Ali, CEO, Royal Strategic Partners, says: “This proposed merger illustrates the rapid progress the Consortium has made towards realising its goal of creating a regional fintech company that can compete on the global stage.
"We have a unique opportunity to build a financial services group of significant size and scale, which has the potential to transform the way transactions are conducted around the region and the wider world.”
The deal will be subject to regulatory approval in India, Bahrain and Kuwait.