- Approvals expand the activities of custodians, securities brokerage, and digital financing for SMEs
The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), chaired by Dr. Islam Azzam, decided to grant 6 companies approval to practice a number of non-banking financial activities using FinTech, through the Committee for Deciding on FinTech Usage Applications. This comes within the framework of the FRA's continuous efforts to expand the base of beneficiaries of non-banking financial services, support digital transformation, and enhance the employment of technological solutions in developing non-banking financial activities.
The decisions included approving "Welzy Financial Holding" to practice custodial activities using FinTech domains, as well as approving "Welzy Securities Brokerage" to practice its authorized activity and mechanisms using FinTech.
The FRA also approved the incorporation of two FinTech startups: "Paymob for Medium and Small Enterprises Financing" and "MIDBANK for Digital Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises".
Furthermore, the FRA approved registering "Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments" in the FRA's register of outsourcing service providers in FinTech domains, provided that the services it offers are restricted exclusively to its subsidiaries, to the exclusion of other companies practicing non-banking financial activities.
The approvals also included allowing "BM Consumer Finance – Souhoola" to practice the activity using FinTech through "VLens", as the company submitted its licensing application prior to the issuance of the FRA's Decree No. (43) of 2026 last February suspending the acceptance of incorporation applications and licensing to practice consumer finance activities using FinTech for a period of one year.
The aforementioned approvals enhance the employment of digital solutions in providing capital market-related services, and support leveraging technological solutions in providing consumer finance, as well as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise financing services.
These approvals are issued within the framework of the Financial Regulatory Authority's constitutional and legal competence to regulate and supervise non-banking financial markets and instruments, including capital markets, futures exchanges, insurance activities, real estate finance, financial leasing, factoring, and securitization, as well as approving the incorporation and licensing of companies operating in these markets, whether conducting their activities through traditional methods or using FinTech.
