Jordan Builds Fintech Base as Digital Payments Surge

Lebanon’s fintech sector has been forged by financial collapse rather than conventional startup growth. Since banks froze deposits and the currency plunged after 2019, digital wallets, payment processors and remittance tools have expanded to restore basic transactional capacity. The World Bank said e-wallet services were authorized in 2021, yet access remains limited: its Global Findex 2025 showed only 23% of Lebanese adults held an account at a bank, financial institution or mobile-money provider in 2024, up from 21% in 2021.

Banque du Liban issued Basic Decision No. 13790 on Jan. 9, 2026, creating five classes of electronic payment providers and setting capital, annual-fee and operating requirements. The annual charge is 3 billion Lebanese pounds per category; most classes require 50 billion pounds of capital, compared with 25 billion pounds for Category E. In January, the World Bank also approved the $150 million Lebanon Digital Acceleration Project within a broader $350 million package to strengthen public services, digital platforms and data capabilities.

Kuwait is positioning financial-services digitisation as part of its broader economic development, with fintech spanning payments, digital banking, lending and regulatory technology. The country’s progress matters as Middle Eastern markets compete for investment, technical talent and financial-sector influence. Its regulatory direction, adoption rates and ability to turn digital initiatives into scalable businesses will help determine Kuwait’s standing in the region’s expanding fintech ecosystem.

The latest report, “The Fintech Landscape of the Middle East: Kuwait in 2026,” uses 2026 as its reference point to assess digital innovation and Kuwait’s growth potential over the coming years. The event materials provided do not identify the publishing institution, an exact release date, investment totals or a market-size estimate. As a result, capital inflows and industry growth cannot yet be quantified from the available information.

Bhutan’s fintech push is shaped less by venture-backed startups than by a state-led digital strategy. The Royal Monetary Authority has made financial inclusion, interoperable payments and controlled experimentation central to its agenda, supported by the Bhutan Financial Switch, real-time payments and wallets including eTeeru and B-Ngul. The effort matters in a mountainous country where access to bank branches remains uneven, cash is widely used and the Gelephu Mindfulness City project is intended to anchor a broader technology-driven economy.

A Fintech Times overview published on April 1, 2026, estimated that Bhutan has fewer than 10 active fintech companies, focused mainly on payments, digital banking and infrastructure. The report valued the country’s Bitcoin reserves at more than $330 million as of March 18. It also highlighted an IMF-supported 2025-2026 review of the RMA’s regulatory sandbox and Bhutan’s Binance Pay tourism system, introduced in 2025, which allows visitors to pay with more than 100 cryptocurrencies.

Linking the North African and Middle Eastern markets, Egypt’s fintech sector has grown from regulatory experiments and an emerging startup scene into one of Africa’s “Big Four” ecosystems. FinTech Egypt counts more than 177 fintech startups and payment service providers across more than 14 subsectors. Backed by Egypt Vision 2030 and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the industry has become a key driver of financial inclusion and economic digitalization.

The Fintech Times published its review on March 28, 2026. Egypt has more than 116 million mobile subscriptions, 90 million internet users and over 54 million active users of digital financial services. The market is projected to grow from $765 million in 2024 to nearly $2.9 billion by 2033. The CBE issued licensing rules for payment providers in 2025, while Visa partnered with MNT-Halan in 2026 to expand card issuance and digital payments.

Bahrain has used financial services and digital industries to diversify an economy historically tied to hydrocarbons, with the Bahrain Economic Development Board and Bahrain FinTech Bay supporting the strategy. The Central Bank of Bahrain, or CBB, introduced a regulatory sandbox in 2017 and an open-banking framework in 2018. Its role as a single supervisor for banks, fintech companies and crypto-asset businesses gives Manama a streamlined regulatory model as it competes to become a Gulf financial-technology hub.

A March 27, 2026 review by The Fintech Times said Bahrain now hosts more than 100 fintech companies and digital financial-service providers, up from about 25 firms in the sandbox in 2022. The market was valued at $1.4 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $5 billion by 2033. Non-oil industries account for roughly 85% of GDP and financial services 17%. The CBB also introduced a framework for licensing and regulating stablecoin issuers in 2025.