As part of its commitment to social responsibility, The National Bank (TNB) has announced its partnership with Flow Accelerator (Flow) to support the development of new fintech tools and solutions in Palestine.
The partnership will work in parallel with TNB’s digital services, which were launched earlier this year and include Watani online and mobile and the bank’s digital onboarding service.
TNB will be sponsoring a 12-week incubation, ‘Fintech Camp’, held by Flow for Palestinian entrepreneurs which will include a series of intensive training sessions to help them build new fintech tools. These sessions will be held by experts and specialists in the field to enable attendees to transform their creative fintech ideas into tools and instruments, which will be presented to banks and companies in Palestine.
Commenting on this partnership, TNB’s CEO, Salameh Khalil said:
“This initiative is part of TNB’s sustainable CSR programme offering opportunities to young Palestinians to enable them to compete in the digital technology field on an international level and helps fulfill the bank’s strategy of developing digital tools and solutions to serve the urgent needs of the financial industry in Palestine.
“This partnership will contribute towards the sustainable development of a vital sector upon which the future of banking and financial digital transformation in Palestine relies. Crucially, this initiative will provide opportunities and finance tools to establish start-ups led by young Palestinian entrepreneurs.”
Stressing the importance of developing the fintech field in Palestine and its impact on the banking industry, Mr Khalil said:
“TNB is keeping pace with the rapid global development in banking digitization and is introducing unique high-tech solutions and services to the Palestinian banking sector. This reflects directly on the quality of services and the customer banking experience and contributes towards reinforcing financial inclusion in Palestine.”
Flow Accelerator’s CEO Majd Khalifeh, said:
“This cooperation is in line with Flow’s mission to support entrepreneurial youth to crystallize innovative ideas in their early stages through mentorship, guidance, networking, and financing. Our aim is to prepare technology-based start-ups to launch, attract investors and move to the next stage of matching with the market.”
“TNB’s decision to contribute through its CSR programme is in step with the increasing support of entrepreneurs in Palestine and the approaches of the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) and the Palestine Capital Market Authority (PCMA) to encourage development and innovation in this sector. I would encourage the private sector to follow TNB’s footsteps and direct their social responsibility initiatives towards creating technical solutions.”
Flow’s ‘Fintech Camp’ aims to develop solutions to help mitigate the challenges in the financial sector; raising awareness about the use of fintech through the lean methodology among young entrepreneurs and attracting strategic attention to this vital sector.
During the process needed to get the fintech solutions to market, Flow will do all the necessary networking and cooperate with regulatory bodies, like the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA), Palestine Capital Market Authority (PCMA) and other relevant parties. Flow will ensure the provision of resources and guidance so that tangible results are achieved through all stages of the programme, which begins with an awareness campaign, and includes social networking, training camps, an incubation phase and prototype development for the winners. The camp ends with a final presentation named ‘Demo Day’ to companies, banks, investors and business accelerators.
The cooperation between TNB and Flow aims to create unique tools and exceptional fintech solutions that will provide a qualitative addition to the Palestinian market in rapidly growing global fields, such as digital banking, big data analytics, and internet of things (IoT) for banking, which are underutilized areas in Palestine.
Applications for the Fintech camps will be accepted from October, following an announcement on the official websites of TNB and Flow.
