Bahrain-based Almoayed Technologies has teamed with banking tech platform provider Moven Enterprise for growth plans in the MENA region, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Under the terms of the partnership Almoayed will make Moven’s technology available to banks across the region.

“With open banking already mandated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Kingdom’s banks have a chance to ‘Advance to Go’ in this space and develop banking services that are the envy of the world,” said Abdulla Almoayed, CEO, Almoayed Technologies.

Brett King, executive chairman and founder, Movencorp, added that Almoayed has created a national open banking account aggregation platform in Bahrain that will enable banks to “deliver unique customer experiences”.

In terms of details, Moven will provide its artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to the payment and account information flows generated by open banking. Banks can then use these insights for personalised and context-based information.

Almoayed has localised Moven’s platform in line with regulation and the requirements of banks in the region.

In mid-December 2018, Almoayed was confirmed by the central bank as the nation’s first AISP/PISP, having graduated from its regulatory sandbox providing account aggregation services.

Bahrain’s banks need an open banking action plan by the regulatory deadline of 30 January 2019. This is needed ahead of the final compliance deadline of 30 June 2019.

Founded in 2011, Moven most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateAsia 2017, presenting an expansion of its platform’s Wishlist functionality, as well as an all new credit feature. Last November, the company announced a partnership with mobile wallet company, Yandex.Money. In October, Moven Enterprise revealed plans to bring its technology to banks in Latin America, APAC, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe thanks to an investment of $10 million from SBI Group earlier in the year.