sync. expands to Middle East to help the region go cashless

By Sunniva Kolostyak

UK FinTech sync. has joined the first Qatar FinTech Accelerator, hoping to become the leading financial product in the Middle East and support the country and region in becoming cashless.

Ricky Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of sync., told IBS Intelligence that the money app, which launched in the UK and Europe in August 2020, is hoping to launch its Qatar operations in early 2021 to facilitate the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

“No other neobank is currently expanding into the Middle East. It’s a fantastic market that is generally being underserved by the current challenger bank leaders. We want to be the leading financial product across Qatar and beyond, offering our easy-to-use financial services to this new market,” Lee said.

“This is one of our first steps in our international expansion. We have chosen the Middle East as our next hub primarily to facilitate the World Cup in 2022, with the goal to help the country and the region become cashless. We are also looking to expand into South America, drawing on the ties between the continent and our existing Spanish office, and then we will look at moving into Asia.”

The Qatar FinTech Accelerator chose 13 companies to join the 12-week programme from 350 applicants. Run by the Qatar Development Bank and Qatar FinTech Hub, the accelerator is designed to support mature FinTechs with a proven product looking to expand globally by facilitating collaboration between start-us and key partners and brands.

Of the 13 companies, sync. is the only UK FinTech, alongside start-ups from Qatar, Singapore, Canada and Brazil.

Lee added that the programme will open doors for sync.: “We will get introductions to Qatar-based banks, insurance companies and other financial partners that will be crucial to our success in this new market. We will also get access to Qatar’s recently launched financial sandbox to launch sync. as a working Beta in the country and to help the Qatari Banking Network develop Open Banking across the country.”

sync. is aiming to become the first ‘digital smart Open Banking app’ by helping customers budget, spend and track their money in one place. Created out of frustration with traditional banks and the niche offering of new challenger banks that are not responding to all the needs of the end customer, the FinTech aims to offer an all-in-one service. This includes money management, travel/currency exchange and payments.

sync. is currently operating across Europe and has offices in London, UK and Malaga, Spain.