The Iraqi financial app Bluepay makes it possible to trade US stocks
Iraqi financial app provider Blue now enables users to trade US-listed stocks.
The Iraq-based FinTech said in a Friday (December 16) press release that the launch of this latest technology for the Bluepay mobile app comes as the Central Bank of Iraq recently approved Blue to offer international money transfer service.
“This is an unprecedented technology solution built and delivered locally in Iraq,” Blue CEO Ali Al-Saeed said in the release. “It has triggered other FinTech-provided services such as a multi-currency solution that opens up a new horizon of opportunity in the Iraqi market.”
Blue, also known as Ishtar Gate for e-payment system and services, offers a wide range of technology services. The multi-currency technology available to users of the app allows them to top up their accounts with both dollars and Iraqi dinars, then exchange their balances into one of 10 currencies, regardless of the type of card they have, according to the press release.
“For example, conversion to Turkish lira enables tourists to Turkey to have a local-like card, and small businesses buying products from Turkey had access to e-commerce platforms that only deal in Turkish-issued financial products,” Al-Saeed said in the release.
The Bluepay app also allows users to issue one UnionPay card from a Chinese state-owned financial company to conduct financial transactions with buyers and sellers in China.
With Bluepay UnionPay, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Iraq and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region can more easily do business with Chinese companies, according to the release.
“Our goal is to create the first super-financial app in the region that gives freedom to users while enabling regional banks to offer unparalleled services using our technology,” Al-Saeed said in the release. “We plan to expand our services in the region by focusing on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [United Arab Emirates] in the first quarter of 2023.”
These latest additions also follow the launch a few months ago of Blue Platinum, a prepaid card offered in Iraq by Bluepay in partnership with Visa International. This product gives consumers the option of multiple currencies, zero fees for online transactions and other FinTech technologies, according to the press release.
Trade Arabia reported in 2021 that Iraq’s 40 million people make most of their payments in cash, to the point that 99.8% of the $122 billion in personal expenses made in 2019 was done with cash.
Still, the news outlet said at the time that there is great potential for digitization thanks to a 70% smartphone adoption rate.
How consumers pay online with stored credentials
Convenience prompts some consumers to store their payment information with merchants, while security concerns give other customers pause. For “How We Pay Digitally: Stored Credentials Edition,” a collaboration with Amazon Web Services, PYMNTS surveyed 2,102 U.S. consumers to analyze the consumer dilemma and reveal how merchants can win over holdouts.
