Iraqi financial app provider Blue now enables users to trade U.S.-listed stocks.
The Iraq-based FinTech said in a Friday (Dec. 16) press release that the launch of this latest technology for its Bluepay mobile app comes as the Central Bank in Iraq recently approved Blue to offer international money transfer service.
“This is an unprecedented technology solution built and provided 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 opportunities in the Iraqi market.”
Blue, also known as Ishtar Gate for e-Payment System and Service, provides a wide range of technology services. The multi-currency technology available to users of its app allows them to top off their accounts with both dollars and Iraqi dinars, then exchange their balances into any of 10 currencies, regardless of the type of cards they have, according to the press release.
“For instance, converting to Turkish lira enables tourists to Turkey to have a local-like card and small businesses purchasing products from Turkey had access to eCommerce platforms that only deal with Turkish-issued financial products,” Al-Saeed said in the release.
The Bluepay app also enables users to issue a UnionPay card from a Chinese state-owned financial services company to carry out financial transactions with buyers and sellers in China.
With Bluepay UnionPay, small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Iraq and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region can more easily do business with Chinese companies, per the release.
“Our goal is to create the first super financial app in the region that gives freedom to users, while also enabling regional banks to provide 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 UAE [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 provides consumers with multi-currency capability, 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 expenditures made in 2019 were made with cash.
Still, the news outlet said at the time that there is a large potential for digitization thanks to a 70% smartphone adoption rate.
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