Flooss Partners with Optty to Revolutionize Digital Checkout Financing in the GCC

Mohammed Fathy

Last updated 10-03-2026

4 min

Bahrain’s Flooss partners with Optty to embed financing directly into GCC checkouts.

Sharia-compliant consumer finance becomes a “financial decision point”, not just payment.

Merchants gain plug-and-play access, with “no complicated integrations” required.

Flooss stresses disciplined underwriting, instant approvals and regulated, transparent lending.

The deal signals embedded finance reshaping everyday transactions across the region.

In a move that signals how fast digital payments are evolving in the Gulf, Bahrain-based Flooss has entered a strategic partnership with global payments infrastructure provider Optty to bring its consumer financing solutions directly into checkout experiences across the GCC.

At first glance, this may sound like just another fintech tie-up. But when you look closer, it tells a bigger story about how startups in our region are quietly reshaping everyday transactions, the moment you click “pay now” is becoming a financial decision point, not just a payment step.

Flooss, founded in Bahrain by Fawaz Ghazal and Tariq Al Saffar, was set up to address what many in the market saw as a structural gap: limited access to Sharia-compliant consumer financing, particularly for digitally active customers who don’t always fit traditional lending boxes. The founders bring experience spanning financial services, technology and regulated consumer finance, and that background has clearly influenced the company’s emphasis on disciplined underwriting and transparency.

Through the partnership, Flooss’s financing products will be embedded into Optty’s platform. This means merchants, payment service providers, gateways and acquirers already connected to Optty can offer Flooss financing at checkout without additional development work. No complicated integrations. No extra faff for merchants. Consumers, meanwhile, can access instant, regulated financing right at the point of purchase.

I’ve seen firsthand how frustrating it can be for early-stage founders to negotiate separate tech integrations with every payment provider, it can slow momentum just when you need speed. So from an ecosystem point of view, this kind of plug-and-play model feels spot on, especially in fast-moving sectors like ecommerce, travel, education, insurance and lifestyle.

Flooss positions itself as a mobile-first digital financing platform, offering instant approvals and automated income verification through a fully digital process. Importantly, it stresses responsible lending and credit discipline, areas that regulators and consumers alike are watching closely. In my view, that balance between speed and governance is not just nice to have; it’s essential if fintech in the region wants to mature sustainably.

Fawaz Ghazal, Founder and Group CEO of Flooss, said the partnership reflects the company’s vision for the next phase of consumer finance. He noted that the aim has always been to combine strong credit discipline with seamless digital execution, adding that working with Optty allows Flooss to expand into wider payment ecosystems without compromising governance, transparency or credit quality.

On Optty’s side, the integration strengthens its alternative payment offering in the Middle East by adding a regulated, Sharia-compliant financing option. Richard Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Optty, described the Middle East as one of the most dynamic payments markets globally and said the addition of Flooss reinforces Optty’s mission to deliver both global scale and local relevance. He pointed to Flooss’s reputation for fast and transparent lending, enabled by technology.

Steven Ritchie, Chief Operating Officer at Optty, added that integrating Flooss enables merchants and payment partners to offer financing aligned with consumer behaviour, without introducing extra technical complexity.

And that’s really the crux of it. Consumers in the GCC are increasingly comfortable managing finances on their phones, approvals in seconds, no branch visits, no paperwork. Merchants, on the other hand, want conversion rates to improve without inviting regulatory headaches. This collaboration tries to tick both boxes.

At Arageek, we often speak about energising startups to think beyond local ceilings. Partnerships like this show how a Bahrain-born fintech can potentially scale through global rails while staying rooted in regional compliance and cultural context. It’s not flashy. But it is strategic.

Will embedded finance be the defining fintech trend of the next few years in the GCC? I reckon it’s definately heading that way. And believe it or not, the real innovation may not be in launching new apps, but in quietly transforming the checkout screen we all take for granted.

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