MoneyHash and Spare Unite to Propel Open Banking Across the GCC

MoneyHash has teamed up with Spare in a move that could give open banking a proper boost across the GCC, starting with Pay By Bank options for merchants in the UAE. The two companies are pitching this as a way for businesses to cut payment costs, speed up settlements, and offer customers another way to pay that doesn’t rely on the usual card networks. I reckon this trend has been brewing for a while—every founder I meet at Arageek events has at least one story about card fees giving them a headache.

Open banking, for anyone who hasn’t been following the buzz, basically lets businesses connect securely to bank accounts through approved APIs, enabling direct account-to-account payments. It sounds straightforward, but behind the scenes it’s often a bit of a faff, which is why partnerships like this matter. Spare is already known in the region for its regulatory-compliant open banking infrastructure, while MoneyHash has carved out a role as a payments orchestrator—essentially the plumbing that allows companies to plug into different payment methods through one system.

In the announcement, Maram Alikaj, the Chief Operating Officer at MoneyHash, described open banking as a force reshaping digital payments in the region, saying the collaboration with Spare supports its push to offer more modern payment tools and highlight how bank‑based payments can create value. On the flip side, Spare’s Country Manager, Shaima Ghafoor, emphasised that the goal is to make open banking both accessible and trusted, and that working with MoneyHash helps shore up the region’s financial infrastructure.

Both companies seem aligned on the long-term view that account-to-account payments will become central to how businesses manage transactions—especially in the GCC, where regulators in markets like Saudi Arabia have been quite spot on in rolling out frameworks for open banking. And believe it or not, these shifts can be game-changing for SMEs that struggle with cash flow; faster settlement alone can feel like gold dust. When I first heard a founder explain how waiting days for card settlements slowed their growth, it really stuck with me… startups here don’t just want efficiency, they need it.

The partnership also hints at something bigger: a region moving steadily toward cheaper, quicker, more secure ways to move money. Both companies talk about innovation and compliance, but at the end of the day, they’re betting on merchants actually wanting—and trusting—these alternatives. I’m not a fan of overhyping things, but this feels like one of those moves that nudges the whole market forward, even if quietly.

Spare, headquartered in Saudi Arabia and active in Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, offers a single API giving fintechs and enterprises access to both financial data and payment services. MoneyHash, meanwhile, continues to position itself as an “infrastructure-level” platform for emerging markets, giving businesses one route to multiple payment providers, currency options, and routing tools. Put them together and you get a partnership that, if all goes well… could definately help more merchants experiment with Pay By Bank.

Whether adoption comes quickly or slowly, it’s clear that companies across the region are increasingly exploring alternatives to card-led models. And as someone who keeps hearing from founders looking for any edge they can get, I’d say this shift toward flexibility and cost-efficiency couldn’t come at a better time.

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