Spare and Xsquare Partner to Streamline UAE B2B Payments with Open Finance

In the UAE’s fast-moving fintech scene, partnerships are coming thick and fast. The latest sees Open Finance infrastructure player Spare team up with Xsquare, a homegrown B2B payments company, to bring Pay by Bank capabilities directly into business payment workflows.

At first glance, “Pay by Bank” might sound like just another buzzword. In simple terms, it allows businesses to move money directly from one bank account to another, skipping over card networks. That matters more than you’d think. Many firms still swallow transaction fees of 2–3% on every card payment, not to mention settlement delays that can throw cash flow planning off balance. For SMEs especially, that’s more than just a minor faff — it can be the difference between breathing space and a squeeze.

Through this collaboration, Xsquare’s clients will be able to tap into Spare’s Open Finance infrastructure to handle payables, receivables and even cross-border payments, with near real-time settlement and lower transaction costs. The idea is straightforward: less friction, better visibility, and cash moving faster.

Spare’s unified API plays a central role here. Instead of juggling multiple banking integrations — which, let’s be honest, can become messy at scale — platforms connect once and gain access to different payment use cases through a single integration point. That should reduce operational complexity while improving conversion rates and accuracy.

Dalal AlRayes, Co-founder and CEO of Spare, said B2B payments across the region remain fragmented, expensive and operationally heavy. She noted that embedding Open Finance capabilities into real business workflows can help companies operate more efficiently across markets and cut unnecessary friction.

On the other side, Ashwin Shenoy, CPO and Co-Founder of Xsquare, pointed to the UAE’s position as a front-runner in Open Finance adoption. He said the partnership combines regulated account-to-account payment rails with Xsquare’s orchestration layer, moving closer to what he described as a unified financial operating system for businesses.

I’ve seen founders across MENA struggle with reconciliation headaches and delayed supplier payments; it’s not glamorous, but it keeps them up at night. Anything that brings clarity and speed to that process is, in my view, spot on. That said, adoption will be the real test. Businesses don’t switch core payment infrastructure overnight unless the value is crystal clear.

The move also builds on Spare’s recent launch of its International Open Finance Payments solution in the UAE, signalling a broader push to expand beyond consumer-focused use cases into the more complex world of B2B transactions. It’s a natural evolution. Open Finance started with personal finance apps and data access, but the bigger prize may well lie in fixing how companies move and manage money.

Spare currently operates across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait, positioning itself as a connectivity layer for digital financial products across MENA. Xsquare, for its part, runs a GCC-focused B2B payments platform that covers everything from e-invoicing and collecting payments to supplier payouts on corporate cards and reconciliation, all managed on a single ledger.

Notably, Xsquare operates on Mastercard’s B2B programme rails and is non-custodial, with PCI DSS Level 1 certification. It works through licensed payment service provider partners regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE and the Qatar Central Bank. Suppliers receive funds directly into their bank accounts, without needing to change anything on their end — which, frankly, makes adoption a lot smoother.

For the UAE, which has been steadily rolling out its Open Finance framework, this kind of collaboration shows how infrastructure is slowly but definately moving from theory to practical use. And if it delivers as promised, businesses could find themselves chuffed to bits with fewer fees, faster settlements and sharper financial oversight.

We’ll be watching how quickly the market responds. In fintech, grand visions are one thing. Execution, as always, is where the rubber hits the road.

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