Dubai Fintech Now Money Taps ThetaRay to Combat Money Laundering

Dubai-based Now Money has turned to Israeli fintech ThetaRay to monitor cross border payments across GCC nations.

The mobile banking solution provider will use ThetaRay’s cloud-based SONAR anti-money laundering tool.

This solution uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to detect anomalies, offering combined transaction monitoring and sanctions list screening.

It allows financial services providers to deploy a risk-based approach to flag suspicious activity and offer a complete picture of customer identities, across “complex, cross-border transaction paths”.

This helps reveal known and unknown money laundering risks and is claimed to lower false positives by up to 99% in comparison with rules-based technologies.

With this move, Now Money aims to safeguard against money laundering and financial crimes on its payments platform.

The firm, which focuses on financial inclusion, is claimed to facilitate cross-border money transfers at the lowest exchange rates.

NOW Money CEO Noel Connolly said: “There is a huge opportunity in the Gulf to provide mobile banking services and financial education to millions of people who are unbanked or underserved. Our mission is to create a world where everyone has instant and equal access to financial services they can, and want, to use.

“ThetaRay’s AI technology using advanced machine learning will enable NOW Money to process unlimited volumes of transactions, expand business into high-risk areas, and gain trust of financial partners and regulators worldwide.”

The latest development showcases ThetaRay’s expansion into GCC financial institutions, marking another key move since the ratification of Abraham Accords signed in September 2020.

Abraham Accords is aimed at normalising relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, as well as Morocco.

ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit said: “A Gulf fintech choosing AI technology from ThetaRay marks another milestone in the Abraham Accords. We look forward to accelerating collaboration with additional financial institutions in the region.”

In October 2022, digital payments network MFS Africa collaborated with ThetaRay to protect its services from financial crimes.

Earlier this year, PMI Américas partnered with ThetaRay to fight against fraud.