UAE Exchange
UAE Exchange was the main entity within the Finablr operations. UAE Exchange was founded by B.R. Shetty and who then set up Finablr as the financial services arm of his group. Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Dubai: Finablr, which at one time was the financial services arm of the B.R. Shetty Group, has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange. This de-listing will open the way for Finablr’s acquisition by Wizz Financial, a fintech that’s part of Prism group.

It was in March that Finablr went into administration, and the de-listing will speed up the re-launch of operations of ex-Finablr businesses acquired by Wizz Financial. The Finablr operations included UAE Exchange Centre, which until early 2020 was the biggest remittance firm in the UAE and with extensive Gulf-wide interests.

“This (de-listing) decision facilitates Wizz Financial rapidly moving forward with its business strategy,” said Wizz Financial’s co-founder and Group Chairman Amir Nagammy. “It has been a long journey, in extremely challenging circumstances within a complicated regulatory environment and process with the FCA and then the courts.”

Finablr had gone through an IPO and listed on LSE in May 2019. It was later caught up in the turmoil that engulfed the B.R. Shetty owned business interests. Subsequently, UAE Exchange had drastically scaled down operations.  It was last July that Wizz Financial confirmed buying UAE Exchange.

The de-listing from LSE “is an affirmation of the credibility and capacity of Wizz Financial’s management team and shareholders’ vision after two years of tireless effort," said Dr. Hamad Al Ali, Royal Strategic Partners' CEO. "We are now executing the vision of our shareholders which is taking shape and form, so we are delighted with the final outcome and thank the FCA for this decision.”

How the UAE Exchange Centre revival will pan out is for the immediate future to tell. The remittance landscape in the UAE has greatly shifted in these two years, with banks and fintechs playing active roles. 

Who's Wizz?
Wizz Financial specializes in cross-border payments, FX, micro-lending, digital wallets, and B2B payment tech solutions. It serves 25 million customers and 1,500 corporate and institutional clients in over 30 countries.


The Wizz Financial Group has more than 5,000 employees; relationships with 140 correspondent banks; and a presence across the MENA region, India, Africa. Plus, there are subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Wizz Financial itself is a subsidiary of Prism Group AG.