Dubai: Global currency exchange and payments firm WorldFirst set up an office on Sunday at the Dubai International Financial Centre, or DIFC.
The UK-based e-commerce firm WorldFirst, which was acquired by the FinTech arm of Alibaba Group in February, hopes to expand to Dubai with a representative office in the financial centre.
“This will enable WorldFirst to provide currency exchange services and cross-border payment solutions for e-commerce businesses and individuals to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region (MEASA) through its new DIFC base,” DIFC said in a statement, “The new office will also support international money transfers in multiple currencies from across the region.“
The new base of WorldFirst will be led by Adam Banks, Principal Representative.
“WorldFirst joins more than 2,300 active registered organisations and a FinTech community of more than 100 firms that have made the DIFC their location of choice in order to service the MEASA region,” said Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority,
“The launch of WorldFirst in the centre will enable the organisation to tap into the MEASA region’s burgeoning e-commerce market which is projected to be worth $97 billion by 2020 and continue their upward growth trajectory.”
The DIFC has achieved a three-fold growth in registered FinTech firms since the end of 2018, the centre said in a statement.
