Norwegian biometrics company Zwipe establishes regional presence in MENA region

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Ramzi Saboury to head operations in MENA

Beirut, Lebanon, May 26, 2021 – Zwipe, the leading biometrics payment company, announced that it has recently appointed Ramzi Saboury as a general manager for the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) as it seeks to respond to strong interest for its biometric products in this market 

“Our end-to-end, one-stop-shop offering to enable launch of biometric payment cards is welcomed by players across the payments value chain in the MENA region”, Zwipe CEO André Løvestam said. “Ramzi’s expertise in driving payment innovations to successful businesses in the MENA region will be key in accelerating the mass market deployment of Zwipe Pay ONE-powered payment cards.”

“Zwipe’s decision to strengthen its position in the MENA Region, is very strategic and fits perfectly with the transformations that are taking place in the global payments market. Many emerging markets will witness a tremendous growth in total number of payment cards, as confirmed by many regional and international research firms.” I am delighted to have joined Zwipe’s team and I am already busy driving biometric payment cards and Zwipe Pay ONE in a region that is very keen for such advanced solutions. On April 28th, Zwipe demonstrated the world’s first Single Silicon Biometric System on Card that is being offered to card manufacturers globally – namely Zwipe Pay ONE, as announced by our CEO on the link:  https://zwipe.com/news/zwipe-releases-public-demo-of-zwipe-pay-oneFirst Public demo of Zwipe Pay ONE on Vimeo.” said Saboury.

Saboury boasts over 26 years of experience within payment services at leading banks in Kuwait, as regional GM for Levant at Visa Inc. and as CCO at areeba, during which time he successfully established many financial services,  including within contactless payments and mobile technologies. In 2008, Saboury was named among ‘The 50 Most Promising Young Leaders in the Banking and Financial Services industry for APAC and the Middle East Regions’ by the Asian Bankers Organization.

ABOUT ZWIPE 

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards components and wearables technology that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy. Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is “Making Convenience Safe & Secure” for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe’s solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. 

NEXT GENERATION PAYMENT CARDS

The next generation cards are enabled with fingerprint sensors and deliver 100% touchless, PIN-free and 100% authenticated payments. This means much better in-store hygiene, safer and faster checkout with significantly stepped up security unlike today where contactless payments have no authentication at all. As the world fights with the pandemic, these cards deliver safety and much better hygiene through a 100% contact-free experience. Consumer investigations from Zwipe and other players in high- and low-income markets have confirmed strong interests from consumers and banks in these cards which represents the biggest volume of non-cash payment instrument in the world. Over 50% of consumers are also willing to pay a meaningful fee for these cards, creating new revenue streams for banks. The acceptance of these cards is same as contactless cards, i.e., global and the merchants do not need to replace their existing contactless terminals. 

Zwipe has a global network of card suppliers supporting “Zwipe Pay ONE” biometric payment cards across the world. Some of the leading players in the MENA region (Masria Digital Payments, areeba, Inkript, Veritech) have already chosen Zwipe’s biometric card platform. 


Ramzi Saboury, General Manager – ZWIPE, MENA Region

Ramzi Saboury joined ZWIPE in April 2021 as General Manager, MENA region, after a long and a very distinguished career within Payment Services spanning over 26 years from leading banks in Kuwait (17 years), Visa Inc. (almost 5 years as GM for Levant) and areeba (over 4 years). During these years he successfully established many services most notably within contactless payments and NFC technologies. 

In his new role as Zwipe General Manager, MENA, Ramzi will be instrumental in growing the business in arguably the world’s “most happening region” on biometric payment cards today. He will drive ZWIPE engagements with issuers and all channel partners (processors, bureaus and government entities) ensuring delivery of the majority of pilots and deployments with issuers. He will also extend all necessary support to the Sales Team towards the card manufacturers. 

Ramzi will be based in Lebanon and will engage with big markets of ZWIPE presence (Egypt, GCC, Jordan and others…). 

In 2008 Ramzi was awarded by the Asian Bankers Organization “The 50 Most Promising Young Leaders in the Banking and Financial Services industry for Asia Pacific AC & Middle East Regions”. He received this prestigious award in Hanoi Vietnam. He is actually the Chairman of Loyac a non-profit Kuwaiti organization that focuses on developing youth skills.  

Ramzi graduated from Wayne State University from Michigan in the USA with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. He is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

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