Spare Unveils First Seamless Al Tareq (Open Banking) Powered Cross-Border Transactions in the GCC

WHY THIS MATTERS: Spare’s move in the UAE signals a critical escalation in the global shift towards utility-driven Open Finance. This is more than a new payment rail; it’s a foundational infrastructure unlock that directly tackles the exorbitant costs and operational friction that plague cross-border payments in the Middle East and Africa. By securing In-Principle Approval from the Central Bank of the UAE and integrating with the domestic AlTareq instant payments scheme, Spare is establishing a clear regulatory and technical blueprint for compliant, real-time international fund movement. For regional merchants and enterprises looking to scale internationally, this unified API platform promises to strip out the complexity of managing multiple banking relationships, transforming what was once a financial choke point into a seamless mechanism for global growth. This is a definitive step toward making the region’s $31 billion projected cross-border market fully digital and compliant.

Spare unveiled the first International Open Finance Payments solution in the UAE, expanding its product suite to enable seamless, secure, and real-time cross-border financial transactions globally.

The new offering marks a significant milestone in the company’s evolution as a regional Open Banking leader. Spare successfully executed its first cross-border pilot transaction with trusted banks in the UAE, enabling businesses and fintechs to move funds internationally through a unified and compliant infrastructure.

Through its unified API platform, Spare provides enterprises and fintechs with a single integration point to access financial data and initiate both domestic and international payments. This eliminates the need to manage multiple banking relationships and reduces operational complexity at scale.

Dalal AlRayes, Co-founder and CEO of Spare, said: “One of the top factors holding back the international growth of regional business leaders is difficulty accessing reliable international payment solutions. With our AlTareq based International Payments solution, we have an answer to that. We’re making cross-border transactions as simple as a local transfer”.

Spare has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) to operate under the country’s Open Finance Regulatory Framework. The International Open Finance Payments solution aligns with the framework and utilizes the national AlTareq scheme for initiation.

Cross-border payments in the Middle East and Africa are projected to reach $31 billion by 2030, yet businesses in the region continue to face some of the highest transaction costs globally.  Spare’s suite of open banking solutions are designed to cut through the friction, offering a compliant, standardized, real-time alternative built for the region’s financial landscape.

FF NEWS TAKE: This announcement clearly moves the needle, transforming the Open Banking conversation from simply data-sharing to tangible financial infrastructure. The success of the pilot transaction is a significant validation of the UAE’s regulatory foresight. The immediate focus shifts to Spare’s scale and commercialisation—specifically, how quickly they can onboard clients and demonstrate the promised transaction cost savings. We should watch for the inevitable competitive response, as other regional players are now compelled to match this new standard for instant payments and unified API connectivity.