Unstoppable Starts Here: Brand Affinity, Bank Affinity and Why Tabby Chose Paymentology

Quick Summary

In the second clip from Unstoppable Starts Here, filmed at Money20/20 Middle East 2026, Zarik Nabi of Tabby and Jeff Parker, CEO of Paymentology, discuss the neo-banking and SME opportunity in the region, whether young customers now choose brands over banks, why Tabby picked Paymentology to power its next generation of products, and why the next wave of innovation depends on configurable infrastructure rather than the app.

Where are the biggest opportunities?

Zarik sees two. The first is the neo-banking, single consumer finance platform space, where there is already a lot of action. The second is SMEs, which he says remain underserved by incumbents on capital, account services and basic needs. "There's still a big friction in terms of a small business trying to even open themselves up," he says, calling it an area that needs a lot of development.

Will banks still dominate, or sit behind powerful brands?

Jeff points to Saudi Arabia's very large young population and argues that young people now have brand affinity rather than bank affinity, with fintechs and even retailers launching financial services. Zarik doesn't think it will be one or the other: both will exist, but it is up to banks to evolve. Tabby's own experience backs the brand argument. Adoption of Tabby Cash, its debit or prepaid product in the UAE, has been fairly quick and significant, because customers who already know Tabby come looking for more products. "It doesn't matter whether you're a bank or you're a fintech platform," he says. If a brand delivers transparency, speed and reliability, "the definition of what you are is then secondary."

Why did Tabby choose Paymentology?

Tabby is now in both issuing and acquiring, and Zarik says it looks for partners who are better than Tabby, or at least as good. Looking across the landscape, Paymentology stood out for powering card programmes for global players, and for a mindset and technology stack that fit how Tabby works today, making it "only natural that we come together and we build a programme of our own."

Jeff says Paymentology has been fortunate to build a business with 400 clients across 70 countries, and that the clients it is most excited to power are larger fintech brands venturing into digital banking with innovative, market-leading experiences.

Why does infrastructure matter now?

Jeff argues that the last five to ten years of innovation have centred on the front-end experience, largely through the mobile app, but there is only so much you can do there if the infrastructure underneath is not configurable, flexible, scalable and able to run in multiple markets. Paymentology's answer is a single global, cloud-native platform, increasingly using AI to support decision-making, that stays true to its SaaS roots so clients can configure on top of it and keep innovating. Zarik agrees: a lot happens under the hood that provides differentiation customers never see.

FF NEWS TAKE:

The brand-versus-bank question is usually framed as a threat to incumbents. Zarik's answer is more practical: once customers trust a brand to be fast, transparent and reliable, they will take more products from it, whatever its licence. That puts the pressure on the processing layer, which is why both men keep coming back to infrastructure.