Mubasher Exclusive - Ahmed El Shamsy – Bahrain: Abdulwahed Al Janahi, CEO of Bahrain’s BENEFIT Company, said the platform has become an essential part of daily life in the Kingdom, with the number of daily visits to the application reaching around 1.4 million.
Al Janahi added that BENEFIT launched several new services in 2026, including “Rescheduled Payment,” in addition to working on launching an Electronic IPO (E-IPO) service linked to Bahrain Bourse, as well as “FinSouq” platform which allows individuals to compare financing offers from banks and choose the most suitable option.
The CEO of BENEFIT explained in an exclusive interview with Mubasher.info that the company provides national infrastructure for electronic payments and transfers, including Fawri+, Fawri and Fawateer, in addition to managing ATM and Point-of-Sale (POS) networks, credit information services and electronic cheque processing.
Tell us about the performance of BENEFIT and BenefitPay in the recent period of tensions in the region, and what are the key services added in 2026?
Of course, our services provided in BENEFIT, and specially in BenefitPay have become me a community culture, particularly in the concept of cashless payment. In the recent period and tensions, thankfully, BenefitPay was not affected, either in terms of transaction processing or the service itself.
As an institution, we have a strategy every three years, with annual objectives to achieve. In 2026, we introduced several services and more features to BenefitPay, such as Rescheduled Payment.
These services are already available on BenefitPay, and at the same time, we are currently working on several other services.
Very soon, we are launching E-IPO, or Electronic IPO, to be introduced for the public who want to access the application and subscribe in initial IPOs offered on Bahrain Bourse.
This service is linked to Bahrain Bourse and its aim is to encourage people to participate. There is an agreement between BENEFIT and Bahrain Bourse to establish a channel through which people can easily subscribe in IPOs.
What about the “FinSouq” service?
Another service we introduced is what we call “Financial Souq” or FinSouq. It is a marketplace or platform where banks can display their loan and financing programs.
As an individual, instead of going physically to several banks, you can enter this platform and find the banks participating with us. We decided to start with four banks.
The idea is similar to BenefitPay. When we want to make a transfer or a payment, the customer can do it from wherever they are through BenefitPay.
Retail financing will be available on this platform, allowing customers to enter and choose the bank based on the optimum offer, with the possibility of comparing between the available benefits and privileges.
Beyond BenefitPay, what role does BENEFIT play in Bahrain’s financial infrastructure?
BENEFIT provides several services, which we call national services, related to data and electronic payments.
If we take it from the beginning, BENEFIT manages the ATM and the POS network across Bahrain, as well as at the level of regional countries through cooperation with them.
BENEFIT also manages the Credit Reference Bureau. Anyone who obtains a card, a credit card or any type of financing must have their information checked by the bank.
In Bahrain, we check the number we call the CPR Number, or Social Security Number as it may be called in other countries. This is the ID card, and through it we can see the information related to the person receiving the credit.
We also have an electronic cheque-processing system, meaning that cheques are processed electronically through the electronic clearing system managed by BENEFIT.
In addition, we have the most advanced services. Since 2016, we have had an electronic transfer service. This is considered an infrastructure for transfers and payments in Bahrain, and we divided it into three services.
There is Fawri+, Fawri and Fawateer, which is the bill-payment service.
All these services are essentially infrastructure for payments and financial transfers in Bahrain.
We, then, added those three services on the mobile application, BenefitPay.
Initially, there were opinions that these services already existed on ATMs and on the website, so why put them on the mobile phone?
But as a team, we said that everyone has their mobile phone with them. With an ATM, you have to go to it, while a website requires you to be at an office or use a computer at home. But your mobile phone is in your hand wherever you are.
You mentioned the regional events. To what extent did they affect BENEFIT’s business and transactions in Bahrain?
At BENEFIT, we place the utmost importance on readiness and business continuity.
We have extensive emergency plans and strategies to deal with potential impacts. Thank God, during that period, our services did not stop, and we were able to implement the plans with professionalism, thanks to early preparation and the expertise and specialized staff at BENEFIT.
Do you have recent figures on BenefitPay usage?
At the moment, I do not have the exact statistics, but I can tell you that the number of people accessing the application reaches approximately 1.4 million per day.
That is why BenefitPay has become what we call the “pulse of Bahrain.”
Is BenefitPay moving toward becoming a Super App?
Yes, definitely. All the upcoming services are moving in this direction.
We operate based on user experience principles and continuously update and add new features and services upon suggestions from our user community and our awareness of international best practices.
