​Cairo, 15 April 2019 EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets (FEM), is proud to announce that valU, the MENA region’s first fintech mobile app of its kind, was recognized as the “Fintech Innovation of the Year” at the prestigious 2019 Seamless Awards in Dubai. With 19 years of history, The Seamless Awards are the leading awards for the payments, ecommerce and retail industry, with a focus on identifying and rewarding companies and individuals who have demonstrated an unparalleled ability to disrupt markets, set new standards of excellence and create innovations that shape the future of the financial industry. The Seamless Awards’ “Fintech Innovation of the Year” award is granted to financial products - whether regional or international companies, banks or startups. The award category included formidable regional and international players such as Aspira, Comviva & Orange, Cyber Accounting Services, eureeca.com, FINASTRA, MadfooatCom, Mashreq Bank, and Triple.  An independent and prominent panel of judges weighed the results based on metrics that reflected how a product can transform the way people experience financial services, disrupt the competitive landscape in the market, create collaboration with multiple partners and possesses the potential to expand beyond the original market on the long run. “While there were several award categories, we are particularly proud that we were recognized as an innovative state-of-the-art solution that benefits users, retailers and industry partners,” said EFG Hermes Group Chief Executive Officer Karim Awad. “Although we were up against an impressive list of nominees, I’m proud of valU’s successful delivery on all of those fronts and more in a record time. Winning an award of this magnitude is a testament to our introduction of a ground-breaking fintech solution to the Egyptian market and our ability to seamlessly pave the road for the market to adopt a solution like no other,” said Awad.  “Since its launch, valU has gained massive traction across multiple client segments despite the fact that it completely transforms conventional payment methods that the domestic market has been accustomed to. We are extremely proud that we have developed a network of more than 1,500 retail establishments covering three governorates (Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria) in just one year,” said EFG Hermes Finance Chief Executive Officer Walid Hassouna.  “Also key to our success are our rapidly expanding partnerships with remarkable global brands like IKEA and Uber and new service offerings we have tapped into such as home furnishings, solar energy for residential use and making clean energy accessible to a wide base of consumers, Hassouna went on to say. “As we continue to deliver on our strategy of diversifying and increasing our partnerships to cover all consumer needs, we are adding new services such as travel, memberships, auto maintenance and more and have recently entered an agreement with Tarek Nour Communications (TNC) as the exclusive installment sales services provider at Le Marche La Casa — one of the largest furniture exhibitions in Egypt and Africa.” “Today, we are proud to have a highly competitive and growing brand universe covering all key segments to a rapidly growing client base. Having successfully on boarded more than 28,000 clients in 2018 alone, we are looking to double our daily average applications and transactions received by the end of 2019,” said Hassouna.  “Winning this award is proof that by thinking outside the box we were able to create an agile product with legs to grow,” said Awad. “We have shown that EFG Hermes is becoming a serious fintech player in a world where technology is disrupting every aspect of the world we live in, and I am certain that this is just the beginning,” he added.  valU is the only fintech platform of its kind in the MENA region that allows customers to access a wide network of retail and online merchants via their device through an instant credit decision. Once registered and approved, users can instantly make purchases in stores and calculate and select their own installment payments plan with flexible repayment options. In addition to valU, EFG Hermes’s NBFI platform also includes EFG Hermes Leasing, Tanmeyah Microenterprise Services, EFG Hermes Factoring and EFG- EV, the first fintech enabler for startups in Egypt.  ​