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CrediMax

“Can Bahrain's original card issuer extend its domestic dominance by building a full-stack acquiring and digital payments platform that serves both cardholders and merchants without relying on third-party BaaS intermediaries?”

Founded1991
HQManama, Kingdom of Bahrain
IndustryFintech / Card issuing & acquiring
The story

CrediMax originated as a card unit inside BBK in 1991 before being incorporated as an independent subsidiary in 1999. Over 25 years it has evolved from a basic credit card issuer into Bahrain's dominant card issuer and acquirer, adding a proprietary payment gateway, POS acquiring, multi-currency prepaid cards, kiosk integration, and digital wallets. The embedded finance angle is self-operated: CrediMax holds its own CBB Financing Company licence and issues cards directly on Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and UnionPay rails rather than relying on a BaaS intermediary. Recent investment in digital KYC (EKEY-B) and Click to Pay signals a push toward frictionless digital onboarding and e-commerce checkout.

Last 12 months
2024-05
2026-06
2026-07
Product timeline
1991
Operated as a card unit within BBK (Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait), issuing Bahrain's first credit card in July 1991.· card
1999
Spun out as a fully owned independent subsidiary of BBK, branded as CrediMax B.S.C. (Closed).· pivot
2021
Published Merchant Reference Guide supporting POS terminals, payment gateway, and DCC; confirmed card acceptance partners Visa and Mastercard.· banking
2024
Became first company in Bahrain to introduce Click to Pay via Mastercard Gateway, enabling one-click online checkout for cardholders.· card
2024
Launched eKYC onboarding using EKEY-B (Beyon Connect) platform connected to Bahrain's Information & eGovernment Authority (IGA).· banking
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by CrediMax
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
Same company
CrediMax was analysed under more than one name on the same domain, so its stack is split across these dossiers. Each was analysed independently and may name providers the others do not.
AFS (Arab Financial Services)5 layers →Sinnad2 layers →
The stack
5 layers disclosed in CrediMax’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
CrediMax Payment Gateway (self-operated)
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
KYC
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
11 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.