Comera Financial Holdings, Part of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group, and SC Ventures Announce Strategic Collaboration to Explore Innovation in SME and Beyond

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 23, 2025--

Comera Financial Holdings, part of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group, and SC Ventures signed an MoU announcing a strategic collaboration to jointly explore new opportunities designed to strengthen the SME segment. The initiative reflects a shared vision to advance technology-driven financial solutions that align with the UAE’s economic priorities and support sustainable development across key sectors.

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Through this collaboration, Comera Financial Holdings and SCV have outlined several areas where their combined expertise can create significant value for businesses. A major focus will be on financial solutions tailored for corporates with extensive SME networks. These may include innovations in Supply Chain Finance, working capital optimisation, and sector-specific financing frameworks. By combining Comera’s expanding fintech platforms with SC Ventures’ expertise in venture-building and credit intelligence, both organisations aim to deliver solutions that strengthen business resilience and accelerate market competitiveness.

The organisations will also explore broader strategic partnership opportunities, including potential investment, co-creation of new financial models, and deeper coordination across select business initiatives. This approach is intended to drive innovation, encourage aligned growth, and support the delivery of comprehensive financial solutions at scale.

Akhtar Saeed Hashmi, Managing Director & Group CEO of Comera Financial Holdings, stated: “This collaboration marks an important step in our mission to build forward-looking financial infrastructure for the UAE. By working with SC Ventures, we aim to introduce innovative, digitally powered financing models that support the growth ambitions of SMEs and large corporates alike.”

Alex Manson, CEO of Standard Chartered Ventures, commented: “At SC Ventures we build businesses that solve real problems. Partnering with Comera allows us to co-create digital infrastructure that gives SMEs the tools, insights and access they need to thrive in an innovation-led economy.”

Comera Financial Holdings and SC Ventures will continue evaluating the identified opportunities with the goal of establishing a long-term collaboration. Further updates will be shared as progress develops.

About SC Ventures

SC Ventures builds and invests in breakthrough ventures in and beyond banking. SC Ventures by Standard Chartered provides a platform for organisations to collaborate and co-create fintech ecosystems to reimagine the future of finance.

For more information, please visit www.scventures.io and follow SC Ventures on LinkedIn.

About Comera Financial Holdings

Comera Financial Holdings, part of Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group, is a diversified fintech and financial services group offering integrated solutions across payments, lending, supply chain finance, and digital financial infrastructure, enabling seamless, compliant, and scalable financial experiences for consumers, SMEs, and corporates across the UAE and beyond.

*Source: AETOSWire

Akhtar Saeed Hashmi, Managing Director & Group CEO of Comera Financial Holdings, and Alex Manson, CEO of Standard Chartered Ventures, sign an MoU announcing a strategic collaboration. (Photo: AETOSWire)

MINNA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerians on Monday got their first look at 130 children and teachers released after being seized in one of the largest mass abductions in the country's history.

Some of the children appeared to be malnourished or in shock as they arrived at a government ceremony. Police said they were freed Sunday, a month after gunmen stormed their Catholic school in Niger state’s Papiri community in a predawn attack.

Authorities said plans were underway to reunite the children with their families before Christmas.

Authorities earlier said 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were seized and 50 of them escaped in the hours that followed. But on Monday, Niger state Gov. Mohammed Bago indicated that 230 had been taken and all had now been released.

School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous country.

Officials did not say whether a ransom — common in such abductions — had been paid. No group has claimed responsibility, but residents blamed armed gangs that target schools and travelers in kidnappings for ransom across Nigeria’s conflict-battered north.

Most of those seized in the attack were aged between 10 and 17, the school said. One of the children released earlier told The Associated Press that gunmen threatened to shoot them during the attack.

Maj. Gen. Adamu Garba Laka, national coordinator at Nigeria’s Center for Counter Terrorism, told Monday's event that Nigeria will work with community leaders to boost safety in high-risk areas.

Freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community upon their arrival at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A freed teacher of St. the Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community upon arrival at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community pose for photographs upon their arrival at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Freed students of St. Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community upon their arrival at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Freed students from St. Mary's Catholic School in the Papiri community arrive at the government house, in Minna, Nigeria, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)