Issue 01 . June 2026Loose change. Sharp eyes.

payments.

5 pieces filed under payments

TechnologyJun 29
The QR Code Quietly Became the Region's Universal Interface. Souk Weekly technology.

The QR Code Quietly Became the Region's Universal Interface

From menus to mosques to money, the little square has become the default handshake between the physical and the digital

By Priya Chen

BusinessJun 4
AI-generated 16:9 cover image for "The Regional Bank Branch Has Quietly Become a Museum Piece", covering banking, branches, gulf, business on Souk Weekly.

The Regional Bank Branch Has Quietly Become a Museum Piece

Why the marble lobbies are still being built, even as the actual banking has moved elsewhere, and what the lobbies are now actually for.

By Marcus Okafor

BusinessJun 3
AI-generated 16:9 cover image for "The Regional Spreadsheet Has Quietly Become a Cultural Object", covering culture, spreadsheets, women, informal economy on Souk Weekly.

The Regional Spreadsheet Has Quietly Become a Cultural Object

Inside the unstoppable rise of a particular file format among a particular cohort of regional professional women, and why the rest of us should pay attention.

By Sara Qureshi

WorldJun 3
AI-generated 16:9 cover image for "Central Asia Is Quietly the Next Pipeline of Pipelines", covering central asia, infrastructure, finance, world on Souk Weekly.

Central Asia Is Quietly the Next Pipeline of Pipelines

Why a region nobody in Gulf finance was thinking about three years ago is suddenly on every infrastructure desk's whiteboard.

By Marcus Okafor

WorldJun 3
AI-generated 16:9 cover image for "The Diaspora Is Banking Differently. The Banks Have Not Quite Noticed.", covering remittances, diaspora, banking, world on Souk Weekly.

The Diaspora Is Banking Differently. The Banks Have Not Quite Noticed.

Why the remittance corridor between a particular pair of countries is being quietly disintermediated, and what the incumbent banks are doing about it, which is mostly nothing.

By Lena Holloway