A Chat with Rishi Patel, Founder and CEO at International Business Banking Company: Interpolitan Money

TechRound spoke to Rishi Patel, Founder and CEO of Interpolitan Money, to discuss the challenges of building a multi-jurisdictional business, the innovation behind the firm’s new Property SPV Accounts, and how Interpolitan’s recent Category 3C and 4C licences in Dubai mark a major step in shaping the future of global finance.

Interpolitan Money is a banking solution for international businesses, private clients, and intermediaries navigating complex financial needs and operates across London, Dubai, and Mumbai.

Interpolitan operates across London, Dubai, and Mumbai (and has an office in Canada). What’s been the most challenging part of building a business that has to meet different regulatory expectations in each region?

I think our key challenges have largely laid with application approval timelines, executing hiring or strategic and required loads, accounting for new work load on existing infrastructures and managing existing operational partners.

Every region comes with its own interpretation of what “financial innovation” should look like. In London, the focus is on safeguarding and consumer protection; in Dubai, the emphasis is on structured oversight and financial substance; in India, it’s about systemic trust and localisation. The challenge isn’t just meeting those expectations, it’s weaving them together into a coherent operating model that feels seamless to the client.

We’re effectively building a multi-jurisdictional backbone that allows clients to move funds compliantly and confidently between continents. It’s a balancing act: ensuring that we remain nimble and innovative, while earning the confidence of regulators who see us not as disruptors, but as partners in building the future of global finance.

The new Property SPV Accounts promise faster onboarding for international investors. Why do you think traditional banks have struggled to solve this problem, and what makes Interpolitan’s approach different?

Traditional banks weren’t built for the modern global investor, they were built for domestic retail. Their infrastructure, compliance processes, and even culture are designed for legacy clients rather than cross-border entrepreneurs or investors managing complex structures. As companies become more global so does wealth, and investors are seeking international alternatives. SVP accounts become an important vehicle for investors to pool their capital and avoid banks who have caution with these customers.

Our Property SPV Accounts were designed in reverse: we started from the pain points, slow onboarding, rigid documentation, siloed systems, and rebuilt the process around transparency, technology, and trust. By understanding both the property lifecycle and the client structure, we can onboard an SPV in 48 hours rather than weeks, while maintaining full regulatory oversight.

It’s not about cutting corners, it’s about removing friction intelligently.

Securing both Category 3C and 4C licences in Dubai is a major step – how will that practically change what you can offer clients in the UAE?

Securing both the Category 3C and 4C licences is transformative for Interpolitan’s UAE offering. The 4C licence allows us to continue delivering our core payments and money services business – multi-currency accounts, global collections, and cross-border payments – under a regulated DIFC framework. With these licences the UAE joins the UK and India as our core focus.

Dubai is among the most dynamic financial hubs in the world. With these dual licences, the company can deliver customised solutions, originate transactions, and facilitate more flexibility for handling complex cross-border financial needs.

The real step-change lies in the Category 3C authorisation, which allows us to introduce interest-bearing and asset management-style solutions within a fully regulated environment. It effectively gives us the ability to deploy client balances into low-risk, yield-generating instruments, offering clients a return on safeguarded or managed funds without crossing into traditional deposit-taking.

This development bridges a long-standing gap in the market: global clients want safety, liquidity, and yield, but until now, they’ve had to choose only two. Through the Category 3C framework, Interpolitan can structure institutional-grade money market and liquidity management products that preserve capital while generating daily returns, creating a more intelligent alternative to dormant balances.

Practically, this means our UAE clients, especially family offices, funds, and corporates, can now earn yield on operational and reserve funds while remaining fully compliant with local regulation. It’s a major step toward building a sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional platform where capital is both safeguarded and productive – especially given significant amounts of wealth and investments flow to or through the UAE.

Fintech walks a fine line between innovation and regulation. How do you make sure speed and convenience don’t come at the expense of compliance?

Compliance isn’t a friction point, it’s a design principle. From day one, we built compliance into our DNA rather than bolting it on. Our systems automate much of the manual risk assessment process, while our governance teams work closely with regulators to ensure we’re always ahead of evolving frameworks.

Speed and compliance aren’t mutually exclusive if you engineer both from the ground up. The real innovation lies in being able to say “yes” faster without ever compromising on “how” and our team is constantly evolving to keep pace with new resources, tools and processes.

Having lived and worked across three continents, how has that shaped your understanding of how people actually want to use financial services globally?

The biggest lesson is that money feels different everywhere, not in its function, but in its meaning. In the UK, money represents stability; in Dubai, it’s opportunity; in India, it’s mobility. Yet, across borders, people want the same thing: control, clarity, and confidence.

My experiences taught me that global finance must feel personal. Clients don’t just want access, they want understanding. Interpolitan bridges that gap by combining the sophistication of global banking with the personalisation of private service.

Individuals and companies seek seamless services, and given most of our clients come to us with a problem they’d like to solve, we’ve listened to them and worked on solutions. As we move through the era of automation and AI, we have to be wary that, while great solutions, they don’t always solve the pain points complex international structures or requirements face. Customers still want to talk to someone, or know they can speak to someone who understands their problems or ideas, while still achieving fast solutions.

Looking ahead, what’s the biggest challenge you see for alternative banking over the next few years and where does Interpolitan fit into that picture?

The integration of AI and real-time data analytics will fundamentally reshape how financial institutions manage client flows, risk exposure, and service delivery. Those who embrace these tools responsibly will gain exponential efficiency and insight; those who don’t will fall behind. At Interpolitan, we’re already applying AI to automate onboarding intelligence, monitor transaction behaviour, and optimise liquidity management, not as a replacement for human oversight, but as an enhancement of it.

At the same time, stablecoins and tokenised assets are creating new pathways for settlement and cross-border movement of funds. Yet, they also highlight a deeper truth: the world still needs trusted, regulated entities to bridge the gap between traditional finance and emerging digital rails. Our role is to be that bridge, combining the reliability of a safeguarded, multi-jurisdictional platform with the efficiency and innovation of next-generation payment infrastructure.

Ultimately, the winners in alternative banking will be those who can marry innovation with institutional discipline. That’s exactly where Interpolitan sits, using technology to move faster, but never losing sight of trust, compliance, and capital preservation.