The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has announced the success of two experiments of providing online opening of bank accounts and electronic wallets to individual institutions and resident companies within the framework of the regulatory experimental environment (sandbox) for innovative financial services and products in the Kingdom. With the participation of a number of banks and financial technology companies operating in the local market.

SAMA clarified that the completion of this step and after the success of online opening of more than 7,000 bank accounts and electronic wallets for individual institutions and resident companies, by those banks and financial technology companies, it became available to them to provide these services formally. This can be provided to their clients without the need to visit the branch easily and safely within minutes throughout 24 hours. The service aims to raise the level of financial services provision, facilitate procedures, and adopt the values of transformation.

It is worth noting that SAMA has designed a legislative experimental environment to understand and evaluate the impact of new technologies on the financial services market in the Kingdom, in order to move forward in developing its strategic plans in the financial sector in order to support the financial technology sector. This allows local and international companies that want to test new digital solutions in an actual environment in order to be launched in the Kingdom in the future. This step comes to achieve a number of strategic goals represented in connecting SAMA's experimental environment directly with the Kingdom's 2030 vision, which seeks to boost economic growth, investment activities and the transition towards a non-monetary society and promote the principle of financial inclusion. The (Sandbox) also aims to attract financial institutions and local and international companies specialized in the field of financial technology looking to take advantage of current or new technology to provide innovative financial products or services to Saudi markets.

This initiative is expected to reinforce the principle of innovation in financial services and digital payment services, as well as helping financial institutions and financial technology companies to experiment their innovative products with reduced controls, which will reflect a positive impact on the financial sector in improving and facilitating financial transactions procedures and reducing costs.