The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the commencement of licensing fintech companies to provide open banking services, following the successful completion of the regulatory sandbox phase under SAMA's supervision.

The decision reflects SAMA's ongoing efforts to support and enable the financial sector, enhance the efficiency and flexibility of financial transactions, and promote innovation in financial services. This aims to advancing financial inclusion and expanding access to financial services across all segments of society.

Open banking represents an innovative concept in the financial sector, designed to enable customers to securely share their financial information with SAMA's supervised entities that provide new and innovative financial products and services. Open banking also contributes to creating a positive impact across the sector by strengthening partnerships between banks and fintech companies, improving sector infrastructure, and enabling better utilization of customer financial information. This is carried out within a secure regulatory framework that safeguards information and privacy, while building trust in its sharing with the customer consent, through entities supervised by SAMA and compliant with the open banking framework.

The Open Banking Program is part of the National Fintech Strategy, one of the key outcomes of the Saudi Vision 2030. The strategy aims to position the Kingdom as a global fintech hub, where technology-driven financial innovation serves as a foundation for enhancing economic empowerment for individuals and society.