On Wednesday December 1st 2021 AD, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) organized a workshop on "Fintech Ecosystem and Envisioning the Digital Economy" under the sponsorship of the Governor, Dr. Fahad Almubarak. The workshop was also attended by Dr. Fahad Alshathri, deputy governor for Supervision, Mr. Ziad Alyousef, deputy governor for Development and Technology, as well as several chief executive officers and senior staff members from local banks.
On the kick-off of the workshop, the governor delivered a statement on the importance of supporting Fintech innovations to enable the Kingdom to assume a leading position in the financial sector, in line with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. Almubarak also referred to the role played by banks to boost growth in the sector and develop products and services. Lastly, he concluded his statement reiterating that the Saudi Central Bank had designed a Regulatory Sandbox to better understand and assess the impact of new services and products on the existing financial environment, in preparation for its official launch and adoption.
The workshop covered four sessions, in addition to a wrap-up session at the end. In its first session, they tackled the topic "SAMA's Digital Transformation". In the second session, the topic "From Global to Saudi - The Fintech Evolution" was covered. The third session was held under the title "How Open Banking is Changing Banking". The fourth session mainly tackled the topic "The Rise of Central Bank Digital Currencies and Virtual Assets in the Digital Era". At the end, the workshop concluded with an interactive wrap-up session during which attendees participated in an open discussion, exchanged ideas and questions with the governor and officials of the Central Bank. The workshop involved the participation of several globally acclaimed Fintech experts who share their expertise and elaborate on the latest developments made in the field of Fintech and Digital Innovation.
These sessions come as a part of SAMA's continuous and on-going efforts to raise awareness, encourage participation and circulate acquired knowledge among key players in the financial sector. SAMA underlines that it will continue to organize such workshops with other relevant financial institutions in the sector.
