Saudi Central Bank has announced the plan to issue a new regulatory framework for Open Banking in Q4 2023, for the payment origination services. Following this announcement, SAMA aims to expand the range of improved and efficient financial solutions available in the market, as well as to strengthen the Kingdom’s commitments and focus on benefiting from multiple Open Banking opportunities.

As the percentage of adult individuals who have a bank account or an electronic wallet stood at approximately 94% by the end of 2022, the Saudi Central Bank contributed to the process of enabling financial planning and savings for customers and individuals, as well as in the procedure of reducing the dependence on cash. This took place by developing new technical tools and solutions, and by providing supporting offerings at the same time. The implementation of the FinTech Strategy aims to raise the cumulative balance of venture capital by SAR 12,2 billion, as well as to raise the fintech sector’s contribution to SAR 13,3 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP).

Saudi Central Bank’s development strategy SAMA rolled out its Open Banking Lab at the beginning of January 2023, aiming to foster improvement and acceleration in the process of development of Open Banking services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This launch sought to serve as an efficient and secure technical enabler of the Open Banking ecosystem in the region. The lab was set to provide financial institutions and banks with a technical testing environment in order to give them the possibility to develop, test, and certify their Open Banking solutions and to ensure compatibility with the framework.

The Saudi Central Bank announced the issuance of the Open Banking Framework in November of 2023, as one of the key outputs of the Open Banking Programme. The Saudi Open Banking Programme included a reportedly comprehensive and clear set of legislation, technical standards, and regulatory guidelines that were based on international practices. The product was designed to allow banks and financial institutions to provide Open Banking services in the Kingdom.

Open Banking solutions represent a concept in the financial industry that aims to allow clients of financial institutions to securely share their financial data with a chosen third-party provider. This in turn offers new and improved financial products, tools, and solutions for users and businesses. The implementation of the Open Banking services was one of the initiatives of the Fintech Strategy under the Saudi Vision 2030.

In the Open Banking and Open Finance Report 2022 published by The Paypers, Serena Sebastiani from PwC Middle East shared insights into the Open Banking state of affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, including Saudi Arabia. .