Riyadh - Sharikat Mubasher: The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has been the key supporter of the financial services sector in Saudi Arabia throughout the past few years. Triggered by its commitment to promote financial inclusion in the Kingdom, SAMA encourages banks and financial institutions to provide accessible and affordable services to all citizens and residents of the Kingdom.
Throughout 2023, SAMA granted licenses and permitted several companies to provide a wide range of financial services in the Kingdom, including buy now pay later (BNPL), crowdfunding solutions, insurance aggregation services, consumer microfinance, debt-based crowdfunding, finance aggregation, and more.
The apex bank granted licenses to Forus and Tameed companies in January to provide debt-crowdfunding solutions, following the successful testing of their solutions in SAMA's Regulatory Sandbox.
In February, SAMA actively supported the financial services sector as it granted a license to Mani, a finance debt collection company, to offer debt collection services for finance institutions.
Fuel Finance Company also obtained SAMA’s license to provide consumer microfinance services, in addition to the Raqamyah platform which was permitted to provide debt-based crowdfunding solutions.
In a move to cement its role in supporting financial stability in Saudi Arabia, SAMA licensed Cigna Worldwide Insurance Company; the first foreign health insurance company branch in the Kingdom.
In March, the central bank permitted MIS Forward to carry out BNPL solutions, in addition to licensing Creative Future for Digital Brokerage to conduct finance aggregation services.
In April, Rasid Payments Company for Financial Technology obtained permission to provide payment solutions through point of sales (POS).
Additional BNPL companies obtained SAMA’s license in May, including Spotii and Madfu, while other three innovators were permitted to test their open banking solutions in the Regulatory Sandbox. The three companies are Tarabut Gateway Company for Information Technology, Umg Alholol Trading Co (known as Single View), and Drahim App for Financial Technology.
Tamara and Tabby, the Saudi leading BNPL solution providers, obtained SAMA’s license in July, underscoring the central bank’s dedication to enabling the finance and fintech sector within the regulatory and supervisory guidelines.
Furthermore, Dhamanat Company obtained SAMA’s license to provide general insurance as well as protection and savings insurance services, in addition to Fas Finance Company which obtained SAMA's permission in July to provide consumer microfinance solutions.
In August, SAMA granted licenses to three companies, including Thamer to provide crowdfunding solutions; Loan to provide consumer microfinance solutions through financial technology; and Alhulul AlMubassatah Financial Company (SiFi) to provide e-wallet solutions.
Meanwhile, SAMA licensed Intelligent Solutions, Al-tizam for Electronic Insurance Brokerage, and Altheqa Insurance Broker in September to provide finance aggregation and insurance aggregation services.
In October, SAMA licensed ReTech Reinsurance Brokers Company for a soft launch phase to provide online reinsurance brokerage services, in addition to permitting Kadi Pay to provide BNPL solutions.
Dnaneer Financing Company obtained SAMA’s license in November to offer crowdfunding solutions, raising the total number of authorized companies offering debt-based crowdfunding solutions in Saudi Arabia to eight.
SAMA also licensed Smart Interaction for Digital Brokerage in December to provide finance aggregation services and permitted Jeel Pay to offer BNPL solutions.
It is worth noting that SAMA cemented its role in fostering the BNPL sector in Saudi Arabia by issuing rules regulating the BNPL companies in the Kingdom, in alignment with its commitment to setting minimum standards and procedures required to offer BNPL services.
