Article
Fintech market in Saudi Arabia to surpass USD 33 billion by 2023
Saudi Arabia, the largest nation in the Gulf Cooperation Council, is going through a significant economic development centered on the Saudi Vision 2030. By 2025, the Saudi government intends to make Riyadh a global fintech hub that can compete with London and Singapore. The Saudi government has announced ambitions to boost the number of fintech companies in the Kingdom. With its financial services industry and overall digital revolution, this has been a priority. In order to expand Saudi Arabia's fintech business, the Saudi Central Bank- SAMA established Fintech Saudi in 2018. In the Kingdom's fintech revolution, tokenization & encryption, alternative finance, and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) have all been promoted.
According to Fintech Saudi, there are now 37% more fintech businesses operating in Saudi Arabia. The potential is enormous for investors; in fact, Saudi Arabia-based fintechs received a record amount of venture capital investment in 2021, totaling over SAR 1.3 billion ($347 million). Fintech's advantages in the Kingdom will spread to industries other than finance, including retail, hotels, real estate, healthcare, transportation, and investing. 74 % have used at least one fintech solution, according to Fintech Saudi's National Fintech Adoption Survey, and fintech transaction values increased by more than 18 percent between 2017 and 2019 year over year, reaching over $20 billion in 2019 and predicted to surpass $33 billion in 2023. Additionally, Saudi Arabia seeks to reach a share of non-cash digital transactions of 70% by 2025. It is also anticipated that fintech will add 4.5 billion SAR ($1.2 billion) to the GDP and generate 6,000 new jobs. The goal is for Saudi Arabia to have 525 fintech companies by 2030 and to have generated close to 18,000 jobs.
SAMA declared that it was expanding its open banking program and services. The open banking policy released by SAMA underlines the goals of implementing an open banking framework in addition to the favorable effects it is projected to have on the Kingdom's financial sector, according to the Fintech Saudi 2020-21 annual report. Saudi Arabian consumers are adopting fintech and other types of digital solutions. Saudi Arabia has the greatest rate of Near-Field Communication (NFC) contactless payment acceptance last year, at 94%. This rate was higher than the EU average, Hong Kong, Canada, and the rest of the MENA region.
How is Saudi Arabia truly embracing a fintech economy?
The thriving fintech sector in Saudi Arabia is enabling widespread success. The Kingdom's economy is becoming more digital thanks to certain recent developments in the fintech landscape. These advances include:
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The 1$ billion Posperity7 Fund of Aramco Venture sought to make worldwide investments with a long-term perspective to promote the creation of cutting-edge technology and business models.
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$1 billion from the NEOM Tech & Digital Company will be used to develop the cognitive framework and implement hyper-disruptive solutions that are essential to the growth of NEOM and its fintech projects.
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The rapidly growing digital and cloud sector in Saudi Arabia will be supported by the $1 billion investment in regional connectivity and infrastructure that STC announced as MENA HUB.
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To advance the fintech sector, electronic information company Tabadul signed an agreement with Fintech Saudi.
As Saudi Arabia's fintech ecosystem develops, contemporary technologies continue to merge. The economic prospects that this ecosystem unleashes will only be more fascinating. It is obvious that it will play a bigger role in its future growth to economic development and diversification through cooperation, innovation, and regulatory assistance.
At Trescon’s World Fintech Show, the future of Saudia Arabia’s fintech market will be unleashed. An event aimed at bringing together businesses, investors, policymakers, government officials, and collaborators with global fintech innovators to redefine and re-energize financial services by adopting the most disruptive technology.
The World Fintech Show is a business-focused, thought-leadership-driven event that takes a close look at the most recent issues and technological developments in Saudi Arabia's financial services industry.
By bringing together pre-qualified CFOs, CEOs, CTOs, Heads of Business Transformation, Chief Digital Officers, Heads of Innovation, government officials, and fintech investors from Saudi Arabia, the World Fintech Show establishes the benchmark for financial innovation in the Kingdom.
Find out more about the event and book tickets here
About Trescon
Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provides a wide range of business services to a diversified client base.
With a deep understanding of the realities and requirements of the growth markets we operate in – we strive to deliver innovative and high-quality business platforms for our clients.
- 18 November 2022
