The Kingdom’s central bank announced the launch of a new lab to allow businesses to test out their products against an established framework.
The service is a new concept that enables the consumers of financial institutions to securely share their data with a third-party provider, facilitating new and innovative services and products for consumers.
The announcement by the bank, also known as SAMA, comes in the wake of its Open Banking Framework issued in November 2022, and is aimed at aiding innovation and accelerating development in the sector.
It will create a positive impact in the industry by strengthening the partnership between banks and fintechs, improving the financial infrastructure to guarantee better use of consumers’ financial data.
The Open Banking Framework includes a comprehensive set of legislation, regulatory guidelines and technical standards based on international best practices to support banks and fintechs in the Kingdom.
The first version focused on account information services, and the second will concentrate on the payment initiation service.
The implementation of open banking services is one of the initiatives of the Fintech Strategy, one of the pillars of the Financial Sector Development Program under Saudi Vision 2030.
Saudi Central Bank is tracking the development of banks and fintechs to ensure their readiness to launch open banking services within the first quarter of 2023.