These are the main objectives of the financial technology strategy in Saudi Arabia
This year, Saudi Arabia launched the financial technology strategy, which is one of the pillars of the financial sector development program, with the aim of making the Kingdom a global center for financial technology and creating job and investment opportunities by 2030.
This comes through strengthening the regulatory framework, developing competencies in the financial technology sector, developing the technical infrastructure, in addition to strengthening local and international partnerships.
Among the most prominent goals of the strategy is to increase the number of financial technology companies in Saudi Arabia to reach 250 companies by 2025, and 525 companies by 2030, and increase the percentage of non-cash transactions to 70% in 2025 and 80% in 2030.
According to the latest Saudi Fintech report, the Kingdom witnessed a remarkable rise in the financial technology industry, as the number of companies in the sector increased during the first half by 79% on an annual basis, and the number of active companies reached 147 companies.
This growth is expected to continue through 2023 supported by new regulations and initiatives, and the development of open and digital banking services.
Technology investments between September 2021 and August 2022 recorded about $400 million through 20 deals in the financial technology field, which represents an increase of 11% over the same period of the previous year, supported by the emergence of new players.
Among the most prominent deals are Foodics with 169.6 million dollars, Tamara with about 100 million dollars, Hyperbuy with 36.7 million dollars, and Lean with 33 million dollars.
According to a report by Endeavor and Impact 46, there are still huge opportunities in the Saudi fintech sector, as a quarter of emerging financial technology companies target existing bank customers, while 33% of them target small and medium-sized companies that suffer from poor banking services. And only a small segment of startups, 16%, targets unbanked users.
