Industry insights: How Saudi Arabia’s fintech scene is evolving

The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region has witnessed unprecedented growth in the fintech sector in recent years.

According to a McKinsey report, the region’s positive macroeconomic outlook, coupled with the consistently strong performance of its financial services industry, provides a favourable environment for continued fintech growth. The consultancy forecasts that the region’s fintech revenue could nearly triple from $1.5bn in 2022 to between $3.5bn and $4.5bn by 2025, boosting fintech’s share of financial services revenue from less than 1 per cent to approximately 2 to 2.5 per cent.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, has rapidly advanced its fintech industry, making significant strides toward becoming a global fintech hub. Since 2018, when the Saudi Central Bank and the Saudi Capital Markets Authority (CMA) launched Fintech Saudi, the industry has experienced remarkable growth. This initiative has catalysed a 20-fold increase in the number of fintech companies, attracting over SAR4bn in investments, according to consultancy Arthur D. Little. Key programmes such as the Fintech Accelerator and the Fintech Regulatory Sandbox have been instrumental in this success.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has further solidified fintech’s role in the national economy, setting ambitious targets that include establishing 525 fintech companies, creating 18,000 jobs, and contributing SAR13.3bn to the GDP by 2030.

The upcoming 24 Fintech event, being held at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Centre from September 3-5, is expected to provide a significant boost to the industry. The inaugural event will bring together some of the region’s top fintech companies, emerging startups, regulatory authorities, financial institutions and thousands of visitors.

Read: New 24 Fintech summit to debut in Riyadh this September

Here, we speak to companies exhibiting at the event to get their perspectives on the fintech industry and emerging trends.

Tomas Skoumal, chairman and co-president of Dyna.Ai

The significant number of fintech startups and the substantial investment of $15.5bn highlight a thriving ecosystem. This level of investment suggests confidence in fintech’s potential to drive innovation. The MENA region is poised to become a global leader in fintech innovation, driven by strong investment, supportive regulations, technological advancements, and a growing market. The integration of AI in fintech is set to improve the industry by enhancing decision-making, personalising customer experiences, and improving fraud detection.

As the ecosystem continues to mature, the region is likely to see transformative impacts on its financial landscape, improving accessibility, efficiency, and inclusivity. We are in the process of completing our registration in Saudi Arabia and hope to open our office there in the coming quarter. Our expansion strategy is underpinned by having a strong local presence, hiring local talent, and building partnerships that truly power the future of financial services in the MENA region.

Marcin Parafianowicz, founder and CEO, Empeiria

The future of fintech will be focused on technological innovation: open banking, verifiable data, and blockchain-based assets (real-world asset tokenisation). Saudi Arabia is open to innovation and aims to leapfrog legacy infrastructure with ambitious goals set by Vision 2030. We plan to open an office in Riyadh at the beginning of 2025 and establish several partnerships with consultancy companies that will scale digital transformation expertise across the kingdom.

We aim to empower Saudi youth talents to capitalise on the opportunity to build innovative industry-specific applications and market them worldwide. We provide decentralised infrastructure that is a core component for the next generation of processes in fintech, insurance, and beyond. This empowers companies in Saudi Arabia to quickly build industry-specific applications that enable entirely new use cases focused on cross-legal entities, cross-border trusted data exchange, and data for AI. Early adopters will set up the standards for interoperable data models and can expand their applications to other countries.

Abdulmajeed Alaskar, founder and CEO, MONEYMOON

Saudi Arabia is leading the MENA region in fintech innovation, with its Vision 2030 driving significant change through the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) and its fintech strategy.

These initiatives are positioning Saudi Arabia as the hub for fintech in the region. The future of fintech in MENA is incredibly promising, with rapid digital transformation and increased adoption of innovative financial solutions.

We anticipate significant growth in areas such as digital banking, blockchain technology, and AI-driven financial services.

Saudi Arabia is poised to become a global fintech hub, driven by supportive regulatory frameworks, a young and tech-savvy population, and a strong emphasis on financial inclusion.

Rami Panayoti, co-founder and chief business officer, SIFI (Simplified Financial Solutions)

The future of fintech in MENA looks exceptionally bright. We anticipate continued growth, with a focus on digital payments as well as finance management solutions that cater to the unique needs of businesses and other organisations in the region. Our experience shows that companies in MENA are increasingly seeking efficient, tech-driven financial management tools. This trend, coupled with the region’s young, tech-savvy workforce and supportive regulatory environment, is driving rapid adoption of fintech solutions. We’re also seeing a growing demand for dedicated integrated financial platforms that can handle multiple aspects of business finance – from expense management to accounts payable and receivables. This is great as it perfectly aligns with our vision to become a comprehensive financial management solution for these businesses.

As the fintech sector continues to evolve in Saudi Arabia and the broader MENA region, the insights from industry leaders highlight the potential for significant transformation in the financial landscape. With strong support from both government and private sectors, the region is well-positioned to become a global fintech hub, leading the charge in innovation, efficiency, and inclusivity.

Saeed Alqarni, founder and CEO, Waslah Tech

The financial sector in the region is being transformed, especially with the advancement in AI.

We believe traditional financial institutions will transform into fintech institutions soon. We aim to be part of that wave.

At Waslah Tech, we offer high-value solutions for our customers by strategically reducing financial obligations through innovative services leveraging market dynamics and financial transactions.

Our platform provides instant offset certificates, enabling companies to manage liquidity issues in volatile markets without resorting to additional borrowing or debt consolidation.