2022 Q3 Report En · Page 5

 
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Financial Sector Development Highlights 
Saudi Central Bank Licenses Four Payment Financial 
Technology Companies 
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announces granting 
licenses to four payment financial technology companies, 
namely: Arab Sea Financial Company and Fatoraah to 
provide Payment services for E-commerce, and Enjaz 
Payments Services Company to provide electronic wallet 
service (electronic transfer and payment service), and 
Marta Financial Company to provide payment services 
through points of sales (POS), This brings the total 
number of payment companies licensed by SAMA to 21 
companies. 
This comes as part of SAMA's role to promote the 
development of the financial technology sector to ensure 
ultimate stability and growth of the sector. This step aims 
to contribute to the sector growth while complying with 
SAMA's regulatory requirements in line with SAMA's 
mandate to enhance overall financial stability and 
support greater opportunities of the Saudi Vision 2030. 
Saudi Central Bank Updates its Regulatory Sandbox 
Framework 
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced that it has 
updated the Framework of its Regulatory Sandbox. The 
step was taken as part of SAMA's efforts to achieve several 
national strategic goals through the promotion of the 
Regulatory Sandbox's involvement in the Financial Sector 
Development Program (FSDP), a key objective of the 
Saudi Vision 2030. 
The updated framework will also support the objectives 
of the FinTech strategy by making the Kingdom one of the 
world's leading countries in the field. The Central Bank 
pointed out that the updated framework of the 
Regulatory Sandbox is open for both local and 
international applicants to apply be they entrepreneurs, 
non-regulated companies or existing regulated entities, 
the key differentiator of the updated framework is to 
move from a cohort-based approach to an Always Open 
approach, which will give greater flexibility to those 
applying. This transition will allow applicants to apply to 
the Regulatory Sandbox when they are ready, in addition 
to bringing their chosen business model/concept, and not 
working to a specific one determined for the cohort. 
Saudi Central Bank Launches a POS Service Between 
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Via GCCNET 
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the launch of 
new points of sale (POS) service linking the Saudi 
Payments Network (Mada) to Qatar's National ATM and 
POS Switch (NAPS) as of 1st of August 2022. The launch 
came after the success of the preliminary technical tests 
and trials between the two networks, and moving 
forward, holders of Mada and NAPS cards will be able to 
carry out POS transaction in the two countries through 
the Gulf Payments Network (GCCNET). 
Saudi Central Bank Permits 2 New Fintech Companies 
to Operate Under its Regulatory Sandbox 
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced granting 
permit to a new batch of companies; "Lean Technologies" 
and "Mod5r" to provide Open Banking Solutions; bringing 
the total number of permitted Fintech companies
operating under its Regulatory Sandbox to 38. 
This step completes a series of actions undertaken to 
conquer a stack of strategic objectives including 
activating SAMA's sandbox environment role to the 
realization of the Saudi Vision 2030 goals through the 
Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP). The 
prominent FSDP is an ambitious program aims at 
promoting economic growth, savings and investment 
activities and the financial in