Bahrain-based open banking platform Tarabut Gateway has formed four new banking partnerships in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as part of its expansion into that country.
According to a Tuesday (May 31) news release, the four banks are Riyad Bank, Saudi British Bank (SABB), Alinma Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF).
Read more: Tarabut Gateway and Zain Bahrain Debut Telco-Powered Open Banking Payments
“The KSA market is ideally positioned for the coming Open Banking revolution, as the country has prioritized financial sector transformation as part of the Financial Sector Development Program, under the Saudi Vision 2030 plan for economic and social reform,” the company said. “Within this, KSA has announced its ambition to go cashless, aiming for 70% non-cash transactions by 2030.”
Tarabut added that KSA also has one of the largest populations in the Middle East, with 35 million people, 98% internet penetration and smartphone penetration for people aged 18 to 75 at 97%. Open banking has taken off in the Middle East on the whole, the company said, with 500 FinTechs in the region, including 81 in KSA.
See also: B2B FinTech FOO Expands Into Saudi Arabia
Last week saw B2B FinTech provider FOO expand its operations with the aim of improving digital transformation in Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia has an extremely high market opportunity for financial disruption with 51% of the population under the age of 25,” said Ghady Rayess, FOO’s managing director. “As digital transformation rapidly becomes a national priority, there is a great opportunity for FinTech companies to deliver embedded finance and transform the end-user experience across sectors.”
As for Tarabut, the company said financial institutions and FinTechs can use its solution to connect and build their own apps on top of the Tarabut platform. From there, they can offer services that include payment services, digital wallets and other use cases.
In December, Tarabut Gateway teamed up with telecommunications company Zain Bahrain to provide what the companies said was the first use case of open banking payments using a telco app in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The partnership allows Zain Bahrain customers to pay bills with open banking APIs, while Zain Bahrain can accept bank-to-bank payments, enabling funds to be credited in real-time.
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