In the name of Allah, the most merciful and compassionate,

Peace and Blessings be upon the most honorable of prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions,

Your Excellencies and Honorable Guests,

I am pleased to welcome you in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Board of Directors of the Union of Arab Banks, the Secretary General, and the Secretariat members for their efforts in organizing this conference. It is my pleasure to congratulate the Union's officials on the establishment of a regional office in the Kingdom, which will commence its operations in conjunction with the convening of this conference. I am confident that, with the help of Allah, this office will provide valuable support in the delivery of its services and the conduct of its work.

The current ​global economic landscape, characterized by geopolitical tensions and uncertainty, continues to impact monetary policy decisions. Many central banks have implemented tighter monetary policies to curb persistent inflation. These stringent policies have prompted the International Monetary Fund to lower its global growth forecast for this year to 3 percent. This has been accompanied by volatile global markets and increasing challenges for emerging economies.

In light of these global economic challenges, it is imperative that we closely monitor and analyze these developments to ensure our ability to mitigate their effects. Concurrently, we must continue to enhance our financial and banking systems, including FinTechs.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has prioritized economic diversification in its pursuit of the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030. The Kingdom has achieved notable progress in several areas, including housing programs, unemployment reduction, women's labor force participation, and technology localization, among other ambitious initiatives.

Despite global economic challenges, the Saudi economy has continued to grow, demonstrating strong performance in terms of GDP and employment rates. The economy grew by 8.7 percent last year, exceeding the global average of 3.5 percent.  The private sector is expected to continue to support the Kingdom's economic growth. Non-oil activities continued to grow at rates of 5.4 and 5.5 percent in the first and second quarters of this year, respectively.

The financial system has played a key role in supporting the Kingdom's economic performance. Financial institutions have expanded their services to encompass a broader spectrum of borrowers, including both private sector businesses and individual customers, to make their services more accessible. Banks have expanded their lending activities to meet the ongoing demand for bank credit, while maintaining moderate risk outcomes, reflecting the resilience of the domestic economy.  Bank credit increased by 10.2 percent year-on-year by the end of the second quarter of this year.

With the ongoing challenges facing the global economy, SAMA continues to monitor local and global developments to maintain the stability and soundness of the financial system.

SAMA has always attached great importance to the banking system, given its pivotal role in the economy. The banking system has exceeded all Basel requirements for prudential ratios, reflecting a system with robust performance indicators.

For example, the liquidity coverage ratio reached 188.3 percent, the net stable funding ratio stood at 115 percent, and the capital adequacy ratio reached 20.1 percent by the end of the second quarter of this year.

The Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) is a key pillar of Saudi Vision 2030. One of the FSDP's primary objectives is to promote technological innovation in financial services as the foundation for enhancing financial inclusion and economic empowerment for individuals and society.

The FinTech Strategy aims to achieve the desired economic impact by increasing the number of FinTech companies to 525 by 2030. This is expected to contribute to the creation of 18,000 direct specialized jobs and contribute more than SAR 13 billion to the GDP. As of the end of August 2023, over 200 FinTech companies were operating in various fields in the Kingdom. 

In line with SAMA's efforts to enable innovative technologies, SAMA has issued the Open Banking Regulatory Framework to provide guidelines and requirements for sharing customer account information. This was followed by the launch of the Open Banking Lab, one of the most important technical enablers of the Open Banking ecosystem in the Kingdom.  The Open Banking Regulatory Framework for the Payment Initiation service is expected to be issued later this year.

SAMA is also collaborating with the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to launch an empowerment program for Saudi startup FinTech companies to support this promising sector. The program aims to encourage companies by providing support packages in the field of basic infrastructure for startups to accelerate the launch of their innovative services.

In closing,

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have contributed to the success of th​is conference. I reaffirm our unwavering commitment to continuing to develop the financial sector commensurate with local and global economic developments, in collaboration with our partners. This objective would warrant a fertile and attractive environment for numerous real investment opportunities in this vital sector.

Thank you for your kind attention. May peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.