The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) announced that it has Permitted 9 FinTech Companies as a new batch to operate in the Regulatory Sandbox. These companies have, therefore joined the list of companies permitted in the two previous cohorts, bringing the total number of companies permitted by SAMA to 30. The new batch of companies comes as part of SAMA's endeavor to accomplish and promote the digitization of financial services and drive towards digital transformation in the financial sector in line with the requirements and objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program, one of the Kingdom's 2030 vision programs.

SAMA stated that they have received many requests, reaching a total of 103, and they have approved the innovative solutions which fulfilled the eligibility criteria in accordance with the published Regulatory Sandbox Framework. Applications related to payments, financing and insurance are eligible to apply to obtain the license directly and comply with the recently issued rules and regulations.

The new batch of services and products approved in SAMA's Regulatory Sandbox included Electronic Saving solutions  for individuals and a new batch of Crowdfunding Platforms for SMEs and Entrepreneurs. This stems from its responsibilities to raise financial awareness among all community segments, support the development of the national economy and diversification of its income sources, and incentivize savings, financing and investment. This step comes to achieve a number of strategic objectives, such as enhancing financial planning and raising savings  rate in Saudi Arabia, which would be positively reflected on the quality of life of individuals and households as well as the resilience of the economy in general. Other objectives include supporting programs and projects to raise the spirit of initiative and innovation, in addition to developing and supporting the SMEs sector to build a competitive economic system that ensures the sector's sustainability, prosperity and higher contribution to the national GDP. For more information, please visit this (link).