RIYADH: Saudi Arabia plans to increase the number of fintech companies in the Kingdom by threefold under a new national strategy.
The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that under the new fintech strategy the number of firms is expected to increase from 82 to 230 by 2025.
It also seeks to increase fintech sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to SR4.5 billion and create nearly 6,000 jobs by 2025.
The plan also aims to increase the share of digital transactions to 70 percent of all financial dealings by 2025.
The strategy aspires to raise the cumulative value of venture capital investments in fintech companies to reach SR2.6 billion ($1 billion) by 2025 in an effort to boost domestic and foreign investment.
The strategy will contribute to increasing the number of fintech actors in the Kingdom to 525, and create nearly 18,000 jobs by 2030.
In addition to raising the sector’s contribution to the GDP to SR13 billion ($3.46 billion) by 2030, the new plan also aims at increasing investments in fintech companies to SR12 billion.
Saudi Arabia has been performing well in terms of the digitization of financial transactions after it surpassed the expected 55 percent with 57 percent in 2021.
Moreover, the number of fintech companies increased to 30 in the digital payment sector with the number of payments executed via smart devices on Point-of-Sale terminals increasing by 282 percent in 2021.
Aiming to accomplish the projected numbers above, the fintech strategy is composed of six transformational drivers and 11 initiatives.
Future solutions that will boost the execution of the strategy include Payments, Capital Market Services, Lending, Insurance, and Data.
According to the Financial Sector Development Program, building and maintaining trust in fintech activities revolves around technology prerequisites and infrastructure enablement.
As the Kingdom emerges as a global fintech hub, performance has been above average with Saudi Arabia scoring a 25 percent cumulative growth rate in annual number of fintech companies.
Fintech adoption in Saudi Arabia has been growing rapidly with 74 percent of individuals having used at least one fintech solution, according to a survey by Fintech Saudi.
The survey also indicated that 69 percent of individuals regularly use digital payment making it the largest contribution to fintech adoption.
