Saudi Arabia s tech landscape flourishes with innovative initiatives arabnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arabnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is poised to become a regional fintech hub with the launch of open banking last month. The concept provides seamless digital banking solutions to all stakeholders, besides reducing operational costs of traditional banking. On May 24, the Saudi cabinet approved the Kingdom’s financial technology strategy to modernize the payment sector as part of Vision
New plan to transform Saudi s logistics landscape welcomed zawya.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from zawya.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
JEDDAH: Saudi banking and financial experts have welcomed the Saudi Cabinet’s decision on Tuesday to approve the licensing of the first two local digital banks in the Kingdom STC Bank and Saudi Digital Bank.
STC Bank will be created from the conversion of STC Pay into a digital lender with paid-up capital of SR2.5 billion ($670 million), having received an investment of SR750 million from Western Union for a 15 percent stake.
Saudi Digital Bank will have paid-up capital of SR1.5 billion and will include Al Moammar Information Systems Co. (MIS) and other investors. MIS shares soared on Wednesday by 9.95 percent on the back of the news.
However, the ever-changing COVID-19 measures in different countries could still cause problems, even for vaccinated Saudi travelers.
One concern is the potential extra costs involved as some countries may require visitors to quarantine upon arrival.
Some young Saudis say they would prefer to stay at home this summer. Twenty-five-year-old Ali Hussain feared spending his entire vacation in quarantine: “Your vacation is a limited number of days to begin with, and such sudden measures are a hindrance.”
He said international destinations keep changing their rules, from the quarantining conditions to the PCR tests required upon arrival, which can upset travel plans completely.