For years, the Middle East and North Africa’s financial sector has been abuzz with the concept of ‘Open Banking’ – a practice that provides third-party financial service providers standardized access to consumer banking, transaction and other financial data through application programming interfaces, or APIs.
Nowhere is this more true than in Saudi Arabia, where, while still in a stage of relative infancy, fintech innovations form a growing part of the Vision 2030 plans to diversify and transform the economy and lessen dependence on oil. All while at the same time creating a dynamic job market for Saudis and encouraging a high-tech, digitally focused knowledge economy.