RIYADH — The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) granted two new licenses to payment financial technology companies.

The two payment financial technology companies licensed to provide payment services for e-commerce are Arab Sea Financial Company and Fatoraah.

This brings the total number of payment companies licensed by SAMA to 21, in addition to 5 companies that were granted an “in-principle approval”.

This comes as part of SAMA’s role to promote the development of the financial technology sector to ensure ultimate stability and growth of the sector.

This step aims to contribute to the sector growth while complying with SAMA’s regulatory requirements in line with SAMA’s mandate to enhance overall financial stability and support greater opportunities of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

In this regard, SAMA reiterated its commitment to support and facilitate the improvement of Fintech sector, encourage innovation and increase efficiency in financial transactions in a bid to boost financial inclusion in the Kingdom.

This also supports the objectives of the Fintech strategy by making the Kingdom one of the world's leading countries in the field, and it will contribute to the economic empowerment of Saudi society by promoting further innovations in technology-based financial services.

Meanwhile, SAMA emphasized the importance of dealing with licensed or authorized financial institutions alone. — SG