Executive Summary
Banks are adopting digitalization at a faster pace with the pandemic acting as a catalyst. The number of fintechs are also increasing recently and new neo banks are emerging across the globe. Almost 53 per cent of the global population is expected to access digital banking by 2026, according to Juniper Research. In 2018, the Middle East received less than 1% of worldwide FinTech funding, but it is growing at a 30 percent compounded annual growth rate according to Finextra.
The KSA landscape is also expanding in digital banking supported by Government initiatives like SAMA's FSDP - Vision 2030, SAMA open banking policy and Fintech Saudi. SAMA has licensed 16 FinTech payment companies in 2020 and has approved 2 digital banking licenses (STC Bank and Saudi Digital Bank) in 2021 and 1 (D360 Bank) in 2022. This report covers the 5 important digital shifts that are happening in KSA due to digitalization of banking and how these shifts would impact the KSA banks.
