‎Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia rise to 147 in 2022: report

Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia rise to 147 in 2022: report



The Fintech Saudi initiative said that the number of Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia rose to 147 in 2022, an increase of 14.7 times compared to 2018, when there were only 10 companies.




The number of Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia increased by 79% compared to 2021, Fintech Saudi added, in its annual report.











Number of FinTech Companies in Saudi Arabia since 2018

Year

Number of Companies

2018

10

2019

20

2020

60

2021

82

2022

147


Meanwhile, 87% of Fintech companies are headquartered in Saudi Arabia, 6% in the UAE, and 2% in Kuwait. The rest of the headquarters are distributed among the United Kingdom, India, Jordan, the US and Bahrain.




Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia, which are still in the idea stage, constitute 37% of registered companies, while companies in the preliminary commercial stage represent 33%, showed the report.










Fintech Companies in Saudi Arabia According to their Stage

Stage

Percentage

Idea stage

37%

Preliminary commercial stage

33%

Full operation stage

21%

Experimental environment permit stage

9%


The report also showed that Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia specialized in payments and currency exchange represent 30%, while companies specialized in lending and financing constitute 19%, as shown in the following table:
















Fintech Companies in Saudi Arabia According to their Fields

Field

Percentage

Payments and currency exchange


 

30%

Lending and financing

19%

Business solutions and provision of information

13%

Personal finance and treasury management

11%

Collection of private money

9%

Financial markets

8%

Banks and infrastructure

5%

Insurance

3%

Digital banks

1%

Systems and risks

1%


The biggest challenges facing Fintech companies in Saudi Arabia is adhering to the laws and regulations of the financial sector, followed by securing financing, hiring talents and competencies, attracting customers, adhering to technical laws and regulations, and developing the product.


80% of Fintech companies take into consideration the objectives of environmental, social and corporate governance in developing their solutions, according to the report.




It also said that the key technologies that Fintech companies have shown interest in using are cloud computing technologies, machine learning technology, distributed records technology and blockchain technology, but they are facing a challenge in using them.








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