GCC Open Banking Ecosystem Summit

Open Banking has the potential to significantly reshape the financial services landscape and Is making considerable inroads in the GCC region lately with governments and regulatory authorities embracing the journey to shape the future of financial markets, increase collaboration between banks and fintech and drive innovation.

Specifically, within GCC, Bahrain is leading the way for Open Banking, with the country being the first to draft regulations around the platform two years ago. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia closely follows Bahrain, in terms of acceptance towards the platform and is currently aiming to reach overall market implementation by the first half of 2022.

With Open Banking carrying the potential for enabling banking-as-a-service and move out of its traditional role of a lender, the need of the hour is to use technology mindfully and understand the benefits and challenges towards its implementation.

As the region is still exploring the potential of open banking, there is a dire need to educate, discuss and bring together all the key stakeholders in the open banking ecosystem in a focused platform to deliberate upon the opportunities and risks.