Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan and the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) Governor Fahad Almubarak expressed their gratitude and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense, for the Cabinet's approval to license for a local digital bank in the name of "D360 Bank". The digital bank will be established with a capital of SR1.65 billion through a consortium of individual and corporate investors, with the Public Investment Fund as one of the key investors and will be led by Derayah Financial Company. The establishment of D360 Bank comes as an extension of the continuous support of the Kingdom's leadership towards various sectors, including the financial sector. SAMA has been actively engaged in keeping pace with the latest developments in the financial industry to be in line with the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program — one of the Saudi Vision 2030 programs — that seeks to develop the digital economy; enables financial institutions to support private sector growth and provides opportunities to new companies and start-ups to provide financial services. It is worth noting that two local digital banks have been recently licensed to conduct banking business in the Kingdom and this is the third license for a local digital bank, which brings the total number of licensed banks in the Kingdom to (35) banks, including (11) local banks, (3) local digital banks, and (21) foreign bank branches which reflects the strength, stability and attractiveness of the banking sector in particular and the Saudi economy in general. On the other hand, SAMA issued a number of licenses to various financial institutions, including those working in financial technology, where it licensed (19) Saudi financial technology companies to provide payments services, consumer microfinance and electronic insurance brokerage. In this regards, SAMA welcomes to receiving license applications to engage in banking business in the Kingdom to service individuals and companies and to support economy. SAMA encourages those interested in seeking banking license to visit its website to review the requirements and guidelines to license financial institutions. Finally, SAMA has been working relentlessly to develop and support innovation in the banking sector in partnership with Fintech companies to reap the benefits of the technological revolution for the financial sector and the economy at large while maintaining financial stability and protecting players in the banking sector and related parties. — SPA
