ending pursuit to enhance innovation and digital banking, Bank Albilad has completed the technical permit requirements to enable the open banking services according to the regulatory framework issued by the Saudi Central Bank "SAMA" with the aim of supporting the FinTech system in the Kingdom, being the first bank in Saudi Arabia to obtain the technical permit and enable the open banking services. Abdul-Aziz Al-Onaizan, CEO of Bank Albilad, has expressed his pride about the banking leadership of Bank Albilad and its completion of the technical permit requirements as the first bank in Saudi Arabia to enable the open banking services according to the regulatory framework issued by the Saudi Central Bank, which reflects how Albilad elevates the banking experience of the customers and enhances the competitiveness of the Bank towards innovative digital banking. Al-Onaizan added "We took the initiative to enable the open banking services in order to support and enable the FinTech system and innovation in the financial sector, as it is one of the pillars of the financial sector development program emanating from the Kingdom's Vision 2030." The CEO of Bank Albilad has elaborated by saying "As we worked very hard since that time to contribute in achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, we are pleased today to enable all segments of our customers to share their financial data securely with our partners from service providers and providers of new and innovative products, which improves the quality of the banking services and enables sharing financial data". It is worth mentioning that Bank Albiad has opened the Innovation Center (HORIZON) on June 2022 AD, which is regarded as a step to encourage innovation, FinTech, and entrepreneurship towards creating connected environment that ensures the incubation of ideas and digital leading projects. This qualified Bank Albilad to keep pace with the regulatory framework for open banking since it is issued by the Saudi Central Bank "SAMA" on November 2022 AD to include regulations, business rules, and technical standards that were developed according to the best global practices and to enable banks and FinTech companies to provide the open banking services in the Kingdom.
