The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has officially transitioned open banking from a regulatory sandbox experiment into a licensed financial sector. Leading this transition is Lean Technologies, which has just been granted the Kingdom’s first Major Payment Institution license specifically for open banking services.
Quick Facts
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First SAMA-licensed open banking provider in Saudi Arabia.
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Processed data from over one million linked bank accounts.
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Boosted Tamara’s consumer financing approval rates by 32 percent.
Graduating From SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox
The issuance of this inaugural license marks a major milestone for Saudi Arabia’s financial sector, formally recognizing open banking as a regulated activity. Lean Technologies earned its license after successfully operating within SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox, where it proved the viability and security of its infrastructure.
During its time in the sandbox, Lean connected over one million bank accounts and analyzed more than one billion transactions. This extensive data processing established the company as a deeply integrated data provider within the Kingdom’s growing fintech space.
Hisham Al-Falih, CEO and Co-Founder of Lean Technologies, noted that the company was built on the conviction that regulated access to financial data would serve as the foundation for the next generation of Saudi financial services.
“Every partnership, every integration, every use case we developed within the Sandbox was a step toward validating that thesis,” Al-Falih said. “Receiving this license from SAMA is the moment that validation becomes official. With this license, we have the platform, the partnerships, and the regulatory standing to extend the reach of our infrastructure to thousands of merchants, tens of thousands of SMEs, and millions of end users across the Kingdom.”
Unlocking Credit Access for the Gig Economy
The core utility of open banking lies in its ability to broaden access to financial services, particularly for individuals with non-traditional income. Historically, legacy credit systems have struggled to assess the creditworthiness of freelancers, gig workers, and individuals with multiple income streams.
Lean’s infrastructure directly addresses this data gap. To date, the company’s systems have detected over SAR 37 billion in salaried income and SAR 14 billion in non-salaried income across Saudi Arabia. This real-time, verified data gives lenders a complete picture of customer affordability, allowing them to expand credit access without lowering their risk standards.
This capability has driven Lean’s adoption among major Saudi financial institutions and fintechs, including Tabby, Tamara, Abdul Latif Jameel, Sukuk, and Tasheel. These partnerships span buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms, consumer finance, automotive lending, and investment services.
Tamara, a leading regional BNPL and consumer finance platform, deployed Lean’s infrastructure to better assess the financial solvency of individuals and businesses. The results demonstrate the immediate business value of open banking data.
Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, CEO and Co-Founder of Tamara, stated that Lean unlocked the full potential of cash-flow data in their underwriting process.
“With access to rich, verified financial information, we can now responsibly serve customers that were previously difficult to underwrite,” Alsukhan said. “This has expanded our access to credit, increased approval rates by more than 32% in our new consumer financing product, and driven strong, risk-adjusted growth.”
About Lean Technologies
Lean Technologies is a leading financial infrastructure provider operating across the Middle East and North Africa. The company builds developer-friendly APIs that securely connect fintech companies, lenders, and enterprises to users’ bank accounts, enabling improved data-driven decision-making and streamlined payment processing. As the first fully licensed open banking provider in Saudi Arabia, Lean plays a central role in advancing the financial inclusion objectives outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Source: Zawya
