In continuation of the Capital Market Authority's (CMA) role in regulating and developing the financial market, and as a part of its effort to cope with the continuous changes in the international markets seeking to apply the best international standards and practices, CMA is keen to enable new products and support the financial technology (FinTech) industry. In reference to the Capital market law issued by Royal Decree number (M/30) dated 2/6/1424H corresponding to 31/07/2003, and The Financial Technology Experimental Permit Instructions published on 23/04/1439H corresponding to 10/01/2018, The CMA is pleased to announce the opening of the 4th batch applications for the FinTech ExPermit effective from Thursday on 14/2/1442H corresponding to 01/10/2020. The application period for the 4th batch will be closed on 15/04/1442H corresponding to 30/11/2020.
The CMA would like to encourage all those interested in financial technology (FinTech) and entrepreneurs to apply for a Permit from the CMA, in which their products promote innovation in FinTech and achieve growth, efficiency, competition and offer better compliance and risk management solutions in the Kingdom's financial market. Moreover, the CMA looks forward to receiving new models in this batch to diversify investment and financing instruments in the Saudi financial market.
In this regard, CMA has worked to provide a regulatory environment that stimulates the introduction of new investment products, in line with the level of maturity of the Saudi financial market, therefore meeting various market participants’ needs. CMA also supported the FinTech by providing a simplified regulatory framework to attract innovative business models and emerging technologies that open new horizon in facilitating financing and encouraging investment, seeking to build entities that contribute to deeper and more diverse financial market in line with the objectives and pillars of the Financial Sector Development Program of Kingdom's Vision 2030.
It is worth noting that the CMA launched the Fintech Lab in December 2017, which is one of the significant steps that aims to support and develop innovation in the Fintech field in the Saudi financial market. In addition, the Fintech Lab enables the Fintech developers to experiment their innovative capital market products and services, within specific controls, parameters and timeframes under the CMA's supervision. Subsequently, CMA opened the first batch of applications for the FinTech ExPermit in February 2018. Since then, CMA continued its efforts to receive applications in various batches. As a result, CMA Board of Commissioners granted twelve FinTech ExPermits in different business models including Equity Crowdfunding, Robo-advisory, Offering and Investment in Debt Instruments, platform that uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to arrange and offer of securities and custody services, and Social Trading Platform.
The instructions can be viewed on the CMA’s website via the following link:
Financial Technology Experimental Permit Instructions
For more details on the FinTech ExPermit application, please visit the following link:
FinTech Lab
