By Abdulla Almoayed, Founder & CEO of Tarabut
People like to call what’s happening in finance today “evolution.” I’d actually go one step further. What we’re seeing isn’t gradual. It’s a teardown and a rebuild. The old rails are being pulled up and new ones are being laid down.
Saudi Arabia today makes that point loud and clear. Google Pay is live. Alipay+ is coming. And with that comes a whole new way of thinking about payments.
And look at the numbers. In 2018, there were fewer than 20 fintechs in Saudi. Now there are more than 260. At the same time, SMEs and corporates still face an $80 billion financing gap. Growth on one side, a massive gap on the other. Anyone can see this is an industry being rebuilt, and it’s visible everywhere.
Identity isn’t paper anymore. It’s digital. It’s an API. Payments aren’t plastic cards, they’re digital wallets that work across ecosystems. Financing isn’t waiting weeks for a bank to make up its mind, it’s live models making credit decisions in seconds.
And here’s what makes Saudi different. Most people in the Kingdom aren’t just banked, they’re multi-banked. Regulation is cloud-first and API-ready. Even legal enforcement is digital. That foundation means fintechs can focus on creating new value rather than trying to patch over outdated systems.
Legacy systems in finance still exist, but they can’t keep up with what comes next. In Saudi, people already expect everything (government services, insurance, even the courts) to run digitally. Finance has to keep pace, and I’m saying this not to sound fatalistic, but because expectations shifted a long time ago. No one wants (or can afford) to be lagging. Digital is the baseline, and the opportunity is to build on top of it.
Tarabut’s partnerships in Saudi are proof of this shift. In the past month alone, leading institutions have chosen us to power new solutions because the old playbooks can’t deliver what’s needed.
- ARIB turned to Tarabut to integrate instant income verification, account validation, and fraud prevention, tackling real gaps in speed and accuracy for financing flows.
- Nayifat selected Tarabut to reimagine SME financing. With our technology, credit decisions are faster and data-driven, seamlessly integrated with business platforms, and backed by SAR 500m–1bn in new capital for entrepreneurs. It’s growth funding that directly supports Vision 2030.
These partnerships show what’s possible when banks, fintechs, and platforms choose to rebuild on stronger foundations.
Finance isn’t evolving. It’s being rebuilt. And Saudi is showing the world how it’s done.
At Tarabut, we’re not watching from the sidelines. We’re in the middle of this transformation, helping banks, fintechs, and platforms tear down barriers that no longer work and connect into the new financial operating system that’s taking shape. We’re building this together, and if you’re working towards the same future, I’d like to hear from you.
Relevant releases
Arib Taps Tarabut to Supercharge Digital Financing Journeys in Saudi Arabia
Arib has partnered with Tarabut to transform how consumers and businesses discover, qualify for, and access financial products across Saudi Arabia, integrating Tarabut’s data-driven capabilities to deliver faster approvals and smarter recommendations.
