Three strategic approaches to drive financial innovation
Unlocking Open Banking in the Middle East
Countries across the Middle East are adopting open banking, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among those leading the charge.
Regulators see open banking as a key lever for boosting fintech innovation, enhancing banking market competition and improving financial inclusion.
It forms a natural part of the regional push to build modern, diversified economies and better meet the aspirations of bank customers around transparency and personalization.
“With the pace of change likely to be faster than early-adopter open banking markets, market participants in the Middle East need a robust action plan today.”
Kushal Dhammi, Managing Principal
Market reform is arriving just as Middle Eastern customers are demanding rapid access to more convenient, personalized services such as holistic views of their finances, cheaper credit based on shared data, and speedy payments from within third-party apps.
New technologies – GenAI, cloud-native platforms, advanced API architectures and more – are making it cheaper and easier to meet emerging customer aspirations.
With the pace of change likely to be faster than early-adopter open banking markets such as the UK, market participants in the Middle East need a robust action plan today.
“There is continuing momentum in the development of open banking frameworks. However, ensuring rapid take-up and meaningful service innovation presents significant opportunities and challenges.”
Naim Alame, Managing Partner
How attractive would customers find an app that provides visibility of all their financial products in one place?
Extremely attractive
Attractive
Neutral/Indifferent
Slightly unattractive
Not attractive at all
47%
39%
12%
1%
0%
Extremely attractive
Attractive
Neutral/Indifferent
Slightly unattractive
Not attractive at all
45%
47%
7%
1%
0%
KSA
UAE
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Saudi Arabia/UAE open banking timeline & structure
Key opportunities – including open banking use cases
Evolving role of banks & future open banking models
Strategic responses defined: Compliance-driven, Value-added & Market-oriented
Capco Bank of the Future Middle East Survey
Download the Whitepaper
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our whitepaper
17 October 2025
Thank you for downloading
our whitepaper
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