IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v14y2021i10p460-d646722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

FinTech: Ecosystem, Opportunities and Challenges in Saudi Arabia

Author

Listed:
  • Mansour Saleh Albarrak

    (Department of Finance, College of Administrative and Financial Sciences, Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh 13316, Saudi Arabia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Sara Ali Alokley

    (Department of Finance, School of Business, King Faisal University, Al-Hasa 31982, Saudi Arabia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

FinTech is a disruptive international phenomenon that is expected to shape the future of the financial sector. This study describes the features and characteristics of the current Saudi Arabian FinTech landscape and ecosystem. Examples of innovative financial startups in Saudi Arabia, including online banking, transfer and payment services, crowdfunding platforms, peer-to-peer lending, and blockchain initiatives, are discussed. Several changes have occurred within the ecosystem in the last five years; for example, Saudi banks are taking a more cautious approach. However, FinTech initiatives are also being internally developed, encouraging technology companies and startups to focus their efforts on innovations aimed at improving current processes rather than novelty. The government directs its effort mainly toward initiatives related to regulations and laws. Customers are interested in new products that are convenient and easy to use. We compare the Saudi FinTech ecosystem to the United Arab Emirates’ FinTech ecosystem and conclude with recommendations for the different stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Mansour Saleh Albarrak & Sara Ali Alokley, 2021. "FinTech: Ecosystem, Opportunities and Challenges in Saudi Arabia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:460-:d:646722
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/10/460/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/10/460/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gulamhuseinwala, Imran & Bull, Thomas & Lewis, Steven, 2015. "FinTech is gaining traction and young, high-income users are the early adopters," Journal of Financial Perspectives, EY Global FS Institute, vol. 3(3), pages 16-23.
    2. Rahul C. Basole & Shiv S. Patel, 2018. "Transformation Through Unbundling: Visualizing the Global FinTech Ecosystem," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(4), pages 379-396, December.
    3. Lee, In & Shin, Yong Jae, 2018. "Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 35-46.
    4. Jünger, Moritz & Mietzner, Mark, 2020. "Banking goes digital: The adoption of FinTech services by German households," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    5. Catherine Welch & Rebecca Piekkari & Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mantymaki, 2011. "Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(5), pages 740-762, June.
    6. Christian Haddad & Lars Hornuf, 2019. "The emergence of the global fintech market: economic and technological determinants," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 81-105, June.
    7. Vladimir I. Soloviev, 2018. "Fintech Ecosystem and Landscape in Russia," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 7, pages 377-390.
    8. Tatiana Zalan & Elissar Toufaily, 2017. "The Promise of Fintech in Emerging Markets: Not as Disruptive," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rui Ai & Yuhang Zheng & Serhat Yüksel & Hasan Dinçer, 2023. "Investigating the components of fintech ecosystem for distributed energy investments with an integrated quantum spherical decision support system," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-28, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yingying Zhang-Zhang & Sylvia Rohlfer & Jay Rajasekera, 2020. "An Eco-Systematic View of Cross-Sector Fintech: The Case of Alibaba and Tencent," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-25, October.
    2. Tianlei Pi & Haoxuan Hu & Jingyi Lu & Xue Chen, 2022. "The Analysis of Fintech Risks in China: Based on Fuzzy Models," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Pandey, Dharen Kumar & Hassan, M.Kabir & Kumari, Vineeta & Zaied, Younes Ben & Rai, Varun Kumar, 2024. "Mapping the landscape of FinTech in banking and finance: A bibliometric review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    4. Salerno, Dario & Sampagnaro, Gabriele & Verdoliva, Vincenzo, 2022. "Fintech and IPO underpricing: An explorative study," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    5. Egi Arvian Firmansyah & Masairol Masri & Muhammad Anshari & Mohd Hairul Azrin Besar, 2022. "Factors Affecting Fintech Adoption: A Systematic Literature Review," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Can digital finance empowerment reduce extreme ESG hypocrisy resistance to improve green innovation?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Nisha Mary Thomas, 2023. "Modeling key enablers influencing FinTechs offering SME credit services: A multi-stakeholder perspective," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-27, December.
    8. Choudhary, Priya & Thenmozhi, M., 2024. "Fintech and financial sector: ADO analysis and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Santiago Carbó-Valverde & Pedro J. Cuadros-Solas & Francisco Rodríguez-Fernández, 2022. "Entrepreneurial, institutional and financial strategies for FinTech profitability," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-36, December.
    10. Sánchez, Marisa A., 2022. "A multi-level perspective on financial technology transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    11. Mustafa Raza Rabbani & Shahnawaz Khan & Eleftherios I. Thalassinos, 2020. "FinTech, Blockchain and Islamic Finance: An Extensive Literature Review," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 65-86.
    12. Galeone, Graziana & Ranaldo, Simona & Fusco, Antonio, 2024. "ESG and FinTech: Are they connected?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Jiamin Liu & Xiaoyu Ma & Bin Zhao & Qi Cui & Sisi Zhang & Jiaoning Zhang, 2023. "Mandatory Environmental Regulation, Enterprise Labor Demand and Green Innovation Transformation: A Quasi-Experiment from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-31, July.
    14. Juan Carlos Martín & Carmen Orden-Cruz & Slimane Zergane, 2020. "Islamic Finance and Halal Tourism: An Unexplored Bridge for Smart Specialization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Merello, Paloma & Barberá, Antonio & la Poza, Elena De, 2022. "Is the sustainability profile of FinTech companies a key driver of their value?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    16. Wang, Xiaoting & Hou, Siyuan & Kyaw, Khine & Xue, Xupeng & Liu, Xueqin, 2023. "Exploring the determinants of Fintech Credit: A comprehensive analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    17. Salma Rhanoui, 2022. "Banking Goes Digital: The Main Determinants of the Clients Satisfaction and Trust toward Fintech-Based Services," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 12(5), pages 10-20, September.
    18. Hiranya Dissanayake & Catalin Popescu & Anuradha Iddagoda, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Financial Technology: Unveiling the Research Landscape," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-16, August.
    19. Fuzhong Chen & Guohai Jiang, 2022. "The Roles of FinTech with Perceived Mediators in Consumer Financial Satisfaction with Cashless Payments," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(19), pages 1-21, September.
    20. Pacelli, Vincenzo & Miglietta, Federica & Foglia, Matteo, 2022. "The extreme risk connectedness of the new financial system: European evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:460-:d:646722. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.