March 27, 2026
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — March 26, 2026 — Lean Technologies, a leading financial infrastructure provider in the MENA region, has been granted the first Major Payment Institution license by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to offer Open Banking services in the Kingdom. This milestone marks a defining moment for Saudi Arabia’s financial sector, officially transitioning Open Banking from regulatory sandbox testing to a fully licensed activity.
Lean Technologies’ journey to this achievement began as one of the first participants in SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox, where it operated under strict governance standards. During this period, Lean connected over 1 million bank accounts and analyzed more than 1 billion transactions, establishing itself as the most widely adopted Open Banking provider in Saudi Arabia.
Hisham Al-Falih, CEO and Co-Founder of Lean Technologies, said:
“When we founded Lean over six years ago, we believed that open, regulated access to financial data would become the foundation for the next generation of Saudi financial services. Every integration, partnership, and use case in the Sandbox validated that belief. Receiving this license from SAMA is official recognition, and it positions us to extend our infrastructure to thousands of merchants, tens of thousands of SMEs, and millions of end users across the Kingdom.”
Lean’s adoption has been driven by partnerships with leading Saudi institutions including Tabby, Tamara, Abdul Latif Jameel, Sukuk, and Tasheel, spanning sectors such as BNPL, consumer finance, automotive, investment, and government services. These collaborations demonstrate Lean’s conviction that Open Banking is a vital component of national financial infrastructure.
A key example of Lean’s impact is its work with Tamara, which leveraged Lean’s platform to improve financial solvency assessment for individuals and businesses. Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, CEO and Co-Founder of Tamara, explained:
“Lean has unlocked the full potential of cash-flow data for underwriting. With verified financial information, we can responsibly serve customers who were previously hard to underwrite, including freelancers, gig workers, and individuals with multiple income streams. Approval rates for our new consumer financing product have increased by over 32%, driving risk-adjusted growth. Lean’s infrastructure has been critical in helping us scale with confidence.”
Across its partner network, Lean has enabled enhanced KYC and onboarding, improved risk assessment models, and facilitated the development of data-driven financial products that were previously not feasible. The results are clear: better data leads to better decisions and broader access to financial services.
Open Banking also plays a crucial role in expanding access to credit for non-traditional income segments in Saudi Arabia, giving lenders a more complete picture of customer affordability without compromising risk standards.
Lean’s progress reflects SAMA’s forward-thinking approach to financial innovation, providing a structured, supervised environment through the Regulatory Sandbox to test, validate, and scale solutions responsibly.
As Saudi Arabia advances its Vision 2030 objectives, a licensed and proven Open Banking layer has emerged as a core component of the Kingdom’s financial infrastructure. Lean Technologies remains committed to building this infrastructure with discipline, accountability, and long-term vision, enabling safer, smarter, and more inclusive financial services for all.
