KSA Fintech Lean Secures Open Banking Licence From Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Arabia-based Lean Technologies has obtained a Major Payment Institution licence from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), enabling it to provide open banking services across the Kingdom.

The approval follows the company’s participation in SAMA’s open banking regulatory sandbox in 2023 and marks a step towards scaling its financial infrastructure services.

Lean said it has already connected more than one million bank accounts and analysed over one billion transactions, working with partners including Tabby, Tamara, Abdul Latif Jameel, Sukuk and Tasheel.

Hisham Al-Falih, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Lean Technologies, said the licence provides the regulatory framework to extend services to a wider base of merchants, SMEs and users across Saudi Arabia.

The company’s platform supports open banking payments alongside data aggregation tools that enable financial insights, customer verification and onboarding processes.

Lean said its infrastructure has contributed to enhanced risk assessment models and the development of data-driven financial products. It also reported detecting more than SAR 37 billion in salaried income and SAR 14 billion in non-salaried income across the Kingdom, supporting improved credit assessment.

Founded in 2019, Lean expanded into the UAE following its Series B funding round in 2024 and partnered with MoneyHash in 2025 to enable pay-by-bank services for merchants.