Amman played host on 24 and 25 September 2025 to the Jordan Fintech Festival, the first edition of the festival, organised by the Central Bank of Jordan in cooperation with the Arab Monetary Fund, German development cooperation (GIZ) and the Association of Banks in Jordan. The two-day gathering brought together central bank governors, securities regulators, and fintech entrepreneurs from across the Arab world to examine the future of digital finance in the region.
DIGITAL PAYMENTS, OPEN FINANCE AND VIRTUAL ASSETS
The festival's agenda was structured around three themes: digital payments infrastructure, open finance frameworks, and the regulatory treatment of virtual assets.
Open finance, which extends the data-sharing principles of open banking to a broader set of financial products including insurance, investments, and pensions, was presented as the next frontier for jurisdictions that have already put in place the foundational infrastructure for digital account-to-account payments. Speakers at the festival discussed the regulatory prerequisites for open finance and the consumer protection frameworks that would need to accompany any expansion of data-sharing obligations across the Arab financial sector.
JORDAN'S VIRTUAL ASSETS LAW AND PAYMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE
Jordan's Virtual Assets Law was highlighted at the festival. Officials presented the law as evidence that Jordan has the legal architecture to attract fintech investment and give entrepreneurs the regulatory certainty they need to build and scale businesses with a view to serving the broader Arab market from a Jordanian base.
The development of Jordan's national digital payments infrastructure was also featured. Officials described ongoing investments in building an interoperable payments backbone that can accommodate new entrants and reduce the cost of transactions for businesses and individuals alike.