The Central Bank of Oman has approved 16 new fintech licences over the past year, raising the total number of active fintech firms operating in the Sultanate from 26 to 42. The expansion reflects a deliberate and sustained strategy by the regulator to develop a competitive fintech ecosystem in Oman and to position the country as an attractive destination for financial technology investment within the Gulf Cooperation Council, where competition for fintech activity has intensified considerably in recent years.
The growth in active licensed firms is accompanied by a substantial pipeline of pending applications: 52 additional fintech applications are currently under review by the Central Bank of Oman. If a material proportion of those proceed to approval, the sector's active participant count could expand further in the near term, building on the momentum established by the current licensing round and drawing in new entrants across a range of financial services verticals.
SANDBOX AND FDI STRATEGY IN FOCUS
The Central Bank of Oman has been using its regulatory sandbox as a primary tool to attract foreign direct investment, offering applicants a supervised environment in which they can test products and business models under real market conditions before seeking full licences. The sandbox approach is designed to lower the barriers to entry for international fintech operators who wish to assess Oman's market conditions without committing to a full regulatory authorisation process from the outset, reducing the financial and time costs associated with market entry.
By combining the sandbox with a streamlined licensing pathway, the Central Bank is seeking to replicate elements of the approach used successfully by regulators in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to build competitive regional fintech hubs. For Oman, which has historically played a more modest role in the Gulf's financial services landscape compared with Abu Dhabi, Dubai, or Riyadh, the fintech sector represents a genuine opportunity to develop a differentiated and internationally recognised position in the region's rapidly evolving digital finance ecosystem.
MARKET PROJECTED TO HIT $2.8 BILLION
Oman's fintech market is projected to reach $2.8 billion by the end of 2025, growing at a compound annual rate of 16 per cent. That growth trajectory reflects increasing digital payment adoption, rising demand for digital lending and insurance technology products, and the broader digitisation of financial services that has accelerated across Gulf economies as governments pursue national digital transformation agendas. The Central Bank's licensing activity is intended to ensure that domestic and international operators can participate in that growth within a well-regulated and internationally credible framework.
The 16 new licences approved in 2025 span a range of fintech verticals, including payments, digital lending, and wealth management technology. The diversity of the approved firms is consistent with the Central Bank's stated objective of building a broad-based ecosystem rather than concentrating regulatory approvals within a single product category. This approach aligns with the sector breadth that international experience suggests is necessary for a fintech hub to achieve commercial depth and long-term sustainability, and it positions Oman's growing fintech market to attract both regional entrepreneurs and established international operators looking for a well-regulated Gulf entry point outside the larger UAE and Saudi markets.