Riyad Bank has formalised collaboration arrangements with eleven fintech companies under a programme focused on open banking API integration, the bank confirmed as part of its broader strategy to expand cashless payment infrastructure across Saudi Arabia. The initiative places Riyad Bank among the most active Saudi lenders in pursuing technology-driven distribution partnerships rather than building proprietary solutions from scratch.
The scale of the programme — eleven partners rather than a handful — reflects the breadth of capabilities Riyad Bank is seeking to plug in simultaneously, spanning payments initiation, account data sharing and embedded finance services. By accessing fintech-built APIs, the bank can extend its reach into customer journeys that originate outside its own channels, meeting users within the digital environments they already use for shopping, transport and everyday financial management.
SAUDI ARABIA SURPASSES ITS CASHLESS TARGET
The partnership announcement arrives at a moment of demonstrable progress in Saudi Arabia's payments transformation. The kingdom recorded 79% of transactions as cashless in 2024, surpassing its original target of reaching that level by 2025. The figure underlines how rapidly consumer and merchant behaviour has shifted, driven by government incentives, regulatory mandates and the widespread adoption of contactless and mobile payment methods across urban and rural areas alike.
That trajectory creates a commercial imperative for banks to ensure their infrastructure keeps pace with evolving payment flows. Open banking APIs are central to that effort: they allow fintech platforms to trigger payments and retrieve account data on behalf of customers with appropriate consent, creating a layer of interoperability between banks and the broader digital ecosystem. Without robust API connectivity, a bank risks being bypassed as consumers increasingly transact through third-party super-apps, aggregator platforms and embedded finance environments.
For Riyad Bank, integrating with eleven fintechs in a structured programme rather than pursuing one-off commercial arrangements suggests the institution is treating open banking as a systemic infrastructure priority. The bank is seeking to ensure that its products and services remain accessible wherever its customers transact digitally, rather than only within its own mobile or web applications.
EMBEDDED FINANCE AND ACQUIRED CAPABILITIES
Alongside direct API partnerships, Saudi banks have also been acquiring equity stakes in fintechs to secure embedded finance and payments capabilities on a more permanent basis. The trend reflects a view held by several Gulf lenders that strategic technology assets should be owned rather than merely licensed, particularly where those assets underpin core customer-facing services that will become increasingly important as digital payment volumes compound further.
Riyad Bank's partnership model offers a different trade-off: lower capital commitment and faster deployment, with the ability to evaluate which fintech relationships merit deeper investment over time. The bank has indicated that embedding payments capabilities and expanding API connectivity are priorities as it aligns its services with the kingdom's broader financial modernisation agenda and the National Payments Systems Strategy that underpins it.
Saudi Arabia's payments infrastructure has become one of the more closely watched developments in the Gulf, with international fintech firms as well as domestic startups seeking to participate. Riyad Bank's eleven-partner programme suggests that demand for integration from the fintech side is substantial, and that established lenders are increasingly willing to operate as open platforms rather than closed systems.