Central Bank of BahrainAnnounces First Company to Complete Regulatory Sandbox Stage

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announced that Tarabut Gateway, a subsidiary of Almoayed Technologies, was the first company to complete the Regulatory Sandbox stage successfully and received the CBB’s in-principle confirmation under the Open Banking regulatory framework.

The announcement was made at a ceremony held at the Bahrain Fintech Bay to mark this occasion, in the presence of CBB, Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and Bahrain Fintech Bay officials and Abdullah Almoayed, CEO of Almoayed Technologies.

Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the CBB, said, "We are very delighted to announce the first company to successfully complete the Regulatory Sandbox stage, which coincides with the issuance of the final rules on Open Banking. Open Banking will create opportunities for building synergies between financial institutions and FinTechs, thereby, delivering a more competitive and efficient financial services sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain. We look forward to more successful completions of the Regulatory Sandbox stage by other companies."

Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), said, "We are very pleased to see the successful graduation of the first company from the regulatory sandbox. This success highlights the CBB’s continuous efforts to update and develop the FinTech ecosystem and enable industry players to create innovative and forward-looking FinTech products while maintaining the overall safety and soundness of the financial system. The collaborative approach between the government and private sector has been instrumental to the advancement of FinTech growth in Bahrain."

Abdullah Almoayed, CEO of Almoayed Technologies, said: "We thank the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Economic development Board for their continued support over the last 12 months of us joining the kingdom of Bahrain’s Regulatory Sandbox. Throughout the sandbox period, we have successfully integrated more than 11 banks in Bahrain preparing them for the new Open Banking regulation to deliver one of the world’s most advanced infrastructures enabling Banks and Fintechs within the ecosystem to enhance their offerings and the customer experience as a whole."

Tarabut Gateway was one of the first companies to enter the regulatory sandbox in early 2018 to test its technology-based innovative open banking solutions and provide connectivity for Bahraini banks to assist their customer in accessing account information across different banks on a single platform, in accordance with the open banking regulations recently issued by the CBB.

It is worth noting that such platforms are amongst the latest fintech trends in the industry globally, and Bahrain, being one of the first countries to adopt these technologies, is now at the forefront of these developments. This is in line with the Kingdom’s efforts and vision implementing the latest practices and trends in the banking system.