AnalysisGulf
Cross-border payouts into the Gulf: which licence
Under the CBUAE regulation, cross-border fund transfer is a named service and is absent from the lower licence category. Remittances are defined separately.
Topic
saudi-arabia
5articles · all topics
AnalysisGulf
What a payments licence requires in Saudi and the UAE
Licence categories and capital floors in the SAMA and CBUAE payment regulations, and where the two regimes do not line up.
AnalysisGulf
sarie and Aani: the Gulf instant payment rails
What SAMA and the Central Bank of the UAE have published about sarie and Aani: launch dates, who participates, and the customer fee cap sarie put in a circular.
AnalysisGulf
Open banking in the Gulf: UAE, Saudi and Bahrain compared
How the three Gulf frameworks differ on architecture, licensing, scope and operational burden, and what that means for teams building across them.
AnalysisSaudi Arabia
Saudi open banking is now a licensed activity
SAMA moved open banking from sandbox supervision into licensing in March 2026. What the official announcements establish, and what they still leave unsaid.