Welcome to Xchange by Money20/20 Middle East – where money meets ideas. 

Bold thought

What if the real bottleneck in fintech isn’t capital, regulation, or talent – but coordination?

Snapshot

Saudi Arabia’s fintech story is often told through numbers – and they are impressive.

• Over 261 fintech firms
• 70% of retail payments now digital
• A national strategy embedded in Vision 2030

But those metrics miss the more interesting shift. Instead of just building a fintech ecosystem, Saudi Arabia is actively coordinating all the different entities involved in that ecosystem to drive sustainable, innovative growth. 

Regulators are moving fast. SAMA and the CMA are opening up frameworks, from licensing to open banking. Startups are scaling across payments, lending, and infrastructure. Banks are modernising, and capital is flowing.

Individually, these are strong indicators of growth – but when you put them together, they require alignment. And that’s why Money20/20 Middle East is emerging as a critical coordination layer. 

We get regulators, founders, banks and investors together in the same room – and when that happens, decisions accelerate and priorities converge. 

Voices

Nicole Valentine (FinTech Director at the Milken Institute): "[M20/20 Middle East is] Big, dynamic, and diverse. I mean, the amount of people I’ve been meeting from around the globe, and the people I’ve been meeting from the institutional side, from the government side, from the founder side – it’s just been a really big moment in our time, and I’m seeing a lot of collaboration and harmonisation while people are coming together to talk about all the big issues in fintech." (connect with Nicole on LinkedIn) 

Leda Glyptis (Fintech Advisor and Author): "Saudi Arabia has been on a huge and inspiring transformation journey. It has always been one of the players in the region that has really set the tone – from a regulatory perspective, from an ambition perspective – and in recent years in particular, with Vision 2030, that has really taken off. Great things are happening, and it’s great to be here." (connect with Leda on LinkedIn) 

What to watch and do

• Watch: how Saudi fintech shifts from payments-led growth to full-stack financial services – SME lending, open banking, and regtech are all accelerating.
• Watch: cross-border ambition. Saudi Arabia isn’t building in isolation – it’s becoming a regional hub.
• Do: if you’re a founder or investor, prioritise proximity to decision-making. Because in this market, access matters as much as capital.
• Do: if you’re a global player, don’t just enter the market – plug into the ecosystem at Money20/20 Middle East. 

Further reading…

• Saudi Arabia’s AI moment takes shape at Money20/20 – Arab News, 2025
• KSA Fintech Report – ConsultFeer, 2025
• Impact Report: Digital Payments in Saudi Arabia – Oxford Business Group, 2025 

We want to know what you think 

Is coordination now fintech’s biggest unlock?

Open this newsletter on LinkedIn and head to the comments – tell us what you’re seeing on the ground.