Ripple signs MOU with Riyad Bank’s innovation subsidiary for Saudi Arabia use cases
Ripple, the RLUSD stablecoin issuer has signed a memorandum of understanding with Riyad Financial institution’s innovation subsidiary to discover blockchain purposes inside the Kingdom’s monetary infrastructure.
We’re dedicated to demonstrating how Ripple’s enterprise-grade digital asset expertise can unlock efficiencies in areas equivalent to cross-border funds, supporting Saudi Arabia’s ambition to construct a world-leading and aggressive fintech ecosystem.
Reece Merrick, the Managing Director, Center East & Africa, Ripple.
Ripple and Jeel are collaborating to develop distributed ledger use instances and take a look at how blockchain techniques may very well be embedded into Saudi Arabia’s monetary structure.
Riyad Financial institution’s Jeel faucets Ripple for funds, custody, and tokenization
Ripple and Jeel plan to develop a number of monetary expertise purposes beneath the settlement, together with cross-border funds and digital asset custody. For monetary establishments within the Gulf area, blockchain techniques are viable for cross-border settlements as a result of they’re quick and clear.
Extra large information from the Center East! @Ripple is partnering with @Jeelmovement, the innovation arm of @RiyadBank, to advance Saudi Arabia’s monetary future via blockchain innovation 🇸🇦
The Kingdom’s visionary management has established Saudi Arabia as a forward-thinking… pic.twitter.com/KhQ7giluhE
— Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) January 26, 2026
Tokenization initiatives might additionally kind a part of the exploratory work, as changing conventional property into digital representations beneficial properties traction in monetary facilities worldwide. Saudi policymakers have added monetary innovation as a pillar of the Imaginative and prescient 2030 agenda. This consists of open banking, digital funds, blockchain, and AI-powered monetary providers.
Jeel, the innovation and expertise arm of Riyad Financial institution, was established to actualize the seven-decade-old digital initiatives and monetary expertise partnerships. In September, the subsidiary partnered with FinTech Saudi to launch digital innovation applications.
That collaboration led to the launch of the Jeel Sandbox, a technical platform for the Saudi fintech neighborhood that helps growth, testing, and licensing processes. It permits monetary expertise companies to check out digital asset buying and selling providers according to the monarch’s regulatory boundaries.
Supporting Imaginative and prescient 2030 via our expertise developments and partnerships with leaders within the space demonstrates how dedicated Mambu is to furthering the objectives of the area. We stay up for working with Jeel to assist monetary establishments within the preliminary phases of development.
Mambu regional lead Harjit Kang.
Jeel additionally teamed up with cloud-native core banking expertise supplier Mambu, which supplies the modular banking structure that underpins the platform’s expertise layer. The sandbox is hosted on the Google Cloud platform and allows builders to deploy simulated interfaces for pockets providers into banking-as-a-service platforms.
Cloud zone facilities gasoline Saudi’s digital infrastructure push
In response to a report from native information publication AGBI, Saudi Arabia can also be launching a cloud computing particular financial zone close to Riyadh. The initiative is about to take impact from early April 2026 and can embody tax and regulatory incentives for traders.
The coverage targets cloud suppliers and information middle operators with excessive setup prices, together with the power calls for of digital infrastructure initiatives. Firms within the cloud zone will probably be topic to company earnings tax, however zakat guidelines won’t apply, completely different from different Saudi financial zones.
For the home tech neighborhood, it’s a robust sign that Saudi Arabia needs to speed up cloud adoption and scale native digital infrastructure. Virtually, it ought to make it simpler for native cloud and digital infrastructure companies to construct, associate, and develop round a bigger cloud ecosystem.
Yusef Alyusef, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal.
Regulatory frameworks for the zones will enter authorized drive from early April 2026, following the publication within the official gazette on January 16. Licensed entities could have an extra 90 days to adjust to necessities.
Alyusef famous that the steerage on tax aid and qualification circumstances is pending, though he predicted a brief settling-in interval as administrative processes develop.
In the meantime, Fitch Scores stated the Kingdom’s debt capital market might attain $600 billion excellent by the tip of 2026. The excellent Saudi debt exceeded $520 billion in 2025, a 21% year-over-year enhance, whereas Sukuk devices accounted for 62% of the whole.
“Virtually all Fitch-rated Saudi sukuk are funding grade, with issuers on Steady Outlooks and no defaults. Following reforms, international traders now contribute greater than 10 p.c of the federal government’s excellent direct home issuance in main native markets on the finish of 2025,” Fitch Scores Islamic Finance head Bashar Al-Natoor instructed reporters earlier immediately.
