Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KHCB) is the latest in a string of Islamic banks to provide open banking services in Bahrain, the first country in the Middle East to adopt open banking, mandating banks to share data as the Gulf Kingdom strives for regional fintech leadership.
Adopting systems developed by Tarabut Gateway, a graduate of the Central Bank of Bahrain’s regulatory sandbox, KHCB has rolled out its Khaleeji 360 platform, allowing customers to review their aggregated financial information and link their accounts with different banks.
Through the digital app, users will also be able to monitor payments, conduct analysis of deposits and expenses as well as conduct banking operations. What open banking also allows is for banks to provide customized products and services to clients — something banks have not been able to optimize due to a lack of data collaboration and utilization.
Bahrain became the first nation in the Gulf region to embrace open banking, following in the footsteps of developed financial markets such as the UK, and mandated all 114 banks in the Kingdom — including the 21 Islamic banks — to adopt it by June 2019.
Since then, Al Baraka Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank and Ithmaar Bank have vocalized their readiness to adopt and implement open banking services.