Jeel, the innovation and technology subsidiary of Riyad Bank, has partnered with Mambu, a global cloud-native core banking platform, to enhance the unified ecosystem supported by the newly launched Jeel Sandbox.
The Jeel Sandbox, developed in collaboration with Fintech Saudi, is Saudi Arabia’s first fintech sandbox accelerator aimed at enabling startups, financial institutions, and innovators to test and deploy digital financial solutions in a secure and scalable environment.
The platform plays a key role in the Kingdom’s fintech strategy by bridging the gap between concept and market deployment, reducing development time and supporting innovation across Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.
Built on Mambu’s composable banking architecture and hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) in compliance with SAMA’s cloud regulations, the Jeel Sandbox combines flexibility with regulatory-grade security.
It offers a structured progression from mock APIs and Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) to full Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) capabilities, creating an integrated environment for fintechs to build, test, and scale their solutions.
George Harrak, Chief Executive Officer of Jeel, said the partnership reinforces Jeel’s role in supporting fintech development in Saudi Arabia:
“Through the Jeel Sandbox, we are creating a secure and compliant foundation for scalable Banking as a Service, encouraging innovation in line with Vision 2030.”
Harjit Kang, Regional Lead for the Middle East at Mambu, added:
“This collaboration marks an important step for Mambu as we expand in Saudi Arabia. Working with Jeel aligns with our commitment to support the Kingdom’s financial sector development and Vision 2030 objectives.”
The partnership will see the onboarding of fintechs into the Jeel Sandbox, with the first pilot cohort expected later this year.
Featured image credit: Jeel
