His Excellency, Dr. Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait has announced that the bank has issued a Regulatory Sandbox Framework for fintech companies.

With a goal of spurring firms to experiment with emerging sectors in the fintech space, the sandbox guidelines will be providing flexibility to participants in meeting some regulatory or licensing requirements. The sandbox will also allow banking systems to test new technologies in a controlled environment, which the regulator hopes will improve stability.

The sandbox will include four phases, and according to Reuters, representatives from local banks are joining a central bank taskforce to assess the products and services being proposed.

Kuwait follows in the footsteps of the likes of Bahrain, which already has its own fintech regulatory unit. Dubai and Abu Dhabi also offer sandboxes in their own regions, along with startup incubators and accelerator programs to drive fintech innovations forward in their domains.

Featured image via Francisco Anzola on flickr