National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has set a significant benchmark in the region’s financial sector by becoming the first Bank in Bahrain and the Middle East and North Africa to launch Open Banking solutions.
The Bank’s new ‘Aggregator’ service was revealed during an exclusive media gathering at Capital Club, in the presence of representatives from the National Bank of Bahrain, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB) and Tarabut Gateway.
NBB has spearheaded the development of Open Banking technologies following the regulatory mandates set by the CBB in November 2018 which urged all banks in the Kingdom to adopt Open Banking in line with its long term vision for customer transparency, efficiency and an enhanced experience. NBB has since taken the lead and invested heavily in the development of the necessary systems to meet and exceed the regulatory requirements, fueled by its strategic focus to transform and diversify its business through digital innovation that empowers the customer and supports the Kingdom’s national efforts to progress as a digital economy and solidify its standing as a Fintech Hub.
Following NBB’s partnership with Tarabut Gateway – Bahrain’s first licensed Open Banking fintech provider – earlier this year which paved the way for the innovation of technologies to enable the Bank to deliver secure Open Banking solutions to its customers, NBB has activated the first phase of its account aggregation services through its online App.
Speaking on the impact of this milestone to Bahrain’s economy, H.E. Khalid Humaidan, CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said,
“Bahrain has been renowned as a progressive nation with a solid business environment; yet today, the country is also gaining recognition for the significant headway in the adoption of digital technologies and Fintech innovation, and for empowering talent through a conducive start-up ecosystem to evolve its digital standing to fuel economic growth. By setting the standards for Open Banking in the region, Bahrain has once again successfully risen to the challenge, proving its great potential as an attractive, forward-thinking, digitally advanced investment location. I would like to congratulate NBB for pushing the industry’s boundaries and showcasing the strength of our national assets.”
The Open Banking services developed by Tarabut Gateway will be rolled out in phases, with Account aggregation being the first. Initially, NBB’s customers will be able to view and track their finances across all their accounts. Financial transactions and fully-fledged services will be enabled as a follow up stage.
NBB’s new Aggregation service will make banking more accessible and convenient for customers by granting them a holistic view of their finances and eventually enabling them to make instant transactions and informed decisions on competitive products and services that best suit their needs, with the click of a button.
Open Banking is built on CBB’s regulatory guidelines which put the customer rights and security as a primary focus; no customer data can be accessed by third parties without proper licensing and customer consent.
NBB customers wishing to benefit from this service can download the NBB Open Banking App and registering online, free of charge.
