JD Durkin: This week, we are proudly bringing you ongoing coverage from Money20/20 in the city of Riyadh. Here now, a look at one of our sit-downs from the fintech conference in the Middle East. Have a look.
Dalia Kamar: Hi, everyone, and welcome to a very special edition of Taking Stock here live at Money20/20 Middle East. I’m your host, Dalia Kamar, Head of Investor and Startup Programs at Money20/20 Global. And with me is the CEO of Khazna Saudi Arabia, Haifa Almuhanna. Welcome to the show.
Haifa Almuhanna: Thank you very much, Dalia.
Dalia Kamar: So we’re going to get right into it. You spent a decade at JPMorgan in financial institutions and took a big leap to join Khazna. What was it about Khazna that attracted you?
Haifa Almuhanna: So it’s a combination of several factors, to be honest. One is I was covering the multinational corporates as well as the innovation economy. So I got into learning about the space, the industry, the innovation, and I really wanted to meet with the special talents.
Khazna’s co-founder, Omar Saleh, is one of them, to be honest. He combines, basically, the international experience as well as the vision. And that’s very important, especially also with Vision 2030 and what’s happening in Vision 2030 in terms of being innovative, inclusion and the speed.
This is basically why I decided to really shift from traditional banking to the innovation economy aspect.
Dalia Kamar: Speaking of Vision 2030, one of the key pillars is financial inclusion. So a lot of people here especially throw around the term “financial inclusion.” Now, that probably looked a lot different in Khazna’s original starting ground, which is Egypt.
What does that mean here for Khazna Saudi Arabia? Who is the customer, and what are they kind of getting from joining Khazna?
Haifa Almuhanna: So, spot on, Dalia. Basically, we started in Egypt six years ago serving the underserved segment. And this is basically what we’re trying to imitate, but however not mirror as well, because we’re trying as much as possible to understand the local regulation, localize the product, ensuring that we serve the segment in the right, appropriate way to really ensure differentiating ourselves from the other either traditional banks or non-banking financial institutions.
And this is why we’re here to ensure that, first, it’s a huge market. So in terms of immigrants, Saudi is considered to be number two globally for immigrants. Yes. So we’re talking about 15 million non-Saudis.
But we’re not only serving the non-Saudis. We’re also focusing on Saudis who are not served in traditional banks and financial institutions. And this is why we’re actually here.
Dalia Kamar: You know, that takes a great deal of adaptability. And with your background coming from banking, now shifting into this, putting on your operational helmet, what kind of surprised you? What did you underestimate about, you know, taking the reins of a scale-up?
Haifa Almuhanna: Everything, to be honest. Everyone and everything. Understanding the regulations, to be honest. SAMA did a tremendous job in the past five to six years, trying as much as possible to adapt to the new economy.
For example, although basically Khazna is a company that is—we obtained the initial license, but we’re toward the final license. But for additional or new products, there is the sandbox and the regulations around it. And SAMA is trying as much as possible to adapt into the new regulations to ensure that they serve the market in the best possible way.
So everything, the market is evolving as we are.
Dalia Kamar: And this is a new day.
Haifa Almuhanna: Exactly, exactly.
Dalia Kamar: You definitely are. And that’s it for today. I’m Dalia Kamar. Thank you so much for joining us. And we’re here, Taking Stock with Khazna. Let’s see who’s next.
