Overview

In line with its vision and aim to encourage & adopt innovation in financial technology (FinTech), the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has issued the Regulatory Sandbox Framework document which encourages both companies and individuals looking to provide innovative products and services, that are built on or associated with electronic payment of funds and that utilize new technology or an existing technology in an innovative way, to test their innovations within a methodology that ensures the safety and soundness of the financial & banking sector.

The Regulatory Sandbox Framework includes four stages to be completed within one year at the most. The Regulatory Sandbox starts with the application stage of the proposed product or service, then the evaluation stage where thorough evaluation, which covers technical, security, and regulatory aspects, of the application will take place, followed by the experimentation stage of the proposed product or service in a testing environment, and finally the accreditation stage, where CBK grants its approval (or rejection) to deploy the proposed product or service in the local market.