Saudi CMA grants FinTech ExPermits to Manafa Capital, Scopeer

Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) on Tuesday has granted Manafa Capital Co. and Crowdfunding limited Co. (Scopeer) Financial Technology Experimental Permits (ExPermit) to create equity crowdfunding platforms, the market regulator said in separate statements.

Manafa and Scopeer will experiment the crowdfunding FinTech, which allows investors to participate in funding small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in exchange for shares in these enterprises. The service is provided through e-platforms owned and monitored by Manafa and Scopeer.

The permit comes in line with the launch of ExPermit’s first phase on Dec. 11, 2017, being related to securities businesses subject to the market regulator’s supervision.

Application for FinTech permit will be received later on this year.

The Financial Technology Laboratory License (FTLL) is one of the CMA's strategic initiatives resulting from the CMA's "Financial Leadership 2020"program,  which works under the umbrella of the Financial Sector Development Program; one of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 execution programs, the statement added .

"The FTLL for crowd funding services aims to provide opportunities to invest in small-to-medium-size companies and finance their activities; by bringing them together with interested investors through electronic platforms.,” Bander Assad Alsajjan, CMA's Deputy for Strategy and International Affairs, said.

The crowd funding platforms will provide capital needs of young entrepreneurs with new business ideas, which will assist in closing the gap between new entrepreneurs and traditional funding methods, he added.

The Fintech Lab, launched in late 2017, aims to create a regulatory framework designed to enhance and support innovation in the financial market, Argaam earlier reported.