Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 21 December 2023 – Deloitte, the leading global professional services firm, is partnering with Fintech Saudi to foster the growth of emerging companies in Saudi Arabia’s financial technology sector through the Makken Program. Saudi Fintech is an initiative by the Saudi Central Bank in collaboration with the Capital Market Authority, aiming to transform Saudi Arabia into an innovative fintech hub with a thriving and responsible fintech ecosystem.

Makken, meaning Empower, is a program designed to support entrepreneurs and startups in Saudi Arabia’s fintech industry through financial support and a comprehensive suite of services, including technology, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and more.

The program was officially launched earlier this week in Riyadh, in the distinguished attendance of His Excellency the Governor of the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA), Mr. Ayman Mohammed Alsayari, and His Excellency the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Capital Market Authority, Mr. Mohammed Bin Abdullah El-Kuwaiz.

In attendance was Mutasem Dajani, Deloitte Middle East CEO who said, “I am delighted to have attended the launch of Makken, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's game changing fintech program. We are proud of Deloitte’s partnership with the Saudi Central Bank and Capital Market Authority on this program, fueling the growth of this key sector in the Saudi economy and its ongoing transformation.”

Participating FinTechs in the Makken Program will be hosted on Deloitte’s industry leading, Cloud Managed Services driven by OpenCloud, providing relentless automation, cloud optimization and cybersecurity services for multi-cloud workloads.  

Ali Hamid, Deloitte Middle East Partner, and Cloud Leader for the region said, “The Deloitte OpenCloud Platform will provide Saudi FinTechs with cloud infrastructure that enables rapid delivery to support secure, compliant, scalable and agile operations, allowing these startups to focus on building their innovate products and services, whilst Deloitte provides the managed services and cyber security controls”