The Saudi Arabian financial services sector stands at a pivotal moment. As the Vision 2030 transformation agenda accelerates and enters its third phase, financial institutions face an unprecedented convergence of opportunities and risks. Digital transformation, cloud adoption, fintech integration, and expanding customer expectations are reshaping how banks operate, and this transformation and broader geopolitics come with new emerging risks and dependencies which will challenge operational resilience.
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has responded to this evolving landscape with reinforced expectations around operational resilience, issuing recommendations that go beyond the traditional BCM framework and adjacent technology and cyber pillars. Similarly, financial regulators across the middle east, such as the central banks of the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, are each working on new operational resilience regulations – some expected by 2026. These developments in the region underscore a global trend and a fundamental fact: operational resilience is more than ever a strategic imperative for financial institutions to ensure customer centricity and market stability.
Operational resilience is no longer a regulatory checkbox; it is the foundation upon which sustainable banking operations are built in an increasingly volatile world.
