In June 2017, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) introduced a regulatory sandbox to empower Bahrain’s growing FinTech sector to securely develop and test new products in a virtual space, undeterred by regulatory complications. The Kingdom was the second country in the region to have undertaken such a visionary and highly strategic initiative. Just over a year has passed since and that landmark initiative is about to see its first graduate.
Rasheed Al Maraj, Governor of the CBB recently announced that the central bank would soon publish the first firm to graduate the sandbox. Noting that the sandbox has so far lived up to its potential, the Governor added: “We have 16 companies that operate in the sandbox, and one of them is about to graduate very soon. Hopefully, the rest will come after covering their requirements within the sandbox.”
CBB describes the sandbox as “a safe space in which businesses can test innovative products, services, business models and delivery mechanisms without immediately incurring all the normal regulatory and financial consequences of engaging in the activity in question.”