This chapter delves into the roots of regulatory technology described as “the Unsung Hero of Digital Transformation and fintech’s pillar.” This chapter shed light on its multifaceted uses in selected countries in the MENA region with a special focus on the experience of a selected Gulf countries and North African countries. Today most MENA countries “have the potential to become the new cradle of innovation,” fintech and RegTech are highly intertwined with one another. Indeed, the technological advancements and the growth of smart technology in financial sector has remarkably developed financial services industry in the Middle East and North Africa region had created new opportunities and had exposed many challenges. Indeed, the changing landscape of financial industry has witnessed an unprecedented need to implement a transparent institutional and legal framework for financial activities fueled by the use of prudential regulations, compliance requirements, and supervisory measures. The chapter clarifies the role of regulatory authorities of selected countries in the MENA region in the implementation of regulatory technology and the supervision of the use of financial technologies to enhance cybersecurity and to chase money laundering in the financial ecosystem. Therefore, the anchoring of RegTech in the landscape of the financial industry can help regulators to improve the efficiency of risk monitoring and identification, as well as reduce the workload of regulation. Although this chapter is oriented toward the exploration of promises and challenges of regulatory technology but it explored the basic concepts of financial technologies including financial, regulatory, compliance, and supervisory technology that have appeared in recent years. The main purposes of this chapter are to develop an insight about the principles underpinning of the progress of the anchoring of RegTech in the MENA region and to scrutinize how the nexus between regulation, technology, and data can be a basic requirement for resilient financial ecosystem in MENA region. Relying on the current academic literature as well as insights from financial industry source and other publicly available commentaries and reports, the chapter draws the current state and possible future and promises of RegTech in the MENA region despite the existence of substantial variation or disparity of strategies between two blocs: Middle East regional Bloc and North Africa regional Bloc in term of the degree of development of RegTech solutions in the financial ecosystem. Accordingly, some countries have more successful and advanced initiatives in RegTech markets, while for others progress in this area has been limited. In sum, the chapter highlighted a rich mosaic of distinctive experiences and strategies in the MENA region and presented a good seismograph detecting what is moving down the road of a tailored RegTech model providing a glance of what the RegTech solutions tends to become in the region.

The Emergence of RegTech in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

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发表日期：

2025年

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Attyat Makhlouf,
Amira Maazouz

摘要

This chapter delves into the roots of regulatory technology described as “the Unsung Hero of Digital Transformation and fintech’s pillar.” This chapter shed light on its multifaceted uses in selected countries in the MENA region with a special focus on the experience of a selected Gulf countries and North African countries. Today most MENA countries “have the potential to become the new cradle of innovation,” fintech and RegTech are highly intertwined with one another. Indeed, the technological advancements and the growth of smart technology in financial sector has remarkably developed financial services industry in the Middle East and North Africa region had created new opportunities and had exposed many challenges. Indeed, the changing landscape of financial industry has witnessed an unprecedented need to implement a transparent institutional and legal framework for financial activities fueled by the use of prudential regulations, compliance requirements, and supervisory measures. The chapter clarifies the role of regulatory authorities of selected countries in the MENA region in the implementation of regulatory technology and the supervision of the use of financial technologies to enhance cybersecurity and to chase money laundering in the financial ecosystem. Therefore, the anchoring of RegTech in the landscape of the financial industry can help regulators to improve the efficiency of risk monitoring and identification, as well as reduce the workload of regulation. Although this chapter is oriented toward the exploration of promises and challenges of regulatory technology but it explored the basic concepts of financial technologies including financial, regulatory, compliance, and supervisory technology that have appeared in recent years. The main purposes of this chapter are to develop an insight about the principles underpinning of the progress of the anchoring of RegTech in the MENA region and to scrutinize how the nexus between regulation, technology, and data can be a basic requirement for resilient financial ecosystem in MENA region. Relying on the current academic literature as well as insights from financial industry source and other publicly available commentaries and reports, the chapter draws the current state and possible future and promises of RegTech in the MENA region despite the existence of substantial variation or disparity of strategies between two blocs: Middle East regional Bloc and North Africa regional Bloc in term of the degree of development of RegTech solutions in the financial ecosystem. Accordingly, some countries have more successful and advanced initiatives in RegTech markets, while for others progress in this area has been limited. In sum, the chapter highlighted a rich mosaic of distinctive experiences and strategies in the MENA region and presented a good seismograph detecting what is moving down the road of a tailored RegTech model providing a glance of what the RegTech solutions tends to become in the region.