“Can the world's largest Islamic bank become the full-spectrum financial OS for Saudi consumers and SMEs by layering fintech capabilities — digital wallets, transaction enrichment, embedded lending, and open banking — onto its dominant branch and POS network?”
Founded in 1957 as a money-changing operation, Alrajhi Bank evolved into the world's largest Islamic bank by assets and market cap, operating under Shariah-compliant principles across retail, corporate, and investment banking. Over the past decade it has aggressively digitized — 96% of transactions are now digital — and launched the urpay digital wallet (8M+ users), Tahweel remittance network, and an open banking developer portal. The 2024 acquisition of Drahim fintech signals a move toward embedding transaction enrichment, personal finance management, and automated investment into its core app, extending its role from deposit-taker to financial OS for Saudi consumers and SMEs.
Alrajhi Bank moves money over SWIFT.
Alrajhi Bank uses Nium for FX and cross-border payouts.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 6 layers in Alrajhi Bank's stack: Money movement (SWIFT); Card network (Visa and Mada); Lending (POS Finance (revenue-based, up to SAR 25M, Shariah-compliant), eCommerce Financing (up to SAR 10M, Shariah-compliant), Supply Chain Finance / Reverse Factoring (Murabaha), Receivables Finance and 4 others); Unified APIs (Nium); FX & payouts (Nium); Transaction enrichment (Drahim (in-house via subsidiary)).
Alrajhi Bank was founded by Saleh Al Rajhi, Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Mohamed Al Rajhi and Abdullah Al Rajhi and is founded in 1957, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Alrajhi Bank's acquisitions include Drahim (2024).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Alrajhi Bank and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.