“Can Al Rajhi Bank's digital lending arm become the preferred Sharia-compliant consumer credit platform for Saudi Arabia by removing salary-transfer requirements and delivering fully digital financing to all bank customers?”
Emkan Finance was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia's largest Islamic bank) to operate as a dedicated consumer finance fintech under SAMA supervision. The company started with personal microfinance products (Sharia-compliant installment loans) and expanded into credit cards (U-Card with Visa) and BNPL (Pay Later for consumers and SMEs). Its strategic angle is offering fully digital, salary-transfer-free financing to all bank customers — positioning itself as the digital lending arm of the Al Rajhi Group rather than a standalone bank.
Emkan Finance's cards run on Visa.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Emkan Finance's stack: Card network (Visa); Lending (Personal Microfinance (Sharia-compliant installment loan), Emkan Pay Later (consumer BNPL, 0% profit rate, monthly installments), Emkan SME Pay Later (B2B BNPL for business clients) and U-Card Credit Card (Murabahah revolving credit)).
Emkan Finance is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Emkan Finance 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.