AdalFi and Saudi Finance Company (SFC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the use of cash-flow credit scoring for consumer finance in Saudi Arabia. The collaboration will examine how financial data available through the Kingdom’s open banking infrastructure can be used to provide lenders with additional information when assessing applicants. The proof of concept is intended to study how a customer’s financial behaviour over time can contribute to credit assessment, particularly in cases where conventional credit history may not provide a complete picture of an applicant’s financial position.
Saudi Arabia has continued to develop its open banking infrastructure as part of the broader transformation of its financial sector, creating an environment in which customers can consent to the secure use of their financial information through licensed providers. Under the proposed proof of concept, AdalFi and Saudi Finance Company will examine cash-flow information obtained through a Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)-licensed open banking provider. With customer consent, the data will be assessed to understand patterns such as income flows and financial behaviour over time. The resulting information is expected to serve as a real-time, data-driven input that can support Saudi Finance Company’s existing credit assessment processes.
The arrangement does not transfer responsibility for financing decisions to the technology or the cash-flow scoring model. According to the announcement, every financing decision will remain with Saudi Finance Company and will continue to be made within the company’s established policies, risk controls and credit assessment framework. The proof of concept is therefore focused on evaluating whether additional cash-flow insights can complement existing credit information rather than replacing the lender’s own decision-making processes. This approach allows the company to assess the practical value of open banking data while maintaining its existing controls around consumer finance and credit risk.
One of the areas being examined through the collaboration is the potential to provide lenders with greater visibility into applicants who have limited traditional credit histories. Conventional bureau information may not always fully reflect a customer’s financial behaviour, particularly when there is limited historical borrowing activity. Cash-flow data can provide another view by showing patterns in account activity, including the consistency of income and broader financial behaviour. For lenders, this information could provide additional context when evaluating customers whose financial circumstances may not be fully represented through traditional credit records.
The proof of concept will also involve calibrating AdalFi’s models against Saudi Finance Company’s applicants and evaluating their performance using agreed risk and performance parameters. This process is intended to determine how the models perform within the specific consumer finance environment of the Saudi market. The evaluation will also take into account requirements related to Saudi data protection, cybersecurity and open banking, ensuring that the initiative operates within the regulatory and technical framework governing the use of financial data in the Kingdom.
The collaboration comes as Saudi Arabia continues to expand the use of digital financial infrastructure under Vision 2030, including initiatives aimed at improving financial services and supporting broader participation in the financial system. Open banking provides the underlying infrastructure for customers to securely share financial information with authorised third parties, while initiatives such as cash-flow-based credit assessment seek to explore how that information can be used for lending and risk management. The AdalFi and Saudi Finance Company MOU represents an effort to examine this connection through a practical proof of concept focused on consumer finance.
The companies will now explore how open banking data can be translated into additional credit insights while keeping customer consent, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity and lender-controlled risk management at the centre of the process. If the proof of concept demonstrates useful results against the agreed performance and risk measures, it could provide further insight into how cash-flow information can complement conventional credit assessment in Saudi Arabia. The initiative also reflects the wider development of digital financial services in the Kingdom, where the infrastructure for open banking is increasingly being examined for applications beyond basic account connectivity and data access.
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