Saudi-based bank SAB touts first Islamic Repo completed on blockchain

Saudi Arabian bank, Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB), a Riyadh-based Saudi joint stock company in which global banking group HSBC owns a minority stake, has announced the world’s first Islamic Repo on blockchain in partnership with Oumla, a secure, scalable blockchain infrastructure provider for businesses, enterprises, and governments.

The blockchain-enabled Islamic Repo allowed SAB to lend to other banks in compliance with Islamic finance principles using blockchain to make the process faster, safer and more transparent. The implementation comes months after SAB’s virtual assets Summit.

SAB taps into blockchain growth in the KSA

According to Oumla’s website, “It replaces paperwork and manual steps with smart digital contracts, ensures all transactions are securely and immutably recorded, and helps banks manage their assets and liquidity more easily and with reduced risk.”

Victor L. Phillipe, Virtual Assets and Currency Lead at SAB noted, “Oumla has a solid understanding of blockchain technology. Their team supported us with guidance.”

This year, Saudi-based layer 1 blockchain platform Oumla partnered with Avalanche with the aim of creating Saudi Arabia’s first layer 1 blockchain fully hosted in KSA. As per the X post, “This collaboration will support startups and SMEs, driving technological innovation across Saudi Arabia and the MENA region.”

In July 2025, the Saudi Ministry of Commerce, in its quarterly business sector bulletin, noted that of the 80,000 new business commercial licenses registered in Q2 of 2025 in Saudi Arabia, most of them are in high-growth industries such as blockchain, AI, and Big Data analytics.

The total number of valid business records in KSA reached 1.72 million. Saudi Arabia witnessed 34% growth in AI commercial registrations and 51% growth in blockchain commercial registrations, with over 4,000 companies now registered in the country.

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