Barq wins preliminary SAMA nod to add financing, weeks after $1.85B valuation

RIYADH — Barq has received preliminary approval from the Saudi Central Bank to add financing activities to its digital wallet, making it the first SAMA-licensed wallet in the kingdom to reach that milestone. The approval is preliminary only, with a final license pending regulatory requirements.

The timing matters. Barq closed a $329.5 million Series A at a $1.85 billion valuation in September, and says it has 15 million users and SAR 440 billion processed through its platform. A financing license would let it lend against that flow rather than only move it.

Saudi Arabia's central bank has been widening the permissions of payment firms in stages, and wallet-to-lender conversions are becoming the default path for the kingdom's consumer fintechs. Barq's scale gives the regulator a test case with real weight behind it, and gives the company a margin pool that payments alone cannot deliver.

Watch whether the final license lands before year-end and what Barq's first financing product looks like. If it moves into consumer credit, it steps onto ground held by the kingdom's BNPL players and the banks behind them.

entArabi first reported the approval.