Riyadh – Sharikat Mubasher: Stitch, the Saudi-based unified platform for launching and scaling financial products, issued a new study highlighting how legacy and fragmented technology infrastructure is constraining financial innovation across GCC countries.

The report comes as Saudi Arabia’s digital banking market continues to expand in line with Vision 2030, generating $1.09 billion in revenue in 2025 and expected to reach $3.59 billion by 2033. Despite this momentum, Stitch’s findings show that outdated technology stacks are preventing many Saudi financial institutions from fully capitalizing on growth opportunities across payments, lending, and deposits.

According to the study, more than half of financial institutions in Saudi Arabia say their current technology has caused them to miss business opportunities. While vendor adoption is widespread, modern tools are often layered onto legacy systems rather than replacing them, resulting in complex and inflexible environments.

Around one in five institutions described their systems as outdated or difficult to upgrade, while more than 60% of lending operations continue to rely entirely on legacy infrastructure.

Modernization is now a priority across the Kingdom, with 84% of Saudi financial institutions planning to upgrade their technology within the next 12 months. However, high switching costs, regulatory and compliance requirements, and downtime risks remain key barriers to execution.

The study also points to a growing shift toward unified platforms, with nearly three-quarters of Saudi institutions agreeing that a single vendor would deliver more value than managing multiple disconnected systems.

Stitch said unified infrastructure can simplify operations, accelerate product launches, and give financial institutions greater control as Saudi Arabia pushes to strengthen its digital financial ecosystem.