Digital Payments & Fintech · Kuwait
Fintech & digital payments rules in Kuwait (2026)
Kuwait shaded by its digital payments & fintech status
Kuwait operates a clear, in-force licensing regime for digital payments administered by the Central Bank of Kuwait. The 2023 e-payment instructions define multiple license categories (e-payment service providers and operators) with capital, governance, AML/CFT and cybersecurity requirements, and a national instant-payment rail (WAMD) is live. Open banking, by contrast, is still at the draft-framework consultation stage and not yet a finalized regime.
Key points
The CBK is the sole licensing and supervisory authority for electronic payment of funds. The current binding rules are the 2023 Instructions for Regulating the Electronic Payment of Funds (Resolution No. 45/471/2023), which replaced the 2018 instructions and are in force today.
The regime sets out distinct licenses corresponding to the nature/volume of activity, principally e-Payment Service Providers (EPSP, split into small and large) and e-Payment Service Operators (EPSO). Licensed EPSPs are listed on the CBK's register of regulated entities.
Large EPSPs must take the form of a joint-stock company with minimum capital of KWD 1,000,000, and EPSOs must be joint-stock companies with minimum capital of KWD 2,000,000, alongside governance, risk-management and customer-protection obligations.
The instructions impose binding requirements covering governance, risk-management frameworks, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing, cybersecurity, business continuity and consumer protection to safeguard the stability of Kuwait's payment system.
The 2023 update explicitly added Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) as a regulated activity within the e-payment supervisory framework, subjecting BNPL providers to CBK licensing and customer-protection measures.
Kuwait's national instant account-to-account payment system 'WAMD', operated via KNET under CBK supervision, went live in mid-2024 (NBK from 30 June 2024), enabling phone-number transfers up to KWD 3,000/day.
The CBK issued a Draft Open Banking Regulatory Framework for consultation on 4 June 2025 (with a Wolooj regulatory sandbox for pilots); it is not yet finalized, and open-banking services are to launch in phases only after the framework is finalized.
Kuwait - other topics
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