Bahraini investment bank SICO has launched fully digital investment account opening built on eKey 2.0, the kingdom’s national digital identity framework, letting eligible clients verify their identity biometrically and begin investing without visiting a branch.
The service walks a client from account opening through identity verification, applications for access to available markets and SICO’s investment funds, funding, and trading, in what the firm describes as a fully integrated digital experience. Trading in certain regional markets activates instantly, with access to others enabled once each market’s regulatory requirements are completed. SICO, a regional asset manager, broker, and investment bank operating under a wholesale banking licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain, manages about 8.1 billion dollars in assets and maintains a presence in Bahrain, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
The verification layer rests on national infrastructure rather than a private vendor stack. eKey 2.0 combines digital identity technologies with biometric authentication, including facial recognition and electronic know-your-customer capabilities, and Bahrain launched the system as its national digital identity platform, supporting exactly this kind of regulated onboarding. SICO credited its collaboration with the telecommunications group Beyon and Bahrain’s Information and eGovernment Authority in delivering the integration.
“The integration of eKey 2.0 enables clients to open investment accounts entirely online through a secure and trusted verification process, making it easier to begin their investment journey from the very first step,” said Mishal Alhellow, SICO’s group chief innovation officer, casting the launch as part of Bahrain’s digital transformation agenda and its ambition as a regional financial and fintech hub.
The service is available first to eligible clients residing in Bahrain, with extension to further client segments planned in future phases. It adds a domestic, capital-markets use case to a national identity system Bahrain has also been positioning internationally, having partnered with Finland on cross-border digital ID development.
Each onboarding flow of this kind moves more of the know-your-customer burden onto verified national credentials rather than document photography, a shift Gulf financial centres have been encouraging as they compete to make account opening a matter of minutes rather than branch visits.
Sources: SICO via Zawya
–
By Ji-seo Kim
