Money20/20 Middle East 2026: Tuum's Manzar Zaidi on Modernising SME Lending

Quick Summary

The ambitious goals of Saudi Vision 2030 aim to increase the contribution of SMEs to the national GDP from 20% to 30%. However, achieving this requires a fundamental shift in how financial institutions handle lending. Manzar Zaidi of Tuum explains at Money20/20 Middle East 2026 how their next generation core banking engine is removing the legacy bottlenecks that have historically slowed down innovation in the Kingdom.

What is holding back SME lending in Saudi Arabia?

Legacy core banking systems are currently creating a massive bottleneck for lenders looking to support the SME sector. These traditional systems lack the speed and flexibility required to create tailored financial products, whether they are conventional or sharia compliant. Manzar Zaidi notes that every time a lender wants to introduce a new automated lending product or adjust a credit model, they are met with demands for months of custom coding and high change request fees from legacy vendors. This results in a slow time to market, reliance on manual underwriting, and high operational costs, which together form what he describes as an innovation tax.

How does Tuum accelerate product launches?

To solve these issues, Tuum provides an API-first core engine that gives banks and fintechs the autonomy to configure and scale products independently. Key features of this approach include:

• Launching SME lending products in weeks rather than months.
• Eliminating the need for constant vendor intervention for minor adjustments.
• Utilising a cloud native architecture that is built for high performance and scalability.
• Supporting automated workflows natively to reduce operational overhead.

How does Tuum integrate with AI and Sharia-compliant models?

The architecture of the Tuum platform is designed to act as an ideal host for AI agents. By using a real-time event driven ledger, external AI underwriting models can interact directly with the core via clean APIs. This allows for advanced scenarios where an AI agent can analyse an SME's real-time transaction data and immediately issue a pre-approved microloan. This bridge between cutting edge AI decisioning and reliable execution ensures that banks can offer modern services while remaining fully sharia compliant.

What is the sidecar approach to migration?

One of the biggest hurdles for established banks is the fear of a risky big bang migration. Tuum addresses this through a progressive modernisation approach. Instead of ripping out an existing legacy core on day one, a bank can deploy Tuum as a sidecar specifically for a single line of business, such as SME lending. This allows the institution to go live with zero risk to primary operations, prove the business model, and scale elastically with consumption based economics. The rest of the legacy system can then be migrated only when the bank is ready.

FF NEWS TAKE:

The Middle Eastern banking sector is at a crossroads where the pressure to meet national economic goals meets the reality of aging infrastructure. Tuum's strategy of progressive modernisation is particularly clever because it de-risks the most terrifying part of digital transformation: the migration. By allowing banks to carve out specific niches like SME lending and prove success in a cloud native environment, they are providing a practical roadmap for the future of the Kingdom's financial landscape.