Saudi Central Bank Confirms It Has Left China-Led mBridge
SAMA says its membership lapsed when proof-of-concept work ended in May 2025, while a person familiar says it stays involved off the public roster.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
The Saudi Central Bank has confirmed it is no longer part of mBridge, the cross-border payments network for digital currencies built under Chinese leadership. The acknowledgement is the first public confirmation of a withdrawal that was completed last year.
A departure the bank says was planned
SAMA's account is that the exit followed a schedule set from the start. Its involvement was structured around a testing phase, and formal membership ended when that phase closed. The central bank put the point plainly: once the proof-of-concept stage concluded, its formal membership in mBridge came to an end.
Three years, two roles
The relationship began in 2023, when SAMA held observer status at the project under the Bank for International Settlements. It moved up to full membership the following year, sitting alongside China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE. Its proof-of-concept work was finished by 13 May 2025.
What mBridge does
The network lets central banks exchange payments with one another directly. Each one settles using a currency it issues itself, over a shared blockchain layer. That arrangement removes the interstitial currencies that normally stand between two parties to a transfer, so delays shrink and the fees attached to each transfer fall. The BIS built the platform, and it remains on course for a full commercial rollout.
Cross-border settlement has traditionally depended on correspondent banks and the currency conversions that sit inside those chains. Routing payments through a common ledger designed for central bank money is what the project set out to test, and the testing is what Riyadh says it has finished.
Off the public roster
The withdrawal is not a clean break, by one account. A person with knowledge of the arrangement said SAMA has continued to take part in the project, just not as a participant listed publicly.
Other members have stayed silent on the Saudi move. The People's Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand and the Central Bank of the UAE all declined to comment on it.
What remains is a central bank that has stepped off the published participant list while, by one account, keeping a hand in the work. mBridge continues toward commercial launch without Riyadh on its roster.
