Nora Albakr

Nora Albakr was appointed Deputy Governor for Financial Innovation at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) in 2025. In this role, she leads the development of the financial sector and its regulatory framework, overseeing dedicated teams across Market Development, Innovation, Central Bank Digital Currency, Virtual Assets, and Open Banking. A seasoned executive with over 17 years of experience in banking, payments, and fintech, Ms. Albakr previously served as Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at SAMA, and held senior leadership roles in the payments sector, where she contributed to advancing the Kingdom’s digital payments infrastructure, including key initiatives such as mada, SARIE, and Sadad. She holds an MSc MBA from Prince Sultan University and a BSc in Information Technology from King Saud University and has completed executive education at Harvard Business School.