Saudi PIF launches Tawrid supply chain finance platform

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has launched a supply-chain finance platform that has already signed binding agreements with three banks and two large corporates, putting approved-invoice financing at the centre of a new PIF-backed working-capital initiative.

Tawrid Company for Financing Solutions has begun operations after receiving permission from the Saudi Central Bank, SAMA, to operate within its regulatory sandbox.

The digital platform is designed to connect buyers, suppliers and funders. PIF said its products will include early settlement against approved invoices, allowing suppliers to receive liquidity before the buyer reaches its normal payment date.

That makes the platform directly relevant to approved-payables and supply-chain finance, where a buyer’s approval of an invoice can provide the trigger for a financier to release cash to the supplier.

Tawrid has signed binding agreements with Gulf International Bank, Saudi National Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi, alongside PIF portfolio company ROSHN Group and contractor Nesma & Partners.

The announcement does not disclose programme volumes, individual bank commitments, pricing, advance rates, supplier eligibility criteria or payment tenors. It also does not specify precisely how financing risk will be divided between Tawrid and participating banks.

That distinction matters because SAMA is separately developing a formal regulatory framework covering both supply-chain finance and supply-chain finance intermediation. The central bank opened a 30-day consultation on draft rules on 26 August, saying the framework is intended to establish standards and procedures for the two activities.

Tawrid’s sandbox status therefore places the launch alongside a wider effort to formalise Saudi Arabia’s SCF market rather than simply adding another corporate payment platform.

For suppliers, the potential working-capital benefit is straightforward. Turning an approved invoice into earlier cash can shorten the receivables cycle and reduce the amount of liquidity that smaller companies must fund themselves while awaiting payment.

The commercial test will be scale. PIF has not disclosed how much financing Tawrid expects to intermediate or how many suppliers are initially eligible. But entering operation with three established banks and two sizeable corporate counterparties gives the platform a live funding and buyer network from launch rather than leaving the concept at pilot stage.