National Bank of Bahrain adopts JP Morgan’s Kinexys solutions to develop a regionally programmable payments system

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) revealed a strategic step to leverage J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys platform, a leader in Blockchain technologies, to introduce a new generation of programmable payments infrastructure in the Kingdom.

This cooperation was approved on the sidelines of the Future of FinTech Forum 2025, which contributes to pushing the bank forward to the forefront of banking institutions that keep pace with digital transformation, by adopting payment solutions based on Blockchain technology.

NBB will leverage Kinexys Digital Payments to deliver instant, programmable payments solutions, enabling more advanced and flexible financial operations.

This technology will also allow the provision of advanced financial systems to meet the needs of companies and institutions, enhance the efficiency of liquidity management, and promote mutual transactions between banks.

This includes: scheduled payments, conditional transfers, and automatic settlements linked to global events or specific conditions.

On this occasion, Ali Abdul Karim, Group Chief Executive Officer – Institutional and Corporate Banking at the National Bank of Bahrain, said: “This partnership represents a pivotal milestone in our journey towards reimagining the future of payment systems between countries in the region.

Adopting this programmable architecture will enable us to provide new and advanced capabilities that allow transactions to be executed in better ways, with greater speed, and flexibility in line with our ambitions.

As the Kingdom of Bahrain continues to strengthen its leadership in the field of financial technology regionally, we continue our commitment to providing innovative solutions that combine trust, technology and transformation.”

This initiative also reflects the National Bank of Bahrain’s commitment to reducing operational complexities and reducing costs, in addition to keeping pace with the growing requirements of dynamic modern business models directed towards decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

This step is also in line with the efforts of the Central Bank of Bahrain aimed at consolidating the Kingdom’s position as a leading center for financial technology among the Gulf countries.

In light of the growing pivotal role of Blockchain infrastructure in modernizing global financial systems, the bank’s cooperation with Kinexys comes to embody the common aspirations aimed at building modern, secure financial services that are compatible with regulatory standards, and seamlessly connected across various systems.

In doing so, NBB joins an elite group of leading global financial institutions that have adopted Kinexys’ blockchain-based infrastructure capabilities.

Implementing this technical infrastructure would pave the way for the National Bank of Bahrain to launch new applications in the areas of treasury management, corporate banking, digital platforms, as well as emerging financial technology ecosystems.