Concept · 2025Hypothetical concept
Sahli
A concept I pitched as AI went mainstream: an open banking app where you ask in plain words, check an AI-prepared preview, and confirm with one tap.
- Client
- Self-initiated concept
- Industry
- Fintech
- Service
- Product concept & pitch
- Date
- February 2025
What if banking was as simple as a conversation?
Sahli is a concept I pitched in February 2025, as AI assistants went mainstream: an open banking app where you say what you want done, check a preview, and confirm with one tap.
Context & Problem
Banking apps make simple tasks feel like paperwork.
Sending money or paying a bill in most Saudi banking apps means working through menus, forms and confirmation screens. Every extra step is a chance to give up or make a mistake.
The Insight
People already know what they want. The app should just do it.
Nobody opens a banking app to browse. They arrive with a goal, like sending 500 riyals to a friend. Large language models made it possible to start from that goal in plain words instead of making people translate it into taps.
The mission: anticipate what people need, show an instant preview of the action, and cut the effort down to a confirmation.
How It Works
Minimal steps, maximum efficiency.
The whole transfer collapses into three moments.
- 01 Ask
Say what you want
Type or say "Send 500 SAR to Ahmed". The assistant captures the intent from plain language.
- 02 Preview
Check what the AI prepared
Sahli fills in the account holder, account number, IBAN and bank, and shows them for review, with Edit always one tap away.
- 03 Confirm
Approve with one tap
A single biometric confirmation completes the transfer, followed by insights and suggested next steps.
Designing for Trust
The AI suggests. The person decides.
Letting an assistant move money only works if people stay in control. Sahli never acts on a guess: every transfer is shown as an editable preview first, nothing moves without a biometric confirmation, and every completed action ends with a clear receipt of what happened.
The Opportunity
Saudi open banking was opening up.
SAMA's open banking framework gave regulated access to bank data and payments, creating room for new interfaces on top of existing accounts.
Business & Tech
Built to work for people and for banks.
The pitch combined consumer and business revenue, on a stack designed around Saudi regulation from day one.
Roadmap
From prototype to the Gulf.
The plan moved in four phases: build the MVP and bank partnerships, run a beta with regulatory approval, launch fully, then expand across the GCC.
Takeaway
Sahli was where the idea started.
I sketched Sahli in early 2025. Months later I designed Wibi, an AI copilot inside WBK PRO that replaces forms with a conversation and always asks the organiser to review before saving. The same principle carried over: let people say what they want, then show them exactly what will happen before it does.