Project XBY

Middle East & North Africa · GDP rank #18

Saudi Arabia

SA · SAR @ 0.2667/USD

Saudi Arabia has structurally over-delivered its Vision 2030 cashless objective — SAMA reported 85% of retail transactions ran non-cash in 2025, well ahead of the original 70%-by-2030 target. The system is anchored by mada, the SAMA-owned domestic debit scheme that routes ~84% of card volume; sarie, the 24/7 instant rail that scaled from 22% to >70% of retail A2A in three years; and an Apple Pay deployment with the highest iPhone penetration in MENA. The next chapter is exporting the stack regionally through the AFAQ GCC bridge.

Tab 08

Pulse

The preceding ~90 days of macro, regulation, product, funding and milestone events. Each item is primary-sourced; no trade-press echo.

  1. 2 weeks agodata

    SAMA: e-payments hit 85% of retail in 2025 — Vision 2030 target exceeded

    SAMA's 2025 annual payments figures put electronic payments at 85% of total retail transactions, up from 79% in 2024 and well ahead of the 70%-by-2030 Vision 2030 target. Total transactions rose to 14.6bn from 12.6bn in 2024 — the largest single-year volume gain on record.

    • #sama
    • #vision-2030
    • #data
    • #mada

    Source: Saudi Press Agency / SAMA

  2. 5 weeks agoregulation

    SAMA Open Banking phase-2 payment-initiation go-live confirmed for June 2026

    SAMA reconfirmed the June 2026 mandatory go-live for payment-initiation services under the Open Banking Framework; 11 licensed banks have completed technical certification with Lean Technologies, Tarabut and Mod5r as authorised TSPs. The framework opens sarie-rail payment initiation to non-bank developers for the first time.

    • #open-banking
    • #sama
    • #regulation

    Source: Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)

  3. 6 weeks agom&a

    PIF previews 2026 Tadawul IPO wave anchored by Tabby and Tamara

    Saudi Public Investment Fund signalled a heavy 2026 IPO pipeline on Tadawul, with Tabby and Tamara among the headline fintech listings. Both BNPLs relocated HQs to Riyadh ahead of the offerings; pricing intentions implied a combined ~US$5bn deal value if the window holds.

    • #ipo
    • #tabby
    • #tamara
    • #pif
    • #bnpl

    Source: Semafor

  4. 2 months agomilestone

    mada e-commerce volume climbs 79% YoY in latest SAMA monthly print

    mada-routed e-commerce spend surged 79% YoY to SAR 29.86bn (~US$8bn) in July 2025; the data point published by SAMA in March 2026 confirmed the trajectory extended into early 2026. Single-month mada e-commerce volume now exceeds 2019 full-year totals.

    • #mada
    • #ecommerce
    • #milestone

    Source: Arab News

  5. 2 months agolaunch

    sarie-Aani bilateral instant corridor live — first GCC retail cross-border IPS

    First GCC cross-border retail instant-payment corridor between Saudi Arabia and the UAE went live, settling sarie-Aani transfers in five-second SLA at an initial low-value cap. Bahrain AFS and Kuwait KNET integrations on the AFAQ roadmap through Q4 2026.

    • #sarie
    • #aani
    • #afaq
    • #cross-border
    • #gcc

    Source: Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)

  6. 3 months agolaunch

    mada Pay Hajj rolls live for 1447H season pilgrim acceptance fleet

    Saudi Payments confirmed mada Pay Hajj — tap-to-pay across the Mecca and Medina merchant fleet — entered live operation for the 1447H Hajj season, with no riyal cash needed for pilgrim transactions at certified merchants. The closed-loop tourism rail is the operating template for NEOM, Diriyah and Red Sea acceptance build-outs.

    • #mada
    • #hajj
    • #saudi-payments
    • #tourism

    Source: Saudi Payments