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How big is the payments market in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, how fast is cash disappearing, and who still pays the old way?

Electronic payments made up 85% of Saudi retail payments in 2025, up from 79% in 2024, across 14.6 billion electronic transactions; 6.27 billion in-store payments in 2025 were made with a phone. Outside the Gulf the picture flips: 64.2% of Saudi adults made a digital merchant payment in 2024, against 12.5% in Jordan, 9.6% in Morocco and 7.0% in Algeria.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) statistical bulletin (August 2026) and Payments Usage Study 2023, Financial Sector Development Program report 2024, BIS CPMI payment statistics 2024, World Bank Global Findex 2024 and Enterprise Surveys 2025, central banks of the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt and Jordan · verified as of

Saudi Arabia: how much of retail payment is already cashless

SAMA counts electronic payments as a share of all retail payments; the BIS rows use the CPMI definition of cashless payments and are comparable with other countries in the BIS set.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Electronic payments, share of all retail payments85%up from 79% in 20242025sama.gov.sa
Electronic payments, share of all retail payments79%2024sama.gov.sa
Electronic payment transactions14.6 billion12.6 billion in 20242025sama.gov.sa
All payment transactions, cash and electronic17.2 billionPayments Usage Study2023sama.gov.sa
Card transactions at point-of-sale devices10 billion2024vision2030.gov.sa
E-commerce payment transactions1 billion2024vision2030.gov.sa
Cashless payments per inhabitant328.52 a yearCPMI definition2024stats.bis.org
Card and e-money payments, share of all cashless payments by number89.45%CPMI definition2024stats.bis.org

In-store payments: terminals, volumes and the phone

Monthly and annual figures from SAMA's point-of-sale tables; BIS counts terminals on its own definition, so the 2024 BIS figure and the 2026 SAMA figure are not a growth series.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Point-of-sale sales value, one monthSAR 65,687,046 thousandall POS salesAugust 2026sama.gov.sa
Point-of-sale transactions, one month1,107,398,352August 2026sama.gov.sa
Point-of-sale terminals installed2,472,104August 2026sama.gov.sa
Point-of-sale terminals1,981,111BIS definition2024data.bis.org
Growth of the national POS estate72%2021 to 20232021–2023sama.gov.sa
In-store payments made with a mobile device (NFC)6,268,893,524 transactionsfull year2025sama.gov.sa
In-store sales paid with a mobile device (NFC)SAR 358,085,052 thousandfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Average debit-card paymentUS$15.462024stats.bis.org
Average credit-card paymentUS$35.082024stats.bis.org
Debit cards per inhabitant1.422024stats.bis.org
Credit cards per inhabitant0.112024stats.bis.org

Where Saudis pay by card: point-of-sale spending by merchant category, 2025

Value of POS transactions for the full year 2025 by merchant activity, as published by SAMA (SAR thousand in the source, shown here in billions).

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Food & beveragesSAR 105.5 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Restaurants & cafésSAR 84.8 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Apparel, clothing & accessoriesSAR 55.5 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Professional & business servicesSAR 54.8 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
TransportationSAR 51.9 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Gas stationsSAR 50.0 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
HealthSAR 47.8 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Furniture & home suppliesSAR 25.6 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
Construction & building materialsSAR 21.3 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
JewelrySAR 18.6 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
HotelsSAR 16.1 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
EducationSAR 10.9 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa
TelecommunicationSAR 8.3 billionfull year2025sama.gov.sa

Online payments: mada, cards and wallets

mada is the national debit scheme; its e-commerce figures cover mada cards only, not credit cards, wallets or cash on delivery.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
E-commerce transactions paid with mada cards1,770,786,311full year2025sama.gov.sa
E-commerce sales paid with mada cards, one quarterSAR 69.3 billionup 56% year on yearQ1 2025wam.ae
E-commerce transactions paid with mada cards, one quarter370 millionQ1 2025wam.ae
Average e-commerce payment by mada cardSAR 186May 2025wam.ae
Debit cards, share of e-commerce payment methods used50%2023sama.gov.sa
E-wallets, share of consumer one-off payments under SAR 5014%2023sama.gov.sa

Who pays digitally in Saudi Arabia: adults 15+ by segment

Global Findex 2024, share of adults aged 15+ in each group. The gaps by age, gender and income show where adoption is thinner.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Made or received a digital payment75.72%all adults 15+2024api.worldbank.org
Has a digitally enabled account74.6%all adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment64.2%all adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — ages 25+66.7%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — ages 15–2453.9%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — men66.9%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — women59.3%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — richest 60%68.8%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Made a digital merchant payment — poorest 40%57.2%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Did not pay in store by phone or card18.17%all adults 15+2024api.worldbank.org
Paid bills by mobile phone or internet52.88%all adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Paid bills by mobile phone or internet — men58.89%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Paid bills by mobile phone or internet — women42.00%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Paid bills by mobile phone or internet — ages 15–2432.21%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Owns a credit card30.13%all adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Owns a credit card — women26.50%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Has a mobile money account — ages 15–2430.93%2024api.worldbank.org

Middle East and North Africa: account ownership, adults 15+

Global Findex 2024: share of adults with an account at a financial institution or a mobile money provider. One methodology across countries.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Bahrain82.32%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Saudi Arabia78.84%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Kuwait74.46%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Jordan46.46%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Morocco44.39%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Tunisia37.84%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Algeria35.29%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Iraq30.16%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org
Lebanon23.04%adults 15+2024data360api.worldbank.org

Middle East and North Africa: digital payments at merchants

Global Findex 2024. The first four rows: adults 15+ who made a digital merchant payment. The last four: adults 15+ who did not pay in store by phone or card.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Saudi Arabia — made a digital merchant payment64.2%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Jordan — made a digital merchant payment12.5%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Morocco — made a digital merchant payment9.6%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Algeria — made a digital merchant payment7.0%2024data360api.worldbank.org
Egypt — did not pay in store by phone or card38.65%2024api.worldbank.org
Morocco — did not pay in store by phone or card35.56%2024api.worldbank.org
Jordan — did not pay in store by phone or card34.09%2024api.worldbank.org
Saudi Arabia — did not pay in store by phone or card18.17%2024api.worldbank.org

Other Gulf and North African markets: cards, terminals and wallets

Each central bank publishes its own tables and periods; read each row on its own, not as a ranking.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
UAE — POS transactions through the national card switch (UAESWITCH)560.7 milliondomestic switch only2025centralbank.ae
UAE — licensed stored value facility (e-wallet) providers162025centralbank.ae
Qatar — card transactions at POS, one month48.042 millionApril 2026qcb.gov.qa
Qatar — card transaction value at POS, one monthQAR 8.554 billionApril 2026qcb.gov.qa
Qatar — online e-commerce card transactions, one month12.098 millionApril 2026qcb.gov.qa
Qatar — online e-commerce card value, one monthQAR 3.988 billionApril 2026qcb.gov.qa
Kuwait — value of POS card transactionsKWD 17,701.6 millionfull year2025cbk.gov.kw
Kuwait — POS terminals in operation111,746Q2 2026cbk.gov.kw
Oman — POS terminals, physical and SoftPoS101,2212024cbo.gov.om
Egypt — registered mobile wallets60 million2025cbe.org.eg
Egypt — mobile wallet transactions2.5 billionfiscal yearFY2024/25cbe.org.eg
Egypt — value of mobile money transactions, % of GDP19.44%2024api.imf.org
Jordan — value of mobile money transactions, % of GDP12.56%2024api.imf.org
Jordan — JoMoPay mobile wallet transactions102.0 millionfull year2025cbj.gov.jo
Jordan — JoMoPay mobile wallet transaction valueJD 6,341.6 millionfull year2025cbj.gov.jo

Saudi Arabia: who is licensed, what transfers cost, and the business side

Licence counts and prices from SAMA and the Financial Sector Development Program; remittance cost and firm payments from the World Bank.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Fintech companies operating in Saudi Arabia261up from 14 in 20202024sama.gov.sa
Fintech companies licensed by the Saudi Central Bank1382024vision2030.gov.sa
Fintech companies licensed by the Capital Market Authority522024vision2030.gov.sa
Fintech companies licensed by the Insurance Authority142024vision2030.gov.sa
Licensed banks392025vision2030.gov.sa
Foreign banks, share of licensed banks61%2025vision2030.gov.sa
Instant payment (sarie) fee, transfers up to SAR 500SAR 0.50against SAR 7 for a same-day RTGS transfer2023sama.gov.sa
Instant payment (sarie) fee, transfers of SAR 500–20,000SAR 12023sama.gov.sa
sarie instant payment transactions437 million176 million in 20212023sama.gov.sa
Average unit cost of payments, change−11%debit card −16%, credit card −28%, cash +16%2021–2023sama.gov.sa
Total social cost of payments, change+38%2021–2023sama.gov.sa
Average cost of sending a remittance from Saudi Arabia4.52% of amount sent2023api.worldbank.org
Personal remittances paid out of Saudi ArabiaUS$58.7 billion2025api.worldbank.org
Firm payments made electronically87.19%all firms2025data360api.worldbank.org
Firm payments made electronically — small firms89.13%2025data360api.worldbank.org
Firm payments made electronically — large firms86.67%2025data360api.worldbank.org
MSME share of total bank credit11.4%Q2 2026sama.gov.sa

Rules that route money through banks

Wage protection systems require employers to pay salaries through licensed banks and financial institutions — which is why payroll is digital even where retail cash survives.

MetricValueSegmentPeriodSource
Saudi Arabia — Wage Protection System: every private-sector employer with one or more employees pays wages by bank transfer through institutions authorised in Saudi Arabiain forceall private-sector entities since 31 December 2020; rollout began 1 June 2013since 2013ilo.org
Saudi Arabia — WPS compliance thresholds on the Mudad platformin forcepayroll compliance of 90% for firms under 30 employees, 95% above 30, measured against GOSI registrationsince December 2020ilo.org
UAE — Wage Protection System, Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026in forcewages due on the first day of the following month; compliant if at least 85% of total wages are transferred on timesince 1 June 2026wam.ae

Why Saudi payment numbers seem to disagree

Four things move the answer. First, what is being counted: SAMA's 85% is electronic payments as a share of all retail payments, the BIS counts cashless payments on the CPMI definition, and Findex measures people, not transactions — 85% of payments can be electronic while 18.17% of adults still did not pay in store by phone or card. Second, which rail: mada figures cover the national debit scheme only, so mada e-commerce is not all of e-commerce (credit cards, wallets and cash on delivery sit outside it). Third, the terminal count: BIS reports 1,981,111 POS terminals for 2024 and SAMA reports 2,472,104 installed in August 2026 — different definitions and dates, not a growth rate. Fourth, the period: SAMA's monthly bulletin is current to August 2026, Findex is a 2024 survey and the Payments Usage Study covers 2021–2023. Across the region, every central bank publishes its own tables, so use the Findex rows when you need one comparable number across countries.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) — Monthly Statistical Bulletin, August 2026 · SAMA — Payments Usage Study 2023 · BIS — CPMI payment statistics · World Bank — Global Findex 2024

Methodology

Every number on this page is a fact node in the God of Startups Atlas — a knowledge graph where each metric carries its source URL, reporting period, evidence tier and the verbatim quote it was taken from. Tier 1 means official or statutory sources: central banks (SAMA, CBUAE, QCB, CBK, CBO, CBE, CBJ), the BIS, the IMF and the World Bank. Regulations come from verified rule records with their primary source. Values are shown in the currency and precision the source reports; the POS-by-category values are SAMA's SAR-thousand figures expressed in billions. Nothing is converted between currencies, estimated or modelled.

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Analysis built on this data

Saudi Arabia and Middle East Payments Market 2026: Cash Is Already Gone. Where Can a Payments Startup Still Win?

In Saudi Arabia most retail payments are already electronic and paid by phone. What central bank and World Bank data show about card usage, credit, open banking and the rest of the region, and where a new payments product still has room.

Market cells behind this benchmark

Fact tables from the same knowledge graph — one market, every number with its source, period and evidence tier.

Middle East Fintech & Payments24MENA E-commerce24

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