Saudi Payments[1], Saudi Arabia’s national payments infrastructure operator, is to use a combination of NFC and contactless payments, a new faster payments system and the introduction of a common QR code platform to reduce the use of cash and speed up its move towards a cashless society, managing director Ziad Al Yousef has told NFCW.
The country has set its sights on becoming a cashless society with the aim that 70% of all payments in the Kingdom will be digital by 2030, compared with only 18% in 2017, Al Yousef explains.
He adds: “Our estimate is that we have now reached 23% to 24% in 2018, so we believe we are ahead of target. That was mainly pushed by the adoption last year of NFC.”
NFC and contactless payments via card or smartphone were introduced in Saudi Arabia in mid-2017; today more than 94% of POS devices support the technology.
Takeup by consumers has been “phenomenal”, Al Yousef says. “We have surpassed many countries. In June 2019, 53% of all transactions were done using NFC. In May last year it was 12%.”
Adoption has been driven by the swift roll out of a digital mobile payment infrastructure that will enable customers of any Mada[2] member bank to carry their payment card information in a digital form on their mobile devices, coupled with customer education about security, Al Yousef explains.
Mada Pay, an Android mobile wallet, launched in the country in July 2018[3], while Apple Pay launched in February 2019[4]. “Both mobile and card are pushing NFC more and more here in Saudi,” Al Yousef says.
The introduction of a common QR code platform, based on a standard published earlier this year, will target
