Saudi Arabia's fintech sector is accelerating fast. Last year, electronic payments hit 85% of retail transactions, putting the kingdom's cashless goal within reach. Investment is pouring in and digital payment adoption is surging. Joining me is Haifa Alobaid, Senior Expert at SIDF and Co-Chair of MFTA Saudi. Haifa, welcome to the show.
Thank you very much for having me today.
Saudi hit 85% retail payments last year. Is the country actually close to cash disappearing entirely or does that last stretch get harder?
I believe 85% is a very high number and we are going to be cashless very soon. If we look at the trend — in 2024 we were at 78% with 2.6 billion transactions, and in 2025 we reached 85%. The trend shows it is growing very fast. An example from real life in Riyadh: my aunt was complaining last week that she went to a mall with 200 riyal notes and had to pass ten shops that did not have cash. The eleventh had cash. That shows how fast we are going to a cashless society.
What is MFTA Saudi doing on the ground and what is the chapter pushing since it launched?
MFTA has been in the region for more than eight years. I was just appointed Co-Chair two weeks ago. Our strategy is mainly to shorten the journey from wanting to do business in Saudi to actually doing business in Saudi. We want to build the right network for fintechs to grow — helping non-Saudi fintechs understand how Saudi works and connecting them to the right people. For Saudi fintechs, we want to help them build alliances to expand into other markets. We will do this through events, focused roundtables, industry papers, and using our platforms and partnerships including Money 20/20 on September 14th.
Is there real opportunity being missed outside Riyadh?
It makes sense to start from Riyadh — it has the most population, over 8 million, the investors, the banks. But there are fintechs coming from outside Riyadh too. From the Eastern Province we have important incubators, and customer needs exist all over Saudi. It might start from Riyadh, but it is all over the kingdom, especially when it comes to the customer side.
Has consumer trust actually kept pace with the technology?
Definitely. Look at D360 Bank — they received their license in 2024 and in less than a year announced 1 million clients with 8 billion Saudi riyals in AUM. Now they have more than 3 million clients. The trust is also coming from the government side — Saudi enforced a new law in January 2026 making it mandatory to pay all domestic labourers using digital wallets and digital channels. That shows trust from both the clients and from the government.
Where does Saudi fintech go next over the next two to five years?
From what I see in the Saudi fintech scene, fintech is moving from being payment-concentrated only to more embedded finance and open banking. Financial services are becoming more personalised and more invisible — woven into our daily banking and financial life experience rather than being a separate thing you have to go and do.
Thank you so much for joining us today, Haifa.
Thank you for having me.
