Comparison of payment systems in major Middle East countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar)

Below is a comparative analysis of the payment systems in the key Middle East countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) covering local payment networks, digital wallet penetration, cross-border payment capabilities and regulatory features:

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1. Local payment infrastructure
| Country | Core Clearing System | Instant Money Transfer Service | Government Facilitated Projects |
|———-|——————————-|———————–|——————————|
| UAE | UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS) | *Instant Payments* (launching in 2022) | *Digital Dirham* (central bank digital currency pilot) |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) | *Sarie* (real-time clearing system) | *Saudi Central Bank Digital Currency* (beta phase) |
| Qatar | QPay Network | *FAWRAN+* (Instant Payments) | Qatar National Vision 2030 FinTech Enablement |

- Feature comparison:
Saudi SPAN has the widest coverage (supports all banks), UAE UAEFTS is highly internationalised; Qatar FAWRAN+ supports multi-currency settlement.

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2. E-wallets and mobile payments
|Country |Mainstream eWallets Penetration (2023)|Main Usage Scenario|
|—|—|—|
|UAE |- Apple Pay/Google Pay *(foreign-led)*
- Beam (local aggregation platform)|~45% *(dependency on expatriate population)*|
|-Saudi Arabia |- STC Pay *(over 8 million users)*
- Mada Pay* (Government endorsement)*|~65% *(one of the highest in the world)*|
Qatar - Ooredoo Money* (Department of Telecommunications)*
- Qatar Islamic Bank Wallet|~35%|

- Key differences:
Saudi Arabia mandates foreign e-wallets to be compatible with the Mada network and is highly localised; the UAE is more open but heavily fragmented.

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3. Card networks and cross-border interconnections
||Domestic Debit Card System||Cross-border Co-operation Cases|
|—|—|—|—|
|UAE|NOL Card(Transport + Micropayments)|Visa/MasterCard coverage 85%|- Alipay+/WeChat access to Dubai Malls
- Mashreq Bank supports UPI in India
abbr. for Saudi Arabia|Mada(Mandatory for all POS support)|Native Network Percentage 60%|- Sarie System Connection GCC Real-Time Money Transfer
- SAMA licences China UnionPay gateway
Doha>QPAY Card|*Historical effects of restricted international sanctions*|- FAWRAN+ only within GCC
- Visa Authorised Airport Duty Free Use

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4. Regulatory policy differences
– Saudi SAMA.
Require all e-commerce platforms to access Mada and issue special licences for BNPL (buy now pay later).
– UAE CBUAE.
100% foreign licensed payment companies are allowed, subject to AED 2 billion capital reserves.
– >QCB(Qatar). >:

Prohibit unauthorised cryptocurrency transactions and require all mobile app in-app purchases to be made through QPay.

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5. Challenges and trends
1. ) Saudi"Open Banking" policyCould change the market landscape;
2.) DIFC (Dubai) + ADGM (Abudhabi)
is vying to be the Middle East's crypto-asset settlement centre; the
3.)The push for GCC harmonised payments in 2025 could weaken national local systems. -

5. Challenges and development trends (continued)

(1) Competitive Landscape of Open Banking (OB)
- Saudi Arabia: SAMA mandates open banking API standard for all financial institutions to share customer data (authorised), with full access expected to be completed by 2024. *Example:* STC Pay has enabled cross-bank account aggregation.
- UAE: CBUAE adopts an "encourage but don't compel" strategy, with 20+ open banking pilots in the DIFC fintech sandbox. *Risks:* Data privacy laws conflict with EU GDPR.
- Qatar: QCB is conservative and only allows data interoperability between banks, not open to third-party payment companies for the time being.

(2) Cryptocurrency and CBDC Progress
|Countries|Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)|Cryptocurrency Regulation|Typical Use Case|
|—|—|—|—|
|UAEDigital Dirham(Wholesale Pilot)|World's Most Relaxed Licence Regime (Dubai VARA)|BitOasis Exchange Compliance|
Saudi Arabia|Test phase (interbank only)|SAMA's blockchain cross-border remittance experiment|Banning Retail Transactions, But NEOM City May Become a Special Administrative Region
Qatar|No public programme|Total ban, including restrictions on access to foreign exchanges |-|

- *Key contradiction*: the UAE tries to become the Middle East Web3 hub, while Saudi Arabia prefers controlled private chain applications.

(3) Potential impact of GCC harmonised payments
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) plans to launch a regional instant payment system (GCC-RTGS) by 2025:
- Opportunity: Reduced cross-border fees (currently averaging 4.71 TP3T), particularly favourable for Qatari companies entering the Saudi market;
- Resistance: Conflicting interests of local networks in each country (e.g. Mada may lose its monopoly).

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6. Practical recommendations for enterprises
Choose payment options based on business scenarios:
1. E-commerce platforms.
- *Saudi* → Mada must be integrated and support STC Pay instalments;
- *UAE* → Super App channels like Careem Pay have higher conversion rates;
- *Qatar* → Qatar Airways prepaid card system covers the premium segment.

2. B2B trade.
- UAEDigitisation of Letter of Credit(via Emirates Trade Connect);
- SaudiSaudi Corporate Payment Network

Supports real-time settlement of large amounts.

3. Cross-border collections.
Preference is given to institutions within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which can hedge against Iran/Russia related sanctions risk.

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[Key observation points for the next three years] 🔍
1️⃣ Saudi Aramco Ecological Closure:: Whether to embed oil trade settlement in the SPAN system;
2️⃣ UAE Digital Identity Integration:: Whether Emirates ID can bridge all government payment scenarios;
3️⃣ Qatar World Cup Legacy Effect:: Whether FAWRAN+ will expand into the Asian labour remittance market.

If in-depth analyses in specific areas are required (e.g. BNPL regulation comparison/halal fintech), this can be expanded further.