The Saudi Payments Network (MADA) has registered in the first half of this year record numbers, with a rise of 47 percent compared to the first half of last year when the total completed deals reached more than 688 millions with SAR136 billion (USD36 billion).
These figures reflect the expansion of dependency on e-payment processes among Saudis. The reliance on cash payments or need for ATMs withdrawal has declined. ATMs underwent 621 million processes during H1 of 2019, with a drop of six percent compared to the same period of last year.
These rises coincide with the progress of points of sale and clients’ confidence, which represents a huge increase in the service efficiency due to the continuous development processes witnessed by the infrastructure of MADA.
The points of sale rose 11 percent, after reaching 391.828 by the end of last June compared to 351.645 at the beginning of last year.
Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority is urging the banking sector to expand the payment technique of Near-field communication, that enables users in the kingdom of paying through smartphones and banking cards supported with the same feature.
These efforts have resulted in the arrival of several points of sale supported by this service by the end of June to more than 360,000, and they represent 93 percent of the total available systems in stores in the kingdom.
The total number of cards reached more than 14 million cards, representing around 48 percent of exported banking cards.
