At the Money20/20 Middle East event in Riyadh, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the launch of Google Pay across Saudi Arabia, a landmark step that strengthens financial inclusion and the digital payments ecosystem in the Kingdom.
SAMA also signed an agreement with Ant International to enable the acceptance of Alipay+ payments by 2026 via the Kingdom’s mada National Payment System. These developments align with Saudi Vision 2030, aiming to boost the digital economy, reduce reliance on cash, and achieve 70% cashless transactions by 2025.
According to SAMA, Google Pay provides users with an advanced and secure payments experience, allowing seamless provisioning and management of mada and credit cards within Google Wallet. Visitors to Saudi Arabia using Alipay+-linked digital wallets will also be able to carry out secure and sophisticated transactions at local retail outlets.
In his keynote, SAMA Governor Ayman Al-Sayari highlighted the Kingdom’s fintech expansion, growing from 82 companies at the end of 2022 to 281 firms by August 2025, with cumulative investments of $2.39 billion. He noted that electronic payments accounted for 79% of all retail transactions in 2024, with 12.6 billion payments recorded — up from 10.8 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan emphasized that Saudi Arabia’s financial market has exceeded $640 billion, adding that the Kingdom is now working on integrating artificial intelligence tools into its financial systems, further consolidating its position as one of the world’s fastest-growing financial markets.
