Arab News, Sunday, May 07, 2023 | Shawwal 17, 1444
UK’s Paymentology cashes in on Saudi Arabia’s growing fintech sector
Saudi Arabia: Spearheading the Middle
East and North Africa’s financial technology sector, Saudi Arabia has been
attracting the attention of global players, one of which is the UK’s
Paymentology.
As the Kingdom’s fintech sector relaxes its
regulations and accelerates digitalization it is paving the way for vast
opportunities for startups like Paymentology to enter the market and innovate.
A leading solutions provider, Paymentology enables
banks and fintechs to issue credit and debit cards as well as process payments
globally. To ensure smooth operations in Saudi Arabia, the company has studied
the local norms and accordingly worked on a specific strategy to boost the
Kingdom’s fintech sector by facilitating cashless payments.
“To accelerate the development of a cashless
society in Saudi Arabia, Paymentology is actively contributing to digitizing the
country’s payments infrastructure and has partnered with well-established
digital banks and fintechs whilst disrupting the market with its innovative tech
stack,” Nauman Hassan, regional director at Paymentology, MENA, told Arab News.
He added: “Paymentology’s superior multi-cloud
platform offering both shared and dedicated processing instances, vast global
presence and richer real-time data, set it apart as a leader in payments. Its
payments experts bring deep, local market knowledge on the ground in 60
countries, across 14 time zones, guaranteeing 24-hour, seven days support.”
“We also work closely with telecom operators
across mature and emerging markets where blending wallet, virtual cards and
loyalty services appeal to their large base of customers,” he continued.
Hassan went on to speak about the company’s role
in providing proper support for banks and startups to flourish.
“The payment industry in Saudi Arabia is growing
and presents opportunities for companies like Paymentology that can offer
innovative and reliable payment solutions,” Hassan stated.
He added that the Kingdom has a high smartphone
penetration rate, a growing e-commerce market and a competitive landscape that
boosts the sector’s growth.
“Mobile payment solutions are in demand in Saudi
Arabia as the smartphone penetration rate in the Kingdom is high with a total of
42.5 million cellular mobile connections that were active in early 2023, which
is equivalent to 116 percent of the total population,” he pointed out.
“The growing e-commerce market with predicted
revenue of $11.9 billion by 2023, and the government support for a cashless
society creates opportunities for offering online payment solutions. In
addition, the competitive landscape allows for new fintechs to differentiate
themselves by offering innovative solutions that address local needs,” Hassan
explained.
The company is focusing on Saudi Arabia by
providing startups and banks in the Kingdom with the right solutions to bolster
their business as well as supporting companies with obtaining licenses from the
Saudi Central Bank.
Paymentology targets traditional banks, digital
banks, large-scale fintechs, and even telecommunication companies and is
currently serving all these segments in the Kingdom. One of the company’s most
recent customers is Tweeq, a Saudi-based fintech firm that offers tailor-made
payment and financial solutions to individuals and small and medium enterprises.
“Paymentology has supported Tweeq in being among
the first in the Kingdom to achieve an e-money license from the Saudi Central
Bank,” Hassan informed.
The company is currently supporting startups
through digital transformation, tech stacks and Shariah-complaint features.
“The Saudi fintech market is an exciting and
rapidly growing space, with significant opportunities for both established
players and new startups,” Hassan explained.
He further said that, in line with Vision 2030
goals to move toward a cashless, digital society, Paymentology plays an
“integral role” in the digitalization of the Kingdom’s payment infrastructure.
“Paymentology is committed to helping the Kingdom
achieve 70 percent non-cash transactions by 2025, with a focus on a digitally
enabled population as part of its Vision 2030 agenda. The cost of cash is high,
and moving to a cashless economy is safer, faster and more efficient,” Hassan
stated.
“In Saudi Arabia, there is also a requirement to
localize support. Paymentology is cloud-native and agnostic in its deployment.
Our products have been designed to make the deployment process smoother and
faster for our clients, navigating on-soil or regional data regulations,” he
added.
To navigate its operations smoothly, the company
has made “understanding and respecting” the Kingdom’s cultural norms as a key
element of its strategy.
“Overall, being able to navigate regulatory and
cultural considerations while providing reliable and innovative payment
solutions is key to succeeding in Saudi Arabia’s payment industry,” Hassan
explained.
“One such example of meeting the evolving needs of
the market is the development of Murabaha product, a Shariah-compliant form of
financing used in place of traditional loans, since ethical offerings appeal to
customers in the region,” he said.
He added that the company has solutions that might
greatly benefit the Kingdom’s regulatory environment like its Banking.Live
platform that provides data compliant with the country’s laws.
The company currently operates in the Middle East,
Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Europe but Hassan and his team are
“incredibly excited by the opportunity in Saudi Arabia” and are sparing no
effort to cash in on the boom in the fintech sector in the Kingdom.