Paymob, the leading financial services enabler in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP), announced that it has secured Saudi Arabia’s Payment Technical Services Provider (PTSP) certification, making it fully operational.

Paymob established its office in Riyadh in April 2023 and is dedicated to having a solid local presence in the Kingdom.

There are over 1.14 million microbusinesses and SMEs in Saudi Arabia, with a growth rate of 12 percent per annum.

As outlined in Vision 2030, the Kingdom aims to increase SME contribution to its GDP from 20 percent to 35 percent while achieving 70 percent non-cash transactions by 2030.

Saudi Arabia is also experiencing rapid e-commerce growth and a year-on-year transaction increase of 65 percent.

The growth presents a significant market opportunity for a digital payments enabler like Paymob with a history of providing localized, cutting-edge solutions.

Since its inception in 2015, Paymob has set out to digitize SMEs by enabling them with the most comprehensive payment acceptance methods in MENAP.

Its omnichannel gateway offers over 40 payment methods. It empowers over 200,000 SME merchants to manage and scale their businesses by giving them access to innovative financial services not readily available in emerging markets.

Islam Shawky, Co-founder and CEO of Paymob, said, “Obtaining the PTSP certification in Saudi Arabia is a significant accomplishment for us.”

It reflects Paymob’s commitment to its expansion plans in Saudi Arabia while serving merchants and entrepreneurs across the Kingdom to support their growth with cutting-edge financial technology solutions.

In April, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced that the share of electronic payments in the retail sector reached 62 percent of total revenues, including cash, in 2022, surpassing the 60 percent target set out by the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP), one of the leading programs of Saudi Vision 2030.

SAMA seeks to accelerate the digital transformation towards electronic payments, support payment infrastructure, and encourage its adoption.

SAMA’s strategic plans for the payment sector made this achievement possible by reducing reliance on cash considerably.

SAMA’s goal is to increase electronic payment share to 70 percent by 2025 and to create synergies among government and private sectors to embark on a new era of digitalization for payment systems.