Visa Direct widens Saudi reach as transfers surge
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Visa Direct is expanding its Saudi Arabia footprint as digital money transfers accelerate, with card-based transaction volumes in the kingdom rising by more than 50 per cent year on year, according to Visa. The growth reflects stronger demand from consumers and financial institutions for faster domestic and cross-border payments, particularly remittances, as Saudi…
Visa Direct is extending its presence in Saudi Arabia as digital money transfers increase, with card-based transaction volumes in the country jumping over 50 per cent compared to the previous year, according to Visa. This surge in digital payments is driven by growing demand from consumers and financial institutions for quicker domestic and international transactions, especially remittances, as Saudi Arabia's payments sector increasingly moves towards digital platforms.
Visa attributes the expansion to banks, fintech firms, and other payment service providers seeking wider access to cards, accounts, and digital wallets. The latest Saudi data highlights the rapid growth in electronic payments, with electronic transactions making up 85 per cent of all retail payments in 2025, up from 79 per cent in the previous year.
The number of electronic transactions reached 14.6 billion, up from 12.6 billion, fueled by heightened activity on the mada network and other domestic payment systems.
Visa Direct enables transfers between eligible cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets, facilitating person-to-person transfers, business payments, disbursements, and remittances. The platform is designed to reach over 195 countries and territories, process more than 150 currencies, and connect with billions of eligible endpoints.
Saudi Arabia holds significance for Visa Direct due to its sizable expatriate workforce and significant outbound remittance flows. In 2025, Alrajhi Bank and Visa strengthened their partnership, allowing Saudi customers to directly transfer funds to bank accounts in over 30 countries via Visa Direct. This initiative builds upon a prior service offering near-instant transfers to Visa cards, targeting key remittance corridors such as India, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Nepal.
The broader transition towards digital remittances is also evident in consumer preferences, with a Visa survey from 2025 revealing that more than half of Saudi respondents favored sending remittances through digital applications, citing security, privacy, speed, and ease of use as primary reasons.
The demand for faster transfers extends beyond remittances, with Saudi financial institutions boosting investments in instant-payment infrastructure and corporate money movement as businesses seek expedited settlements, improved visibility, and reduced reliance on manual procedures. Saudi Central Bank data from June 2026 shows that the value of transactions through its instant transfer system surged to approximately SR7 trillion, a 26.1 per cent increase from SR5.5 trillion the previous year.
Customer payments amounted to roughly SR1.6 trillion, while interbank payments reached about SR5 trillion. Globally, Visa's money-movement business is also expanding, with Visa Direct transactions increasing by 21 per cent year on year in the company's fiscal third quarter of 2026, totaling about four billion transactions. Visa is broadening its use cases across consumer, commercial, and platform payments as competition intensifies among card networks, banks, and financial technology firms.
This Saudi expansion aligns with Visa's other investments in the kingdom's payment infrastructure, including moving its acceptance technology to locally hosted cloud infrastructure and collaborating with banks and payment service providers on digital commerce, contactless acceptance, and cross-border services. Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's payments policy emphasizes reducing cash usage and enhancing electronic transaction infrastructure.
The central bank continues licensing fintech providers, developing open-banking services, and supporting national payment systems while maintaining regulatory oversight of digital financial products. Visa Direct's popularity stems from offering banks and payment providers a unified connection for various money movement types, eliminating the need for separate arrangements for each destination or payment method.
However, actual transfer speed depends on the receiving institution, market, account type, and compliance checks.
Written by urgent.news from Arabian Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
