Saudi Arabia’s 2022 digital payments among highest in world, says Visa exec says

Visa Group’s Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for GCC, Saeeda Jaffar.

The digital payment transactions in Saudi Arabia are among the highest in the world, with nine digital transactions compared to one cash transaction in 2022, Visa Group’s Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for the GCC Saeeda Jaffar told Argaam in an interview on the sidelines of the Retail Leaders Circle Summit in Riyadh. 

Consumer behavior has changed significantly over the past few years, she said, indicating that consumer payments digitally reached more than 60% compared to the pre-pandemic period, in which cash operations constituted the largest part. 

Visa expects the continuation and use of digital payment channels for several reasons, including speed and less paperwork, which enhances alternative digital channels, particularly contactless payment technology. 

There is a global trend to use other payment methods such as installments, open banking services and encryption, the executive noted, indicating that Visa processed 258 billion transactions globally in 2022. 

Visa has invested more than $10 billion to enhance customer payment systems through artificial intelligence (AI) for all transactions and is working to educate consumers to avoid fraud.