Digital payments leader across the Middle East and North Africa, Amazon Payment Services, has launched a new thought leadership forum; ‘re:Imagine Payments’. The forum aims to support merchants and individuals to increase their knowledge in the digital payments space.
Amazon’s digital payments forum has plans to include the likes of roundtable discussions, webinars, and white paper releases. It aims to help people keep up to date with the ever-changing trends across the payments industry.
By gathering key leaders in digital payments from banks, merchants, regulators, experts and more, Amazon Payment Services also looks to drive transformative conversations and have its own influence on future progress.
Peter George, managing director for Amazon Payment Services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), discussed the forum launch. George said: “Knowledge-sharing is crucial to promoting growth and innovation in an environment where payments technology is evolving faster than ever.
“The launch of re:Imagine Payments is intended to create a space for collaboration amongst existing and potential partners, including banks, card providers, government bodies and more, to engage, explore, and establish new solutions together.”
Producing informative content
The first publication to come out of the forum, What’s Next for Digital Payments in the Middle East and North Africa, provides insights into digital payment trends across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt. The white paper research, sponsored by Amazon Payment Services, was led by Euromonitor International (EMI) and Sixth Factor Consulting.
The white paper looked at different dynamics and drivers of digital payments industries in the UAE, KSA, and Egypt. It found that in KSA, 89 per cent of consumers had used one or more new payment methods in the last year. Methods included buy now, pay later and person-to-person transfers.
It also found that digital payments were promoting financial inclusion in Egypt – with penetration of prepaid cards and mobile wallets rising rapidly, approaching 40 per cent of the adult population.
The white paper also details that consumers born between the late 1990 and early 2010s were those driving innovation. However, those born between 1981 and 1996 were found to have the highest spending power.
Detailing this data and more, the white paper and releases to come aim to provide the digital payments markets with the information required for innovation.
Ronaldo Mouchawar, vice president of Amazon in MENA, also discussed the evolution of the digital payments space. Mouchawar explained: “For over 25 years, Amazon has been consistently innovating to benefit merchants, sellers, and customers. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, we bring together our global expertise with local insights to drive meaningful innovation in all areas of our business.
“The region is brimming with potential, with the digital payments market anticipated to nearly double in size across MENA’s three markets of UAE, KSA, and Egypt by 2023, and we expect to see local businesses flourish more than ever in that space.”
