Tap Payments will participate in Seamless Saudi Arabia 2022 to discuss a cashless society as part of Vision 2030.
The Kuwait-headquartered payments platform is to offer its industry perspective at the conference.
The conference seeks to explore the future of payments, fintech, retail and e-commerce in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and is scheduled to take place from 2 to 3 November 2022 in the country’s capital, Riyadh.
Over the past 23 years, Seamless has become the annual forum that brings together the entire banking and financial services value chain to discuss, debate, and shape the future of the commerce ecosystem, with the focus this year on driving sustainable economic growth and diversification, as well as addressing the biggest challenges and opportunities in the Saudi market.
It’s clear that the effects of the worldwide pandemic pushed the KSA’s adoption of e-commerce, which increased by 77 per cent during the turbulent period.
This trend is backed by the Saudi Central Bank‘s (SAMA) post-pandemic report, which gauged the types of payments used in the KSA in 2021.
The study’s goal was to evaluate consumer payment habits (cash and non-cash), across all market sectors, including individuals, businesses and the public sector.
“Modern consumers need quick and effective payment options, and a pandemic around the world demonstrated how everyone needs to move to digital payments and away from cash,” Soliman Aldukhil, group vice president of Tap Payments in KSA, explains.
“Institutions and entrepreneurs must collaborate closely to ensure that consumers profit from cutting-edge solutions in a connected paytech world while always staying safe and secure,” he added.
In Saudi Arabia, cards come in second behind cash as a preferred payment method, including cash-on-delivery.
Presently, there are around 31 million cards in circulation, 88 per cent of which are debit cards and 12 per cent are credit cards.
The KSA is leveraging its financial sector development programme, as part of its Vision 2030 initiative, to promote digital payment solutions and encourage a cashless society by 2025, aiming for a 70 per cent non-cash payments outcome.
Discussions on technology and innovation, including Saudi Arabia’s accommodating stance on blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, are also anticipated at the conference.
SAMA appointed Mohsen Al Zahrani to head its virtual assets and digital currency initiative this year, which coincides with the region’s and Saudi citizens’ adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Fifty-four per cent of Saudi citizens believe that cryptocurrencies should be used as money in addition to being viewed as an asset for investment.
In a similar vein, another of the bank’s studies highlighted how 14 per cent of Saudi citizens currently trade cryptocurrencies or had done so in the six months prior.
On 2 November, Sultan Alonazi, Tap Payment’s MD for Saudi Arabia, will participate in the conference’s panel discussion ‘Striving toward Saudi Arabia’s cashless society of 2030: developing a digitally empowered and financially literate people’; examining the future of Saudi payments.
Likewise, on 3 November, Ahmed Alaradi, the company’s group EVP of business, is expected to speak on the topic of ‘One giant leap: the rapid evolution of payments methods in the new normal’.
