Saudi Payments, JCB partner to enable the acceptance of cards through ‘mada’

By Edil Corneille

Saudi Payments, a subsidiary of the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), and the operator of national payment network ‘mada’, has partnered with JCB International (JCBI). The collaboration entails the acceptance of JCB cards in the Kingdom. This is part of the Kingdom’s policy in opening the way for global payment companies and systems to enter the local market in order to support its strategy to enrich the payments environment and provide modern payment methods in a way that reduces cash and raises the level of competition, in addition to its consistency with the goals of Vision 2030 in serving religious visitors and tourists and providing them with various payment methods.

“Saudi Arabia is the most significant market for JCB to expand the issuance of JCB cards in the Islamic region. Saudi Arabia is one of the most important travel destination for our cardholders. With the Kingdom’s enhanced Vision 2030 strategy and the ever-increasing close ties between Saudi Arabia and Japan, I am delighted that we have entered into this partnership with Saudi Payments for the acceptance of JCB cards,” enthused Yoshiki Kaneko, President and COO of JCBI. “Over the coming months we will be announcing partnerships with local banks to expand our acceptance infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, to cater for both the business and touristic needs of our cardholders.”

The partnership will enable the ‘mada’ network to accept JCB payments through the platform. This will facilitate local acquiring banks to accept JCB cards through their network of Point of Sale Terminals and ATM terminals deployed throughout Saudi Arabia and also provide greater convenience for JCB’s growing cardholders in Islamic markets such as Indonesia.

Ziad Al Yousef, Managing Director of Saudi Payments enunciated, “This partnership is vital step to enhance the digital payment infrastructure in the Kingdom, by providing more options for customers. At the same time, our partnership with JCB aims to enable mada network to accept JCB cards, which will be used through sale points. Based on this step, we seek to transform our society into a less cash dependent.”

As part of its commitment and confidence in the Kingdom’s expanding payments ecosystem, JCB will also be opening an office in Riyadh to develop and enhance its presence in the Saudi Arabian market.