PayFort, an Amazon company, has announced the registration of a new wholly owned company in Saudi Arabia via the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
The new foreign business license is the first license of its kind to be issued to a payment services operator in the Kingdom.
“PayFort’s new company registration as a foreign investor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sign of our long-term commitment to the market, and comes as a result of our efforts to support the rapid growth in the country’s online sectors,” said PayFort managing director Omar Soudodi. “Recent initiatives to further diversify the Saudi economy and grow hitherto undeveloped economic sectors, such as entertainment and tourism, are likely to help accelerate an already fast growing digital payments market.”
According to the PayFort State of Payments 2017 report, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the fastest growing markets in the region for electronic payments.
The report estimates that Saudi Arabia conducted $8.3 billion of payment transactions in 2016, with 27 percent year-on-year growth.
Electronic payments in the Kingdom are expected to double over the next four years to reach more than $22 billion.
Srinivas Rao, Amazon Payments expansion, Seattle, said, “The time could not have been any better to fully own our operations in Saudi and we are looking forward to a long and prosperous business growth with our existing and new partners.”
Saudi Arabia was the fastest growing country in the region in the airlines and travel sectors during 2016, showing 21 percent growth in airline payment volume and 36 percent growth in travel and tourism.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s central bank signed a deal with Ripple to help banks in the kingdom settle payments using blockchain. The pilot programme is the first of its kind to be launched by a central bank, allowing banks in Saudi Arabia to use Ripple’s software to instantly settle payments sent into and out of the country.
