Geidea Expands Saudi Digital Payments with NPG Accreditation and Tap to Pay on iPhone

Geidea has secured eMSP NPG accreditation and MPoC certification, while advancing technical requirements for Tap to Pay on iPhone in Saudi Arabia. These milestones allow the fintech to connect directly to the National Payment Gateway, streamlining e-commerce and contactless acceptance as digital methods now account for 85% of the Kingdom’s retail transactions.

What was announced

Geidea has achieved three distinct technical and regulatory milestones designed to deepen its integration with Saudi Arabia’s financial infrastructure. First, the company secured eMSP NPG accreditation, which enables it to route e-commerce transactions directly to the National Payment Gateway. This connectivity supports local and international networks, including mada, Visa, and Mastercard. The accreditation covers a comprehensive suite of e-commerce functions, including card credential storage, recurring subscriptions, pre-authorisation, in-app payments, and transaction reversals. Geidea will activate this route gradually, keeping existing processing paths as a backup to ensure service continuity.

On the hardware-less acceptance front, Geidea SoftPOS has obtained MPoC (Mobile Point of Sale) certification. This allows merchants to use Android smartphones as payment terminals with support for direct PIN entry on the device, eliminating the need for traditional POS hardware. Simultaneously, the company is completing the technical groundwork to introduce Tap to Pay on iPhone in the Saudi market. This service will move to the regulatory approval stage with the Saudi Central Bank once technical requirements are finalised.

The scale of the market Geidea is addressing is significant; mada card e-commerce transactions in Saudi Arabia reached SAR 325.2 billion in 2025, a 65% increase from the SAR 197.4 billion recorded in 2024. The total volume of electronic payment transactions across national systems grew to 14.6 billion in 2025, up from 12.6 billion the previous year.

"These developments are part of Geidea’s strategy to build integrated capabilities across the payments ecosystem, from transaction processing and connectivity with national infrastructure to payment acceptance technologies and the merchant experience."

Abdullah bin Faisal Al Othman, Founder and Chairman of Geidea.

The companies involved

Geidea is a prominent Saudi Arabian payments technology company that has established itself as a major player in the Middle East’s fintech sector. The company is owned by Thales, the French multinational aerospace and security group, which acquired a majority stake in the firm to bolster its digital identity and security portfolio. Geidea operates across the entire payments value chain, providing both the software for digital gateways and the physical or mobile-based hardware for merchant acceptance.

The company has been a central figure in the Saudi government’s "Vision 2030" goals, which aim to increase the share of non-cash transactions in the Kingdom. By moving from a pure payment provider to a firm with direct connectivity to the National Payment Gateway, Geidea occupies a strategic position that reduces reliance on third-party banking intermediaries. Its operations have expanded beyond Saudi Arabia, with a significant presence in Egypt and the UAE, where it provides similar merchant-focused digital payment solutions and financial services.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Geidea’s expansion across the MENA region closely. In July 2026, we reported that Bokra and Geidea Egypt Partner to Launch Sharia-Compliant Digital Savings for 200,000 Merchants, highlighting the company's move into broader financial services. Earlier that year, Telr and Geidea Announce Strategic Fintech Collaboration to Enhance Merchant Payment Capabilities detailed their efforts to unify payment experiences for SMEs. Our coverage in late 2024 also noted the company's regional momentum, including when Geidea Leads the FinTech Revolution in the Region, Starting With a Network of Thousands of Merchants and Preparing for the SoftPos Launch in Egypt and the Strategic Partnership: Tarabut & Geidea Sign MOU to Explore Game-Changing SME Financing Solutions in Saudi Arabia.

What this means

The move to direct NPG connectivity is a significant shift in the Saudi market, as it allows Geidea to operate with the technical autonomy typically reserved for traditional banks. By owning the full stack—from the gateway to the SoftPOS software—Geidea can offer lower latency and more competitive pricing to merchants. This puts immediate pressure on legacy POS providers and traditional acquiring banks that have historically controlled the merchant relationship. As electronic payments reach 85% of retail volume, the industry is moving toward a "software-first" model where physical terminals are becoming optional. The introduction of Tap to Pay on iPhone will likely accelerate this trend, forcing competitors to pivot away from hardware-heavy business models.