Visa Acceptance Platform Certified for SAMA’s New E-commerce Interface in Saudi Arabia

Visa has secured certification for the Saudi Central Bank’s New E-commerce Payments Interface, allowing merchants and payment service providers in Saudi Arabia to process transactions locally via the Visa Acceptance Platform. This move ensures regulatory compliance while streamlining digital commerce in a region undergoing rapid financial infrastructure modernization and increased domestic data residency requirements.

What was announced

The certification enables the Visa Acceptance Platform to handle e-commerce transactions within Saudi Arabia's borders, utilizing local cloud infrastructure that was established last year. This setup is designed to meet the specific regulatory standards set by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) while providing a unified solution for payment processing. The platform is aimed at both merchants and payment service providers (PSPs), offering a suite of integrated tools that includes fraud management, tokenization, and authentication. By hosting these services locally, Visa aims to reduce latency and simplify the integration process for businesses operating in the Kingdom.

Key functionalities supported by the platform include feature-rich acceptance for mada—the national payment scheme of Saudi Arabia—alongside card-on-file capabilities, support for various digital wallets, and recurring payment structures. These features are intended to support the growing demand for sophisticated e-commerce use cases in the Saudi market. The deployment follows the initial rollout of Visa’s local cloud infrastructure in the region, marking a transition toward fully localized processing for digital transactions. This infrastructure allows for the domestic handling of sensitive payment data, aligning with the Kingdom's broader digital transformation goals and financial sector regulations that prioritize the security and sovereignty of national payment data.

"As digital commerce continues to scale in Saudi Arabia, payment capabilities must evolve to support local market requirements while delivering seamless experiences for consumers. Enabling local e-commerce processing through the New E-commerce Payments Interface on the Visa Acceptance Platform helps simplify payment acceptance and enables seamless e-commerce experiences for consumers."

Ali Bailoun, Senior Vice President and Group General Manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman at Visa.

The companies involved

Visa is a global leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. The company operates as a central pillar of the global financial ecosystem, focusing on the security and efficiency of electronic funds transfers. In the Middle East, Visa has been active in aligning its technological offerings with national digitisation strategies, such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which seeks to increase the share of non-cash transactions.

The Saudi Central Bank, commonly known as SAMA, is the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established to manage the nation's monetary policy and oversee the banking and financial sectors, SAMA plays a critical role in regulating the fintech landscape. The bank has been instrumental in developing the New E-commerce Payments Interface, a regulatory framework designed to enhance the security and efficiency of digital transactions within the country. By setting these standards, SAMA ensures that international payment providers adhere to local data sovereignty and security protocols, fostering a stable environment for the growth of the Kingdom's digital economy.

What FF News has reported before

Visa’s expansion of localized services in the Middle East follows a period of high activity for the company globally. FF News recently reported on Visa and IFC Partner on $200M Initiative to Drive Global Financial Inclusion, highlighting the firm's efforts to expand digital access in emerging markets. The company has also been active in the consumer technology space, as seen when CIB Bank and Visa Launch RingPay Contactless Payment Rings for Retail Customers in Hungary. These developments underscore Visa's dual focus on large-scale financial infrastructure and niche consumer payment hardware. Additionally, the broader fintech sector has seen significant shifts in digital asset capabilities, such as when MoneyGram Launches Stablecoin-Backed Card for Everyday Spending via Stellar Network, reflecting a market-wide push toward more integrated digital financial services.

What this means

This certification signals a significant shift in how global payment networks must operate within sovereign digital economies. By moving processing to local cloud infrastructure, Visa is responding to a growing global trend where regulators demand domestic data residency and oversight. For the Saudi market, this places pressure on local payment service providers to upgrade their technology stacks to remain competitive with the feature-rich environment Visa is now offering locally. The inclusion of mada acceptance within a global platform simplifies the landscape for international merchants entering the Kingdom, potentially accelerating e-commerce growth. However, it raises questions about whether other global networks will be forced to follow suit with similar localized infrastructure investments to maintain market share.