Mada

TypeNational network

PrimarySA

MentionedSA

Completeness88%high

Overview

Mada (Arabic: مدى, meaning "range" or "extent") is Saudi Arabia's national payment network, established by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and operating since 1990 (originally branded SPAN — Saudi Payment Network) [1, 2, sa-cro]. Rebranded as "Mada" in 2015 with the launch of SPAN2 (the modernised EMV-compliant network) [3]. Mada is the backbone of Saudi payment infrastructure — connecting all 17,000+ ATMs and 225,000+ POS terminals across the Kingdom to a central payment switch, with all Saudi banks mandated by SAMA to issue Mada-compatible cards [1, sa-cro].

By 2024 Mada had grown to 1.12 billion e-commerce transactions worth SAR 197.42 billion — a 559 % growth from 170 million transactions in 2020 SA. 79 % of Saudi retail transactions are electronic in 2024 SA. The SAQR (Saudi QR Code) standard is Mada's QR payment overlay, with Alipay+ cross-border integration planned for 2026 SA.

History

1990 — SPAN launches [1, 4, sa-cro]:

Saudi Payment Network (SPAN) — the original name — launched in 1990.
Initial scope: ATM services, plus Visa and Mastercard acceptance.
Established by SAMA as a national payment-infrastructure initiative.

1993 — POS service introduced [4]: SPAN extended to Point of Sale terminals, enabling card payments at retail merchants beyond ATM cash withdrawal.

SPAN2 modernisation (early 2010s) [1, 3]: SAMA upgraded the original SPAN to SPAN2, with:

EMV (chip-and-PIN) compliance — modern card security standard.
Higher-capacity infrastructure — reduced transaction processing times, particularly at POS.
Foundation for the rebrand to Mada.

2015 — Rebrand to Mada [3, sa-cro]:

SAMA launched the new identity "Mada" for the Saudi Payment Network.
The Arabic word مدى means "range" or "extent" — signalling the network's nationwide reach.
All Saudi banks transitioned to Mada-branded cards.

Subsequent evolution SA:

Mada Pay mobile wallet launched (Android-only).
SAQR (Saudi QR Code) standard developed by SAMA for unified QR payment.
Apple Pay active.
Samsung Pay launched 2024.
Google Pay launched 15 September 2025.
JCB cards integration 2025.

E-commerce growth SA:

Year	E-commerce transactions
2020	170 million
2024	1.12 billion (+559 %)

Cross-border roadmap SA:

2026: Alipay+ cross-border QR payments — SAMA and Ant International agreement to connect Mada with the Alipay+ network for inbound tourist payments.

Technical specification

Mada operates as the national payment switch connecting all Saudi banks [1, 3, sa-cro]:

Layer	Description
Operator	SAMA (Saudi Central Bank)
Type	National card-and-payment network
Settlement	Real-time card authorisation; SARIE (Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express) for high-value RTGS
Currency	SAR (Saudi Riyal)
EMV compliance	Yes — SPAN2 / Mada generation
Coverage	All Saudi banks (mandated by SAMA)

Infrastructure scale (2024) SA:

17,000+ ATMs nationwide
225,000+ POS terminals
1.12 billion e-commerce transactions
SAR 197.42 billion e-commerce value

Payment methods SA:

Method	Description
Mada card	Physical EMV chip-and-PIN debit card; universal Saudi card
NFC contactless	Mada Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay (as of Sept 2025)
QR code (SAQR)	Saudi QR Code standard — SAMA-defined for merchant QR payment
P2P	Mada Pay phone-number-based transfers
Card emulation	Traditional terminal acceptance

SAQR (Saudi QR Code Standard) SA:

SAMA-regulated standard for QR payments.
License required — only SAMA-approved companies can offer SAQR acquiring services.
Used by Mada Pay, STC Pay, and licensed wallet providers.
Supports merchant QR acceptance integrated with Mada bank-account rail.

Mada Pay app features SA:

Android-only (currently)
NFC contactless payments
QR code scanning
P2P transfers
SAMA regulated

Saudi IBAN structure SA:

SA + 2 check digits + 2-digit bank code + 18-digit account number
Example: SA03 8000 0000 6080 1016 7519 (24 characters)

Mada bank participation SA:

Bank	Type	Mobile platform
Al Rajhi Bank	Islamic (largest globally)	Al Rajhi Mobile
Saudi National Bank (SNB)	Private (NCB merger)	SNB Mobile
Riyad Bank	Private	Riyad Bank App
Saudi British Bank (SABB)	Private	SABB Mobile
Banque Saudi Fransi	Private	BSF Mobile

All Saudi banks operate on the Mada rail (SAMA mandate).

Use cases

Mada is universal across Saudi retail and consumer payment contexts [sa-cro, 1]:

Retail point of sale — universal Mada card acceptance at 225,000+ POS terminals. The structural use case.
ATM cash withdrawal — 17,000+ ATMs; Mada cards universally accepted.
E-commerce — 1.12 billion e-commerce transactions in 2024 (~559 % growth from 2020).
Government services and bill payments — utilities, telecom, education fees.
Salary disbursement — most Saudi employers pay via Mada bank-account transfer (alongside the WPS — Wage Protection System mandate for expatriate worker salaries).
Mobile contactless — Apple Pay / Samsung Pay / Google Pay all linked to Mada cards.
QR payments (SAQR) — Mada Pay and STC Pay merchant QR acceptance; growing as SAMA expands licensing.
Inbound tourism (2026 planned) — Alipay+ cross-border QR integration for Chinese tourists.

Growth metrics (2024) SA:

79 % of Saudi retail transactions are electronic
SAR 197.42 billion e-commerce spending
1.12 billion e-commerce transactions (+559 % from 2020)
Universal Mada card coverage across all Saudi banks (SAMA mandate)

Tier-2-city expansion focus SA: SAMA's policy push for 2024–2025 includes POS adoption in smaller Saudi cities beyond Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam — extending Mada's merchant base into Tier-2 and Tier-3 urban centres.

Implementations

Mada integration is SAMA + Mada-licensed bank-and-PSP-mediated; no significant open-source library ecosystem SA.

Production bank apps consuming Mada SA:

Al Rajhi Mobile (Al Rajhi Bank — world's largest Islamic bank)
SNB Mobile (Saudi National Bank)
Riyad Bank App
SABB Mobile
BSF Mobile (Banque Saudi Fransi)

Plus all other Saudi bank apps — universal Saudi banking-system coverage.

Mobile wallets SA:

App	Provider	NFC	QR
Mada Pay	SAMA	Yes (Android only)	Yes
STC Pay	STC (telecom)	Yes	Yes
Apple Pay	Apple (Mada-linked)	Yes	No
Samsung Pay	Samsung (Mada-linked)	Yes	No
Google Pay	Google (Mada-linked, Sept 2025)	Yes	No

Acquirer / merchant onboarding:

All major Saudi banks acquire merchants for Mada acceptance.
STC Pay as a major Saudi fintech wallet.
New SAMA merchant acquirer licenses issued through 2024–2025 to expand QR-acquiring competition.

Reference documentation [1, 3]:

Comparison

vs. aani (UAE) — Saudi Arabia's nearest GCC peer. Mada is a card-network-and-payment-rail (since 1990, 35 years of installed base); Aani is a newer instant-payment platform (2023). Saudi Arabia has the older, deeper, broader payment infrastructure; UAE is following the modern central-bank-instant-payment + QR pattern. Both are FIT-programme-era (Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 = UAE's FIT programme equivalent) — strategic national payment-system modernisation [aani-ref, sa-cro].

vs. upi-qr (India) — Both are central-bank-orchestrated national payment systems. UPI is purely instant-payment-rail (2016 launch); Mada is the older card-network-plus-QR layered model (1990 base + 2015 modernisation + ongoing QR additions). UPI scale much larger (~250 B transactions / year vs Mada's ~1.12 B e-commerce in 2024); but Saudi Arabia's per-capita Mada penetration is among the highest globally IN.

vs. pix (Brazil), promptpay-qr (Thailand), sgqr (Singapore), duitnow-qr (Malaysia), qris (Indonesia) — All are modern (2017-2020) central-bank-orchestrated instant-payment-plus-QR systems. Mada is structurally older (1990 base) and card-network-centric rather than instant-payment-rail-centric. SAQR is the QR overlay; the modernisation pattern is gradual rather than greenfield-build [pix-ref, sg-cro].

vs. bharat-qr (India card-network QR) — Both are card-network-plus-QR overlay models. Bharat QR's complementary upi-qr eclipsed it; SAQR is currently the primary QR vehicle for Mada cards without a similar parallel-displacement competitor in Saudi Arabia [bharat-qr-ref].

vs. wero (EU) — Both are payment-sovereignty plays — Wero against US payment networks for Europe; Mada is structurally Saudi-sovereignty-built-from-the-start (1990 SAMA initiative) rather than catching up to US dominance. Different starting points; similar sovereignty motivations [wero-ref].

Fun facts

Mada's lineage goes back to 1990 — making it one of the oldest national payment networks in the Middle East [1, 4]. Most peer national-payment systems are post-2010 builds; Saudi Arabia's SPAN (1990) → SPAN2 → Mada (2015 rebrand) reflects 35+ years of continuous national-payment-infrastructure investment. The cumulative installed base — 17,000 ATMs, 225,000 POS terminals, every Saudi bank — is structurally hard to displace.

SAMA mandates that all Saudi banks issue Mada-compatible cards [1, sa-cro] — this universal-mandate model is structurally similar to the EU's mandates for SEPA Credit Transfer participation but predates the EU model by ~15 years. Saudi Arabia's Mada is one of the longest-running examples of mandatory-national-payment-network coverage globally.

E-commerce grew 559 % from 2020 to 2024 SA — the fastest e-commerce growth of any national Mada-equivalent system globally in that timeframe. Drivers include:

COVID-19 acceleration of digital payments globally.
Vision 2030 cashless-economy targets specifically driving Saudi merchant onboarding.
Mada card universality + new Mada Pay / STC Pay mobile wallets + Apple Pay / Samsung Pay / Google Pay layering convenience.
79 % of Saudi retail transactions electronic in 2024 (from much lower base in 2020).

Google Pay launched in Saudi Arabia on 15 September 2025 SA — completing the Apple Pay + Samsung Pay + Google Pay trio for Saudi consumers. Each US mobile-wallet platform is structurally linked to Mada cards as the underlying payment account, demonstrating how Mada's installed-base universality enables both US and Saudi-domestic mobile-payment innovation on top of the same card-network rail.

Al Rajhi Bank is the world's largest Islamic bank by assets SA — and a major Mada participant. The combination of Islamic banking + national card-network mandate + modern digital wallets creates a structurally distinctive Saudi payment ecosystem that doesn't map cleanly onto Western or Asian-emerging-market patterns.

Alipay+ cross-border in 2026 SA will enable Chinese tourists to use Alipay at Mada-accepting Saudi merchants. Given that Saudi Arabia is a major tourist and pilgrimage destination (Mecca, Medina, plus growing Vision-2030 tourism), this is one of the most strategically important cross-border-QR integrations in development for inbound payment-acceptance economics.

Status

Active, dominant, modernising under Vision 2030 [sa-cro, 1]:

35+ year continuous infrastructure (since 1990)
17,000+ ATMs, 225,000+ POS terminals
1.12 billion e-commerce transactions (2024) (+559 % from 2020)
SAR 197.42 billion e-commerce value (2024)
79 % electronic retail transactions
All Saudi banks participating (SAMA mandate)
Apple / Samsung / Google Pay all live and Mada-linked

Strategic trajectory SA:

Vision 2030 cashless-economy targets continue to drive merchant onboarding, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
Alipay+ cross-border QR (2026) — major inbound-tourism integration.
SAQR expansion — SAMA continues to license new merchant acquirers for QR acceptance.
Mada Pay growth — Android-only currently; iOS may follow.
JCB integration completing in 2025.

No deprecation planned. Mada is the strategic Saudi national payment-infrastructure foundation for the foreseeable future, with continuous modernisation overlays (QR, NFC, mobile wallet integration) rather than wholesale replacement.

Sources

Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):

SA — SA-saudi-arabia.md