Payments as a product: Elevating customer experience beyond instant payments in the Middle East

As payments modernization efforts continue to accelerate across the global financial services sector, the Middle East is quickly emerging as a stand-out when it comes to instant payments adoption. In fact, it has been anticipated that the digital payments market will have a?6.5 percent CAGR between 2020 to 2025?in the region.

Heightened real-time payment activity has been particularly concentrated in Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), with the former projected to become the leader in consumer adoption, and the latter continuing to represent the largest instant payments market by transaction volume. Following closely behind is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose recent implementation of the National Payment Systems Strategy (NPSS) is expected to significantly accelerate the adoption of real-time payments in the country over the coming months.

However, while instant payments growth in the Middle East appears to be a net positive for consumers, it also poses considerable challenges to banks and financial institutions operating in the region. More specifically, in addition to achieving real-time capabilities, banks face the dual responsibility of establishing additional revenue streams while creating novel value for customers beyond the realm of instant payments.

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