Coverage: weekly note · Information to 15 April 2026
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TGB Weekly Research Note · 15 April 2026
Central-bank rails grew in 2025: Saudi e-payments reached 85% of retail payments on the back of mada, and Aani transfers in the UAE rose sixfold.
The desk view
In Saudi Arabia, electronic payments accounted for 85% of retail payments in 2025, against 79% in 2024, and SAMA credited the gain to higher volumes through mada, alongside sustained growth in the other national systems. In the UAE, Aani, launched in October 2023 with 10 participants, reported more than 12.5 million users and 74 connected institutions in April 2026. In Egypt, the Instant Payment Network passed 16 million users by June 2025. In each case the central bank or a central-bank subsidiary runs the rail.
Saudi Arabia: a mature rail in a card-led system
SAMA launched the sarie instant payment system on 20 February 2021, with a fee not exceeding one riyal and instant credit for transfers below SAR 20,000. In 2025 the national payment systems handled 14.6 billion electronic transactions, up from 12.6 billion, an increase of about 15.9%. The e-payments share rose 6 percentage points to 85%.
SAMA, however, credited the 2025 result to higher transaction volumes through mada, the national scheme behind mada cards, particularly at the point of sale and in e-commerce, alongside sustained growth in the other national systems. SAMA operates the national rails mada, SADAD and sarie, and licensed non-bank fintechs can connect directly to all three. SAMA has named Pay by Account, interoperable QR and expanded sarie features as next steps.
Saudi e-payments share of retail payments, %
Source: Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), via BIS central bankers' speeches, Keynote speech at Money20/20 Middle East, Riyadh, 16 September 2025 (Assistant Governor for Executive Affairs), 12 November 2025; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), SAMA: E-Payments Account for 79% of Total Retail Payments in 2024, 15 April 2025; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), SAMA: E-Payments Account for 85% of Total Retail Payments in 2025, 12 April 2026.
UAE: Aani's take-off year
Aani's operator, a CBUAE subsidiary, reported a sixfold year-on-year rise in transfers and average monthly growth of 10% through 2025. Some 774,000 merchants have adopted the platform as a primary payment solution, with account-to-account payments completing in no more than three seconds on average. Cross-border payments, direct debit, e-cheques and business-to-business payments are planned. Merchant adoption is the more telling indicator, because it brings Aani into competition with card payments at the till.
Egypt: inclusion and remittances on one network
Egypt's IPN, launched on 22 March 2022, links all operating banks. InstaPay users rose from more than 11.5 million in December 2024 to more than 16 million by June 2025, an increase of roughly 4.5 million. In December 2024 the CBE licensed several banks to credit inbound remittances to customers' accounts instantly through the network, after a pilot launched in June 2024. The financial inclusion rate reached 77.6% by the end of 2025.
Three national rails compared
| Country | Rail | Launched | Latest reported users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | sarie | February 2021 | n/a |
| UAE | Aani | October 2023 | 12.5 million (April 2026) |
| Egypt | IPN/InstaPay | March 2022 | 16 million (June 2025) |
Source: Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), Saudi Central Bank Launches the Instant Payment System "sarie", 20 February 2021; Al Etihad Payments (subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE), Aani - Instant Payments Platform: Redefining UAE's Financial Landscape, 21 April 2024; Al Etihad Payments (subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE), Aani Delivers a Transformational Leap in the UAE's Digital Payments Landscape: 12.5 Million Users and Instant Transfers in 3 Seconds, 10 April 2026; Central Bank of Egypt, Instant Payment Network (IPN), 2 February 2025; Central Bank of Egypt, Opening remarks of the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt at the 12th PAFIX conference (Arabic), 17 November 2025.
What it means for banks
Low-cost, always-on public rails compress the economics of plain transfers and push banks towards request-to-pay, merchant services and data-led products. Saudi figures cover all national systems, while UAE and Egyptian figures describe a single rail, so direct comparison should be avoided.
What to watch
- 2026–2030: CBE's second financial inclusion strategy, now under development.
Primary sources: Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), SAMA: E-Payments Account for 85% of Total Retail Payments in 2025, 12 April 2026; Al Etihad Payments (subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE), Aani Delivers a Transformational Leap in the UAE's Digital Payments Landscape: 12.5 Million Users and Instant Transfers in 3 Seconds, 10 April 2026; Central Bank of Egypt, Availing Inbound Remittances to Customers' Bank Accounts Instantly, 5 December 2024; Central Bank of Egypt, Opening remarks of the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt at the 12th PAFIX conference (Arabic), 17 November 2025; Al Etihad Payments (subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE), Aani - Instant Payments Platform: Redefining UAE's Financial Landscape, 21 April 2024; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), via BIS central bankers' speeches, Keynote speech at Money20/20 Middle East, Riyadh, 16 September 2025 (Assistant Governor for Executive Affairs), 12 November 2025; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), Saudi Central Bank Launches the Instant Payment System "sarie", 20 February 2021; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), SAMA Announces the Launch of Google Pay Service in Saudi Arabia, 15 September 2025; Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), SAMA: E-Payments Account for 79% of Total Retail Payments in 2024, 15 April 2025; Central Bank of Egypt, Instant Payment Network (IPN), 2 February 2025; Central Bank of Egypt, The Central Bank of Egypt Formulates the Second Financial Inclusion Strategy (2026-2030), 17 February 2026.