The Middle East is the fastest-growing real-time payments market globally, for the second consecutive year.
All six Gulf Cooperation Council states now operate a real-time payments program as part of a government drive towards a cashless and financially inclusive society. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading the charge with strategic initiatives like Saudi Vision 2030, and the UAE’s National Digital Transformation Strategy.
The region saw a remarkable year-on-year growth of 33.6% in 2023 with 855 million real-time payment transactions, which is projected to grow to 3 billion by 2028, representing a CAGR of 28.8%.
The implementation of real-time payments schemes has seen businesses and consumers experience tangible benefits that are creating a new and transformative era of financial diversity and growth opportunities.
In our recent whitepaper, we revealed many of the reasons behind the massive growth in the adoption of real time payments in APAC, and why this growth is set to continue here and in the Middle East and Africa (MEA).
We also highlighted the vital significance of real-time payments monitoring to help simplify the complexity of globally emerging real-time payments systems.
Africa is emerging as another one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for real-time payments adoption.
This shift is not only boosting economic growth but also enabling more people, including those previously part of an unbanked population, to participate in the formal economy.
The modernization of payments is happening across the continent, with entrepreneurs, fintechs, financial service providers, and central banks reshaping the payments landscape with innovative financial services and digital solutions.
These sweeping changes are set to benefit not only consumers and businesses, but ultimately, national economies.
What’s driving the changes?
The core foundations of data, technology and connectivity, are changing the world of payments and liquidity, and supporting the transition to real-time treasury management.
A key factor in the rapid implementation of real-time payments schemes is that MEA corporations may have an advantage over those in more developed markets, who remain burdened with legacy technology.
MEA clients who don’t have the problem of outdated systems can seamlessly adopt new technologies, moving directly to cloud-based systems, rather than on-premises solutions.
Potentially, this means they can implement real-time systems instead of relying on interim day-to-day liquidity management.
Forward-thinking MEA organizations are investing in technologies that enable real-time information processing and payment decisions across their organizations.
The need for real-time payments monitoring
Burgeoning real-time payments infrastructures in MEA and African countries have highlighted the need for advanced monitoring solutions to ensure secure and efficient system operation.
The increase in fraud and financial crimes
With the introduction of new systems, and the instantaneous nature of real-time payments, there is less time to mitigate risks, making transactions more vulnerable to financial fraud, including phishing, account takeovers and other security breaches. Monitoring is vital to detect and mitigate risk in real time.
Regulatory concerns
Governments in MEA are tightening requirements for anti-money-laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. Real-time payments monitoring helps financial institutions comply with these regulations by tracking transactions and flagging suspicious activity.
Cross-border payment growth
Many MEA countries are hubs for remittances and significant cross-border payment flows.
For example, GCC countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE facilitate large remittances to South Asia and Africa, while Africa now has strong intra-regional and international remittance flows through mobile money platforms. Monitoring systems are crucial to ensure compliance with international standards and spotting anomalies in cross-border transactions.
Expansion of digital wallets and mobile money
The Middle East is seeing huge growth in digital wallets like STC Pay and PayBy. Africa is a leader in mobile money adoption with platforms like M-Pesa, Palm Pay and Orange Money, enabling instant payments, but operational failures and fraud are the downsides to faster payment systems.
Advanced real time monitoring solutions can help to detect failures, pinpoint the exact point of these failures, and keep systems functional and safe.
Technological advancements
As the MEA regions move away from cash payments towards financial digital transformation, new real-time payments technology is becoming more complex. Banks and financial institutions are seeing the need to deploy high-end payments monitoring solutions, and the inclusion of solutions featuring AI, machine learning and predictive analytics are gaining momentum in MEA.
Real-time payments are becoming more and more crucial for managing liquidity and working capital for businesses and consumers in less prosperous or technologically immature countries.
Monitoring real-time payments provides end-to-end observability and granular insights throughout entire payment ecosystems, keeping them secure, efficient and scalable.
