Open Banking & Payment Orchestration: The Future of Payments in MENA

Open Banking Is Redefining Payments

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is entering a new era of digital payments. With Open Banking and Open Finance frameworks being introduced by regulators like the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the way businesses and consumers move money is evolving fast.  

Bahrain has led the way since 2019, becoming the first market in the region to launch Open Banking. Today, initiatives across the GCC remain focused primarily on domestic transactions, for example, UAE bank account to UAE bank account, but the potential for cross-border interoperability is significant. Achieving this, however, will require early alignment and standardization across regional regulators and financial institutions.  

As of 2025, the GCC’s Open Banking transaction value is projected to quadruple from around US $230 billion in 2023 to over US $930 billion by 2028, signalling both the scale of adoption and the urgency to build frameworks that support seamless, regional payment innovation (FinTechGalaxy, 2025).

For merchants, fintechs, and digital platforms, this change isn’t just about compliance, data or payments. It’s about unlocking new opportunities for revenue growth, cost efficiency, and customer experience by utilising the core assets of the bank. When combined with Payment Orchestration, Open Banking can help businesses scale faster while reducing friction at checkout. Payment orchestration enables the deployment of Open Banking within checkouts traditionally controlled by card-focused gateways, overcoming the limitations of “card-biased” providers tied to high scheme fees.  Open Banking ensures that it is only offered where it’s relevant, such as preventing a Qatari merchant from presenting UAE-specific bank payment options without a local entity or account. 

What is Open Banking? 

At its core, Open Banking enables secure, regulated access to bank accounts through APIs. Customers can authorize third-party providers (TPPs) e.g. Lean Payments, Nymcard, Volt, etc., to initiate payments or share financial data, without cards, manual transfers, or app switching. 

In the UAE, initiatives like AlTareq and Aani have laid the foundation for instant account-to-account (A2A) payments, creating faster and more secure alternatives to card networks. In Saudi Arabia, SAMA’s Open Banking framework is pushing similar innovation, accelerating adoption among banks and fintechs. 

For businesses, this means: 

• Faster, real-time settlement (vs. T+1 or T+3 card payments) 

• Lower costs, as intermediaries like card schemes are bypassed 

• Reduced fraud and chargebacks, thanks to bank-level authentication 

• Support for recurring, variable, and bulk payments 

Open Banking and Payment Orchestration are driving seamless payment experiences in MENA.

The Power of Payment Orchestration

While Open Banking creates the rails for innovation, many businesses face challenges integrating multiple payment types, service providers, and local regulations. This is where Payment Orchestration Platforms (POPs) like Apaya step in. 

Apaya helps merchants connect, optimize, and manage multiple payment methods, including Open Banking, wallets, cards, and 3DS, all through a single integration. 

By combining smart routing, a seamless checkout, and real-time monitoring, orchestration ensures every transaction flows through the most efficient, cost-effective, and reliable path. 

Think of it this way: 

• Open Banking provides the new payment rails. 

• Payment Orchestration ensures those rails connect seamlessly to your checkout, settlement, and reconciliation processes. 

“Open Banking isn’t just about access, it's about orchestrating trust, innovation, and scale across every transaction,” says Michael Tomlins, CEO at Apaya. 

Benefits for Merchants in MENA 

When Open Banking and Payment Orchestration come together, businesses can unlock: 

✅ Higher acceptance rates – Smart routing selects the best Third Party Providers (TPPs) or A2A rail for every transaction.  

✅ Cost savings – Lower fees than traditional cards, plus mitigation of chargeback risk.  

✅ Localized checkout experiences – Support for national rails like Aani in UAE or MADA in Saudi Arabia.  

✅ Scalable growth – Orchestration future-proofs your business as more banks across MENA adopt open finance and release their API to the fintech community. 

Real-World Use Cases 

1. E-commerce: Enable frictionless checkout with account-to-account payments that settle instantly. 

2. Subscriptions & Recurring Payments: Power variable recurring payments for utilities, telcos, and SaaS. 

3. Cross-Border Expansion: Optimize routing across local TPPs to support domestic payments, handle multiple currencies and settlement rules across MENA 

The Road Ahead 

Open Banking in MENA is still in its early stages, but adoption is accelerating. Businesses that prepare now by integrating Open Banking into their payment strategies, and managing complexity through orchestration, will be best positioned to win in this new era. 

At Apaya, we believe the future of payments in MENA is open, orchestrated, and merchant-first. 

Are you ready to harness Open Banking and Payment Orchestration? 

Book a demo with Apaya and discover how we can help you optimize costs, boost acceptance rates, and future-proof your payments strategy.