Cards Alone Won't Cut It: The Payment Methods MENA Merchants Need in 2026

Last updated: June 2026

A customer in Riyadh adds to cart, reaches your checkout, and finds only Visa and Mastercard. They wanted to pay with mada, or STC Pay, or split the cost with Tabby. They leave. You never see the abandoned cart as a payment problem, because the page loaded fine and nothing failed. But the sale was lost the moment your checkout failed to offer the method they intended to use.

This is now one of the most common ways Gulf merchants lose revenue, and it is getting more common every quarter. The way customers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia pay has shifted faster than most checkout pages have kept up with. Cards are no longer the default. Wallets, local schemes, instant bank rails and buy now, pay later have moved from nice-to-have to expected.

This guide breaks down which payment methods actually matter in 2026, method by method and market by market, so you can see exactly what belongs in your checkout for the UAE and KSA.

Summary: In 2026, merchants in the UAE should accept Visa and Mastercard, the local scheme Jaywan, the global wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), local wallets such as Careem Pay and Payit, BNPL through Tabby and Tamara, and increasingly instant account-to-account rails (Aani and Al Tareq). Merchants in Saudi Arabia must accept mada (which carries roughly 93% of card payments), alongside Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay, the leading local wallets led by STC Pay, BNPL through Tabby and Tamara, and the SARIE instant rail. The market-specific checklists are below.

Key Takeaways

• Digital wallets are overtaking cards. Wallet usage in the UAE's online retail is forecast to reach around 42% by 2027, overtaking credit cards, having already climbed from 41% of transactions in 2020 to 53% in 2024.

• Local card schemes are non-negotiable. mada accounts for roughly 93% of card payments in Saudi Arabia, and the UAE's domestic scheme Jaywan is now live. Skipping them means missing the majority of domestic card volume.

• The essential UAE stack and the essential KSA stack are different. What you must accept in Riyadh is not the same as what you must accept in Dubai. See the two market checklists below.

• BNPL is mainstream, not marginal. Tabby and Tamara have each grown to around 10 million users across the GCC, and BNPL usage in the UAE and KSA surged in 2024. For many baskets, it is the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.

• More methods mean more integrations to build and maintain. The practical challenge is no longer deciding what to accept, it is connecting and managing it all without a separate project per method.

The Shift

The Gulf is going cashless faster than almost anywhere. Saudi Arabia reached around 79% non-cash retail transactions by early 2025, ahead of its Vision 2030 interim target, and cash now accounts for less than a fifth of point-of-sale transactions in the UAE. Underneath that headline, the method mix is changing. Wallets are the fastest-growing category, instant account-to-account rails are scaling quickly, and BNPL has become a standard checkout option rather than a novelty. For a merchant, this means conversion is increasingly decided by whether you offer the specific method a customer reaches for, not by whether your checkout works.

What counts as an alternative payment method?

An alternative payment method (APM) is any way to pay that is not a traditional international credit or debit card. In MENA, the APM category covers four groups that matter to merchants:

• Local card schemes: national networks such as mada in Saudi Arabia, Jaywan in the UAE, KNET in Kuwait and BENEFIT in Bahrain.

  
  

• Digital wallets: global wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, alongside local wallets such as STC Pay, urpay, Careem Pay and Payit.

  
  

• Buy now, pay later (BNPL): instalment options such as Tabby and Tamara.

  
  

• Instant account-to-account rails: real-time bank payment systems such as Aani and Al Tareq in the UAE and SARIE in Saudi Arabia.

The rest of this guide takes each group in turn, then assembles them into a recommended stack for each market.

Local card schemes: the non-negotiable layer

Local schemes are often the single largest source of domestic card volume, and they typically carry lower processing fees than international networks. In several Gulf markets, they are not optional.

mada (Saudi Arabia). 

mada is the kingdom's national scheme and underpins the overwhelming majority of domestic card transactions, with roughly a 93% share of card payments. Any merchant selling in Saudi Arabia, online or in-store, has to accept mada. There is no version of a Saudi checkout that works without it.

Jaywan (UAE). 

Jaywan is the UAE's first domestic card scheme, launched in 2024 by Al Etihad Payments, a Central Bank of the UAE subsidiary. It offers debit, prepaid and credit cards that can be co-badged with Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay, and it carries lower processing fees than international networks. Adoption is still building, but as issuance scales, accepting Jaywan will become increasingly important for UAE businesses.

KNET (Kuwait) and BENEFIT (Bahrain). If you sell into Kuwait, KNET is essential: it accounts for the large majority of online card transactions there. In Bahrain, BENEFIT plays the equivalent role and also offers the BenefitPay wallet. Both are the primary domestic methods in their markets.

Digital wallets: the fastest-growing layer

Wallets are where the consumer shift is most visible. Industry forecasts from Worldpay put UAE online wallet usage on track to overtake credit cards by 2027. Treat wallets as two sub-groups.

Global wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay. 

These are table stakes across the Gulf. Apple Pay is widely used by higher-spending segments, and Google Pay rolled out nationwide in Saudi Arabia through mada integration in early 2025, expanding wallet choice for Android users. Supporting all three covers the bulk of device-based wallet demand and tends to lift conversion on mobile, where most Gulf commerce now happens.

Local wallets. This is where market knowledge pays off, because the leading local wallet differs by country.

• Saudi Arabia: STC Pay, urpay, mada Pay. STC Pay is the clear market leader, with a user base in the region of 10 million, and it has grown into a licensed digital bank. urpay, backed by Al Rajhi, has scaled quickly and extended into cross-border remittances. mada Pay provisions mada cards into a national wallet experience. For a Saudi checkout, STC Pay in particular is worth prioritising.

  
  

• UAE: Careem Pay, Payit, and the super-app wallets. Careem Pay has a strong reach through the Careem super-app, and bank-backed wallets such as Payit are widely held. These local wallets sit alongside the global three rather than replacing them.

  
  

Buy now, pay later: now a mainstream expectation

BNPL has moved from the margins to the middle of the Gulf checkout. Tabby and Tamara have each grown to roughly 10 million users across the GCC, and BNPL usage in the UAE and Saudi Arabia rose sharply through 2024. For mid-value and higher-value baskets, especially in fashion, electronics and travel, offering an instalment option is frequently the deciding factor between a completed sale and an abandoned cart. Both Tabby and Tamara operate across the UAE and KSA, which makes them the default BNPL pair for most Gulf merchants. You can read more about BNPL in our article on BNPL in MENA.

Instant account-to-account rails: the settlement story

Real-time bank rails are the newest layer, and the one most merchants have not yet built into checkout. Their immediate value is on the settlement and cash-flow side, though direct checkout use is emerging.

• UAE: Aani and Al Tareq. Aani, the UAE's national instant payment platform, lets customers move money in real time using a mobile number, email or QR code, and it captured a meaningful share of domestic transfers within months of launch. Al Tareq is a live, Open Finance-powered A2A rail, built on NymCard's licensed infrastructure, designed specifically for consumer-to-merchant payments: it moves funds directly from a customer's bank account to the merchant in real time, with instant settlement and lower transaction fees than cards. For merchants, both point toward faster settlement, but Al Tareq can now be added to checkouts as a payment method rather than merely used for general transfers.

  
  

• Saudi Arabia: SARIE. The kingdom's instant payment system processed hundreds of millions of transfers worth trillions of riyals in 2024, growing more than 40% year on year. Like Aani and AlTareq, its near-term merchant benefit is faster settlement and improved working capital.

  
  

Account-to-account transaction values across MENA are forecast to keep growing at double-digit rates through 2027, so this is a layer to plan for now even if it is not yet your highest checkout priority.

International cards: still essential, no longer sufficient

Visa and Mastercard remain important, particularly for higher-value purchases, older demographics and cross-border shoppers. Around 17% of Visa purchase volume in the UAE in 2024 came from international sellers, so multi-currency card acceptance still matters. The change is not that cards have stopped mattering. It is that cards alone now leave significant domestic volume on the table.

The essential stack, market by market

Use these two checklists as a starting reference for what belongs in a 2026 checkout in each market. Priority reflects share of domestic volume and customer expectation, not the difficulty of integration.

United Arab Emirates

Method	Type	Why it matters	Priority
Visa, Mastercard	International cards	Core acceptance, cross-border, higher-value baskets	Essential
Jaywan	Local card scheme	Domestic scheme, lower fees, growing issuance	Growing
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay	Global wallets	Fastest-growing category, mobile-first conversion	Essential
Careem Pay, Payit	Local wallets	Strong local reach via super-app and bank wallets	High
Tabby, Tamara	BNPL	Standard expectation for mid and high-value baskets	High
Aani, Al Tareq	Instant A2A	Instant settlement, lower fees; Al Tareq is built for checkout	Plan for

Saudi Arabia

Method	Type	Why it matters	Priority
mada	Local card scheme	Roughly 93% of card payments, non-negotiable	Essential
Visa, Mastercard	International cards	Higher-value baskets, cross-border, certain segments	Essential
Apple Pay, Google Pay	Global wallets	Widely used, Google Pay live nationwide via mada	Essential
STC Pay, urpay, mada Pay	Local wallets	STC Pay is the market leader; local wallets drive conversion	High
Tabby, Tamara	BNPL	Standard expectation, strong KSA adoption	High
SARIE	Instant A2A	Faster settlement and improved working capital	Plan for

How to prioritise if you cannot add everything at once

Few teams can switch on every method in one go. A sensible sequence:

1. Start with the non-negotiables for your market. mada for Saudi Arabia, the international card pair everywhere, and the domestic scheme where relevant.

2. Add the global wallets next. Apple Pay and Google Pay deliver the broadest conversion lift for the least friction, because most Gulf commerce is now mobile.

3. Layer in the leading local wallet. STC Pay in Saudi Arabia, Careem Pay or Payit in the UAE.

4. Add BNPL where your basket values justify it. Tabby and Tamara together cover both markets.

5. Plan for instant rails. Build Aani and SARIE into your settlement and refund roadmap, ahead of full checkout adoption.

Let your own data refine this. If your analytics show declines or drop-offs concentrated among a particular customer segment, that is usually a signal that a method they expect is missing.

Common mistakes

Treating wallets as a single switch. Apple Pay, Google Pay and the local wallets each reach different customers. Offering one is not the same as offering the category.

Ignoring local schemes to keep the checkout simple. A cleaner checkout that omits mada or KNET is not simpler, it is incomplete because it cannot serve the majority of domestic card users.

Adding methods without measuring them. Each method should earn its place. Track conversion and approval by method so you can see what is working and prune what is not.

Forgetting the integration burden. Every method added the traditional way is another integration to build, certify and maintain. This is the practical constraint that catches teams out, and it is worth planning for before you start adding methods one by one.

Frequently asked questions

Which payment methods do I need to accept in the UAE? At a minimum: Visa and Mastercard, the global wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), and the leading local wallets such as Careem Pay and Payit. Add Tabby and Tamara for BNPL, and the domestic scheme Jaywan as its issuance grows. On the instant account-to-account side, Aani and Al Tareq are worth planning for, with Al Tareq built specifically for taking real-time bank payments at checkout.

Which payment methods do I need to accept in Saudi Arabia? mada is non-negotiable, as it accounts for roughly 93% of card payments. Beyond that: Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay and Google Pay, the leading local wallets led by STC Pay, and BNPL through Tabby and Tamara. SARIE is the instant rail to plan for.

What is the most popular digital wallet in Saudi Arabia? STC Pay is the market leader, with a user base in the region of 10 million, followed by wallets such as urpay. mada Pay provisions mada cards into a wallet experience, and Apple Pay and Google Pay are both widely used.

Is mada or Jaywan required by law? They are not framed as universal legal mandates, but in practical terms accepting the domestic scheme is necessary to serve the domestic market. mada represents the large majority of card payments in Saudi Arabia, and Jaywan is the UAE's growing domestic equivalent. Omitting them means losing access to most domestic card volume.

What is the most popular payment method in Saudi Arabia? For cards, mada is dominant, carrying roughly 93% of card payments in the kingdom. For digital wallets, STC Pay leads, with Apple Pay and Google Pay widely used (Google Pay launched nationwide through mada in early 2025). For instant transfers, SARIE has scaled rapidly. In practice, a Saudi checkout needs mada and at least one major wallet to cover most customers.

What are the best payment methods for an e-commerce store in the UAE? A UAE e-commerce store should prioritise, in order: Visa and Mastercard, the global wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), the local wallets (Careem Pay, Payit), and BNPL through Tabby and Tamara, then add the domestic scheme Jaywan as issuance grows and plan for instant A2A rails (Aani and Al Tareq). Wallets are the fastest-growing category and tend to deliver the largest conversion lift on mobile, where most UAE commerce now happens.

Do I need to offer BNPL? For low-value baskets, it may not move the needle. For mid and high-value purchases in categories such as fashion, electronics and travel, BNPL through Tabby and Tamara is now a standard expectation in the UAE and KSA and frequently determines whether a basket converts.

How do I add all these methods without building a separate integration for each one? This is the practical challenge, and it is the main reason merchants adopt a payment orchestration layer. Rather than integrating, certifying and maintaining each method and provider separately, orchestration lets you connect once and switch methods on or off through a single integration. See the next section.

Single, No-code Orchestration Layer

The hard part of the 2026 checkout is no longer knowing what to accept. This guide has set that out. The hard part is operational: every method added the traditional way is another integration to build, certify, monitor and maintain, and the list keeps growing. This is why a growing number of Gulf merchants connect their payment methods through a payment orchestration layer, which lets them add or remove methods and providers through one integration rather than running a separate project for each. If you want to understand how that works and how to evaluate it, our guide on choosing a payment orchestration platform covers the criteria in detail.

This guide is published by Apaya, a payment orchestration platform built for MENA merchants. It is intended as a vendor-neutral resource for payments and eCommerce teams. If you want to talk through which methods to prioritise for the UAE or Saudi Arabia, book a conversation with our team.