Has acquired 23% of the total number of POS Transactions 'Mada'
SAMA: Mada Atheer's operations have jumped 10 times since the beginning of 2018… and 753,5 Million riyals executed during October.
Recent statistics issued by Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) showed that the national payment network (Mada) made a growth of 44.9% in the volume of its operations to reach more than 826 million transactions since the beginning of this year compared to 570 million transactions in 2017. Point of-of-sale (POS) Mada have reached 189.3 Billion riyal compared to 163.4 billion riyal in last year with an increase of 16.3%. The statistics showed that the national payment system Mada recorded last October more than 95.9 million transactions throughout POS payments, cash withdrawals from ATMs and online payment compared to 88.5 million transactions last September with an increase of 8.3%, and 19.3 billion riyal during last month. In addition, the service Mada Atheer has witnessed a major jump in the volume of executed transactions since the beginning of this year and increased 10 times by the end of 2017 to record 22.1 million transactions compared to 2 million transactions in December 2017 with an increase of 978%. Mada Atheer executed operations reached 753.5 million riyal last October compared to 65.9 million riyal for December 2017 with a growth of 91.2%.
Mada Atheer service is one of a bundle services of Mada which allow Mada cardholders the safety, flexibility and velocity of electronic payment through NFC technology which allows cardholder to execute purchases that do not exceed 100 riyals only by passing the card on the POS reader, in addition to the option of adding password for more safety.
The service has witnessed a steady increase since its launch in October 2016 for what it provides of flexibility and velocity in executing low value transactions. Mada recorded an increase share of Mada's total operations, which accounted for 23% of operations during last October compared to 2.8% in for end of the last year. Atheer processed 115.6 million transactions at a total value of over SAR 4 billion in October, the report added
Recent development witnessed by the national payment network Mada have stimulated interest rates for its services and Mada Atheer in particular. This includes Mada-Pay service, which enables cardholders to make payments for purchases worth no more than 100 riyals for the single purchase through smart devices with Android-operating system via a specific application that featured with the highest security standards and protection. The application enables cardholders issued by banks, whether it is related to the current account or credit, to save their bankcards on one application on their smartphones and pay through it at shops by passing the mobile on the supported POS devices. These developments are parts of SAMA'S efforts to meet the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program, which is one of the main programs of the Kingdom vision 2030 in an initiative towards a non-monetary society.
