The Central Bank of Saudi Arabia announced today (Sunday) that the Kingdom surpassed and recorded the highest rate of adoption of payments through Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, achieving 94% at the level of the European Union, Hong Kong, Canada and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
The Bank explained that the Kingdom’s advance over these countries is part of the Bank’s strategic vision, which was launched from the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program, which seeks to promote electronic payment and reduce cash transactions. Reach the percentage of electronic payments to 70% of total payments by 2025.
And he indicated that the payments were adopted through near field communication technology and have been implemented in the field since 2016, after guaranteeing the level of security, and the emergence of international standards for the same, noting that it has been developed the infrastructure for this and the standard specifications and standards have been developed that allow everyone to use them.
He pointed out that there are several factors that have contributed to the rapid growth of payments through this technology in the Kingdom, at the forefront: the increase of the allowed amounts from 100 riyals to 300 riyals, making it possible to pay through the use of smart devices. , and the decision of the National Anti-Concealment Program to oblige all commercial activities to provide point devices.
The Central Bank confirmed that public transport projects and the Riyadh metro project will be based on near-field communication technology in the implementation of payment operations, a step that makes the Kingdom’s public transport system dependent on the latest payment technologies.
The leadership of the Kingdom came according to a study prepared by “Saudi Payments” in association with the international company Visa, and included the European Union, Canada, Hong Kong and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, where the percentage of dependence on technology in the European Union reached 80%, followed by Hong Kong with 79%, Canada with 76%, while the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait each got 81%.