Money20/20 Middle East Brings Alipay+ and Tap to Pay to Saudi Arabia

Money20/20 Middle East wrapped up its three-day run in Riyadh with a set of payments moves that matter less as conference theatre and more as market access: SAMA confirmed Alipay+ acceptance for international visitors, and said Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone is coming to Saudi Arabia. For PSPs and merchants active in the Kingdom, the useful detail is that the regulator is now defining which payment rails can operate, while banks and networks build on top.

1. On the closing day of the event, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) confirmed that Alipay+ will now be accepted for international visitors in Saudi Arabia. The move follows a September 2025 agreement between SAMA and Ant International to bring Alipay+ onto the Kingdom’s national payment system, mada.
2. With acceptance enabled, merchants across Saudi Arabia can take cross-border QR payments from wallets linked to the Alipay+ network. Alipay+ says it connects more than 1.7 billion user accounts across partner wallets in dozens of markets, and its partner wallets have recently linked to Mastercard Wallet Pay global solutions portfolio, which expands interoperability further.
3. SAMA also announced plans to enable Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone in Saudi Arabia. That would let merchants accept contactless card and digital wallet payments directly on an iPhone, without extra hardware. In other words, another entry point for in-store acceptance is being standardised by the regulator, not improvised by individual providers.
4. The Saudi announcements came against a backdrop that should look familiar to anyone tracking this market: last year, Google Pay and Google Wallet went live in the Kingdom through Al Rajhi Bank and Riyad Bank. This year, the centre of gravity was different. SAMA was more often the headline than the launch partner, which tells you where market access decisions are being made.
5. Regional interoperability was also on display. On day two, the central bank governors of Saudi Arabia and Qatar processed the first cross-border card payment between the mada and HIMYAN networks live on stage. The agreement between SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank allows cardholders from each country to use th

For high-risk operators and their PSPs, the pattern is the point: Saudi Arabia is opening specific payment methods through regulator-led approvals, and Gulf interoperability is moving from policy language to live transactions. That changes the route to market for wallets, acquirers, and cross-border acceptance.