Mastercard partners with Geidea to expand access to world-class payment solutions in Saudi Arabia

• Through the partnership with Mastercard, Geidea will now operate a direct and third-party issuer offering access to BIN sponsorship

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 17 July 2023: Mastercard has partnered with Geidea to offer consumers and businesses greater access to advanced card and payment solutions.

Through Mastercard, Geidea will extend its range of services and products, operating as an issuer. As part of the agreement, Geidea will leverage Mastercard’s leading-edge technology to issue BIN ranges and enable consumers, merchants and fintechs across the Kingdom to benefit from innovative payment solutions.

The partnership will contribute to the advancement of Geidea and Mastercard’s digital enablement ecosystems through the creation of a diverse selection of BIN Sponsorship offerings. Underlining both entities’ commitment to transforming the Kingdom into a hub of innovation, the agreement will also lead to greater fintech enablement across the country and wider region, bolstering the Saudi and MENA digital economies.

“At Mastercard we leverage technologies to modernize and deliver innovative solutions that unlock the true potential of inclusive growth and bring more people into the digital economy. Our multi-rail expertise and expanding suite of programs and services designed to enable the fintech ecosystem to build, launch and grow. Together with Geidea, we will empower consumers, merchants and fintechs to take full advantage of state-of-the-art payment solutions,” said Adam Jones, Country General Manager, MENA Central.

“As a company fully committed to making payments and commerce technology accessible, affordable and intuitive for everyone, we are delighted to have joined forces with Mastercard to empower Saudi merchants, fintechs and the Kingdom’s startup community.  In line with our work to support merchants of all types and sizes with the tools to start, manage and grow their business, our advanced card solutions will prime more local enterprises for success, enabling them to experience the full benefits of innovative payment solutions” said, Laurent Dhaeyer, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Geidea.

This new partnership builds on previous collaborations between Geidea and Mastercard. It follows a strategic agreement launched in 2021 paving the way for Geidea to accept Mastercard payments on its novel Tap-on-Phone solution in Saudi Arabia — the first such agreement to be signed in the Middle East and North Africa. Geidea is the first fintech company to roll out this contactless payment acceptance technology across the Kingdom, which will enable businesses to use smartphones as payment acceptance devices.

The Geidea network provides best-in-class payment and e-commerce solutions to more than 300,000 merchants – covering 800,000 payment terminals within the Kingdom.