Cash use is witnessing a decline around the world, with digital wallets, credit and debit cards, and buy-now-pay-later solutions substituting physical money.
are forecasted to increase by around 450 billion U.S. dollars between 2021 and 2026. The United Arab Emirates is no exception to this trend, with c
among consumers. The country's
was Visa, followed by Mastercard.
Digital payments market
The growth in the digital payment sector in the country is driven by a very high internet penetration rate, a fintech boom, and a stable economy. The UAE's transition to a cashless society was accelerated in 2020 and is expected to become fully cashless by 2030. This is also mirrored with POS payments, where cash use has declined at a fast pace, as opposed to
credit cards, which have almost doubled in market share since 2019. Besides credit cards, mobile wallets have gained huge massive popularity in recent years. Take the example of klip, an
e-wallet that is expected to dominate the mobile wallets market in the UAE by 2025. Klip is part of a nationwide initiative to replace physical cash with digital payments, rolled out by several financial institutions, including the Central Bank and the UAE Banks Federation.
BNPL in the UAE
The buy now, pay later model is witnessing fast growth, although it is still in its early stages. In 2022, the
market share of BNPL in domestic e-commerce payments was less than the global average. Emirati BNPL providers such as PostPay, Cashew, Spotii, and Tabby compete with regional providers such as Saudi Arabia's Tamara.
More than seven percent of websites offered Klarna as a BNPL solution. The BNPL segment is projected to continue growing in the e-commerce sector.
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