“Can a MENA retail franchise operator build a loyalty-and-payments super-layer across 70+ brands to monetise its 4,000-store customer base beyond the transaction?”
Founded in 1890 as a family trading enterprise in Kuwait, Alshaya Group evolved into one of the world's largest franchise operators, licensing and operating global retail brands across MENA, Turkey, and Europe. In recent years it has shifted toward deeper digital and embedded finance integration — partnering with Checkout.com for modern payment infrastructure across its 4,000+ stores and digital channels, launching co-branded credit cards with Mastercard under its Aura loyalty programme, and engaging digital banking partnerships in Kuwait. The embedded finance layer is being used primarily to drive loyalty, acceptance rates, and customer monetisation across its franchise retail footprint rather than to become a financial services provider in its own right.
Alshaya Group processes payments through Checkout.com.
Alshaya Group's cards run on Mastercard.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Alshaya Group's stack: Payments / PSP (Checkout.com); Card network (Mastercard).
Alshaya Group is founded in 1890 and headquartered in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Alshaya Group and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.