Mada
“Can a central-bank-operated national card scheme remain the default payment rail in Saudi Arabia as global PSPs and digital wallets expand in the Kingdom?”
Founded1990
HQRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
FoundersSaudi Central Bank (SAMA)
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments
The story
Mada is the Saudi national payment network operated by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), not a fintech startup. It is the mandatory domestic card and POS routing layer used by all banks in the Kingdom, serving 17,000+ ATMs and 225,000+ POS terminals. Its 'embedded finance' role is as the underlying rails that other PSPs (Checkout.com, etc.) integrate with to acquire payments in Saudi Arabia.
Last 12 months
—
Product timeline
1990
Established by Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) as SPAN, the national payment switch.· banking
2015
Rebranded from SPAN to Mada.· pivot
2019
Checkout.com becomes first international PSP to accept Mada online payments, processing a live transaction for Flyin.com.· banking
Regulated entities
National payment network (operated by central bank)
Saudi Arabia · 1990
Saudi Payments Network (Mada)
The stack
Payments / PSP
Banking / BaaS
Sponsor bank
Accounting gap: none