“Can Saudi Telecom Company's fintech arm become the dominant digital bank in Saudi Arabia by converting its existing mobile wallet user base into full-service Sharia-compliant banking customers?”
Founded in 2018 as stc pay, Saudi Arabia's first major e-wallet and fintech unicorn subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Company (stc). After years operating as a digital wallet with payments and remittance features, the company received a SAMA digital banking license and formally rebranded to STC Bank in 2024–2025. The pivot expanded product offerings from e-wallet and P2P transfers to full digital banking including savings accounts, Sharia-compliant credit cards, personal and SME financing, POS acquiring, and eCommerce gateways — positioning itself as Saudi Arabia's leading digital bank rather than a standalone payments app.
stc bank (STC Pay) discloses STC Bank (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
stc bank (STC Pay) does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through STC Bank (in-house).
stc bank (STC Pay) processes payments through STC Bank eCommerce Gateway (self-operated).
stc bank (STC Pay)'s cards are issued through STC Bank (in-house) on the Visa network.
stc bank (STC Pay)'s lending and capital products are provided by STC Bank (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 5 layers in stc bank (STC Pay)'s stack: Payments / PSP (STC Bank eCommerce Gateway (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (STC Bank (in-house)); Card issuing (STC Bank (in-house)); Card network (Visa); Lending (STC Bank (in-house), Personal financing (تمويل شخصي), Smart financing (تمويل سمارت), POS financing (تمويل نقاط البيع) and 2 others).
stc bank (STC Pay) is founded in 2018 and headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
stc bank (STC Pay) has raised $200M in total (latest round: unknown).
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