What is Mada? Mada Review

Mada (The Mada debit card) is similar to UnionPay and is the most widely used payment network in Saudi Arabia. Its predecessor was the Saudi payment network SPAN. In 2015, Saudi Arabia developed a new generation of electronic payment services and upgraded SPAN to "Mada". The purpose of Mada card is to reduce consumers' dependence on cash payments.

About Mada

The Mada debit card is issued by a local bank and can be used for online transactions before, but its use is limited and can only be used to pay for water and electricity bills and government fees. Saudi Arabia still mainly relies on cash payments. In 2017, in order to promote the habit of shopping with credit cards, the government imposed severe penalties on stores that refused to accept credit card payments.

On March 21, 2018, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) announced that starting from April 1, banks legally operating in the country will be allowed to provide online transaction services to Mada card holders. All Mada card holders can shop online, and all e-commerce companies in Saudi Arabia will open Mada card payment channels.

According to official data from SAMA in 2018, there are 29 million Madacards in circulation in Saudi Arabia. Madacard usage increased by 31.65% in 2017 compared to 2016, with a total of 177.36 billion transactions, compared to 134.32 billion in 2016.

significance

Mada is the new identity of SPAN, representing Saudi Arabia’s innovative new generation of electronic payments, designed to drive ATMS and POS growth with unprecedented flexibility, speed, security and acceptance.

Through an advanced network of electronic payment technologies, Mada will reconnect ATMs and e-commerce locations across the Kingdom and conduct financial transactions through these cards in seconds through a central system, connecting local, regional and global, providing cardholders with a wider range of domestic and international usage.

advantage

1. The maximum capacity is 7 times that of the previous generation.

2. Unprecedented processing speed and performance efficiency.

3. Wider scope of use.

4. High general acceptance.

5. Provide other protection and safety standards.

Mada Pay

In 2018, VISA and Saudi Arabia's local payment network Mada launched the Android-based NFC payment application Mada Pay, which is the first mobile payment solution in Saudi Arabia. VISA credit and debit cards issued by Saudi Arabia, as well as dual-branded cards issued by Visa and Mada, can be bound to Mada Pay and used for payment on Visa contactless terminals.

Mada Pay payment application uses Visa's Token service, replacing the physical card number with a 16-digit tokenized number to ensure transaction security. It can be seen that Mada Pay launched by Visa and Mada uses the HCE+Token solution, and all Android phones with NFC function can use this application for contactless payment.