The Saudi Central Bank has licensed DaftarPay to operate as a Buy Now, Pay Later provider, adding another player to one of the Gulf’s fastest-growing consumer finance segments and pushing the Kingdom’s total roster of licensed finance companies to 76.
A Widening BNPL Field
The approval reinforces the central bank’s ongoing push to deepen Saudi Arabia’s financial ecosystem and encourage innovation across the financing sector. Regulators have framed the decision as part of a broader strategy to support the financing industry, improve the efficiency and flexibility of financial transactions, and expand access to innovative financial products for consumers who might otherwise sit outside the formal banking system.
DaftarPay now enters a market already shaped by established BNPL names that have used regulatory approvals to move beyond simple short-term instalment plans and toward broader financial services offerings.
Why Regulators Keep Saying Yes
Saudi Arabia’s consumer finance sector has expanded briskly as the central bank accelerates licensing of new financial institutions, a pace consistent with Vision 2030’s push for greater competition, innovation, and financial inclusion. Buy Now, Pay Later services have found particular traction among younger, digitally native shoppers who favour flexible payment structures over traditional credit.
Under the rules governing BNPL activity in the Kingdom, licensed companies must operate as joint stock entities with a minimum capital base and are subject to caps on how much any single consumer can owe at once, limits on instalment counts, and requirements around electronic collection methods, data protection, and anti-money laundering controls.
A Market Set to Nearly Double
Industry analysts have pointed to the underlying growth story driving this wave of approvals. Saudi Arabia’s BNPL market is projected to expand from roughly $1.4 billion in 2024 to about $2.8 billion by 2029, a compound annual growth rate of more than 10%. That trajectory has made the segment attractive both to fintech entrants and to the regulator, which appears intent on widening the field of licensed operators rather than concentrating the market among a handful of early movers.
What Comes Next for DaftarPay
With its license now secured, DaftarPay joins a competitive but still-expanding field of BNPL operators serving Saudi consumers and merchants. The company will need to build out compliance infrastructure, credit evaluation systems, and consumer protection safeguards in line with the central bank’s rules before scaling transaction volumes. For merchants and shoppers alike, the addition of another licensed BNPL provider signals continued diversification in how Saudi consumers pay for goods and services online, at a moment when digital wallets, instalment financing, and mobile-first shopping are reshaping the Kingdom’s retail landscape.
