PhotonPay used the Seamless Middle East conference in Dubai to make its case that companies operating across the Gulf are being pushed toward a new treasury model: domestic payments are becoming near-instant, while cross-border settlement, foreign exchange and compliance processes must keep pace.
The payments company outlined its position during the September 2026 event at Dubai World Trade Centre, which drew more than 20,000 industry professionals and 750 exhibitors, according to Seamless Middle East organizers. PhotonPay said the combination of instant-payment systems, rising digital commerce and tougher transaction controls is changing how businesses manage cash across the region.
Its argument arrives as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia build payment infrastructure designed to move money in seconds rather than through batch-based banking schedules. That shift gives merchants and platforms faster access to funds, but also compresses the time available to reconcile payments, manage currency exposure and screen transactions.
UAE instant payments raise the speed benchmark
In the UAE, the central example is Aani, the national instant-payment platform operated by Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE. Al Etihad Payments said Aani had exceeded 12.5 million registered users by April 2026.
The service enables account-to-account transfers that average roughly three seconds, according to the platform’s published information. Such rails are increasingly becoming part of ordinary business cash movement, including supplier payments, refunds, payroll-related transfers and merchant settlements.
For companies that also pay overseas vendors or receive revenue in several currencies, fast local transfers can expose slower processes elsewhere in their financial operations. A business may collect dirhams in seconds but still face delays when converting funds, funding an overseas account or completing compliance checks for a cross-border payout.
PhotonPay described this gap as a treasury problem rather than simply a payments issue. Its proposed response combines accounts, foreign exchange, payment conversion and compliance functions in one operating system, though the company did not provide volume figures or client data for its UAE activity.
The company said its UAE expansion followed the receipt of a Category 3D license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority earlier in 2026. DFSA permissions are issued within the Dubai International Financial Centre, which operates under a separate financial-services regime from the wider UAE domestic market.
Saudi electronic payments reach 85% of retail transactions
Saudi Arabia’s payment data points to the scale of the region’s move away from cash-based retail activity. Saudi Central Bank indicators showed that electronic payments accounted for 85% of retail transactions in the Kingdom during 2025.
The figure reflects years of investment in card acceptance, digital wallets and instant-transfer systems, while also increasing the expectations placed on payment providers. Businesses serving Saudi consumers must handle high volumes of small, rapid transactions while maintaining transaction records and fraud controls that meet local requirements.
The commercial effects extend beyond checkout. When retailers, marketplaces and delivery platforms receive electronic payments more quickly, they can demand quicker merchant payouts and more frequent settlement cycles. That creates a larger operational burden for firms that need to pool revenue from multiple markets before paying suppliers, contractors or overseas partners.
Dubai Chamber of Commerce projected that the UAE e-commerce market would reach $9.2 billion in 2026. The chamber identified cross-border platforms as a major factor in that growth, placing payment conversion and international settlement closer to the core of online-commerce operations.
A marketplace selling into several Gulf states may therefore have to balance local payment preferences, multiple currencies, customer refunds and merchant disbursements within a shorter timeframe. Faster domestic rails reduce waiting periods for consumers and merchants, but can leave finance teams with less room to resolve data mismatches or liquidity gaps.
Regional links bring settlement and compliance closer together
The UAE’s payment connections are also expanding beyond its domestic systems. PhotonPay cited the country’s integration with AFAQ, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s regional payment-clearing arrangement, and Buna, the Arab Monetary Fund’s cross-border payment platform.
These networks are intended to make regional payments more direct and efficient, particularly for participating banks and financial institutions. Their development could reduce reliance on longer correspondent-banking chains for some intra-regional transfers, although the speed and availability of any payment continues to depend on the institutions and currencies involved.
Greater connectivity also places compliance controls directly inside payment operations. The Central Bank of the UAE and the Saudi Central Bank have strengthened expectations around anti-money-laundering controls, customer due diligence and ongoing transaction monitoring in recent years.
For payment firms, the practical challenge is screening and assessing transactions without turning faster payment systems into bottlenecks. Instant transfers are difficult to review after funds have moved, which makes customer verification, risk scoring and alert management more consequential before or during execution.
PhotonPay said its compliance framework is supported by more than 25 financial licenses globally and uses artificial intelligence-based monitoring. The company also said its platform offers a multi-asset wallet, 24-hour foreign-exchange functionality, on- and off-ramp services, and conversions involving more than 10 major currencies and digital assets.
Those services place PhotonPay among providers seeking to serve companies whose payment needs now span conventional currencies, digital assets and different regulatory jurisdictions. Its ability to gain traction will depend less on conference messaging than on whether it can deliver reliable settlement and compliance workflows under the UAE’s regulated financial-services framework.
The market conditions described in Dubai suggest that payment speed is becoming a baseline expectation across the Gulf. Companies moving funds between local collections, regional suppliers and international operations will face growing pressure to make their treasury systems as responsive as the payment rails their customers already use.
For deeper context on UAE payment evolution and regulation, explore how stablecoins became a real settlement tool.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not represent the views or financial advice of Toobit. We make no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information and shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from its use. Investing in digital assets involves risk; users should independently evaluate their financial situation and the risks involved. For further details, please consult our Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure.
