A transfer made from a phone can be routine for the sender and consequential for the person waiting to receive it. That everyday need is part of the market Visa is targeting as it expands access to Visa Direct through Saudi financial institutions.
Visa is expanding access to Visa Direct in Saudi Arabia through a network that includes alrajhi bank, Alinma Bank and Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB). The service allows participating banks, fintech companies and payment providers to facilitate domestic and cross-border transfers to eligible cards, bank accounts and digital wallets.
Visa said its Direct card transaction volume in Saudi Arabia rose more than 50% year over year.
Banks Extend the Network
The announcement describes an expansion of access across participating institutions, rather than a single new service launching simultaneously at all three banks.
Alrajhi bank’s relationship with Visa Direct predates this week’s announcement. In an earlier statement, the bank described an agreement to add transfers directly to bank accounts in more than 30 countries, building on a previous service for transfers to eligible Visa cards. The bank identified India, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal among the corridors covered by that rollout.
Customers may be able to send money to a recipient’s eligible card or directly to a bank account, depending on the service their bank offers. Visa Direct supports multiple types of transfer.
The broader shift toward electronic payments is visible in Saudi Central Bank figures. SAMA reported that electronic payments accounted for 85% of retail payments in 2025, up from 79% in 2024.
What Remitters Told Visa
Alongside the network update, Visa released findings from its Money Travels: 2026 Digital Remittances Adoption Study. Morning Consult surveyed 1,117 adults in Saudi Arabia between February 24 and March 2 as part of research across 20 international markets. The survey findings describe respondents’ reported behavior and experiences; they are separate from Visa’s transaction-volume data.
According to Visa, eight in 10 remitters in Saudi Arabia make remittance transactions multiple times a year. Fifty-four percent use online banking or a bank’s mobile app to send remittances. Together, the findings point to a service that many respondents use repeatedly and often access through a familiar banking channel.
The reasons behind those transfers are personal as well as practical. Forty-five percent of respondents cited family and cultural obligations as their primary reason for sending or receiving money internationally, Visa said. The wording covers both directions of a transfer; describing that figure solely as a reason for sending money would narrow the finding beyond what Visa reported.
Growth With Questions Still Open
Visa’s transaction growth and survey findings help explain why payment providers are investing in ways to move money across borders. They do not, on their own, show what an individual transfer will cost, how quickly it will arrive or which destinations each participating bank supports. Those details are most useful at the point where a customer chooses a provider and checks a specific transfer.
Ali Bailoun, Visa’s senior vice president and group general manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, said: “As digital adoption continues to accelerate across Saudi Arabia where consumers increasingly expect sending and receiving money to be a seamless as making a payment, we are working closely with banks, fintechs, and payment providers to expand access to trusted money movement solutions. The continued growth of Visa Direct reflects both the strength of our infrastructure and the increasing demand for faster, more secure, and more convenient ways to move money.”
The Saudi Central Bank’s retail-payments data provides useful context, but international transfers have their own requirements. A person sending money abroad may need to consider the available destination, the recipient’s preferred way to receive it and the terms presented by the sending institution.
