Digital merchants selling cross-border into the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region will need to consider emerging payment methods if they are to meet customers’ needs, according to a recent report from Mastercard. The payment network’s New Payments Index 2022 released its data for the MENA region and found 85 percent of consumers there used at least one emerging payment method (e.g., mobile wallets, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), payment-enabled wearable, biometrically authenticated, etc.).
Mastercard found cash use continues to dwindle while nearly two-thirds of respondents (compared to 61 percent globally) increased their use of at least one digital payment including digital cards, SMS payments, digital money transfer apps and instant payment services.
BNPL is finding just as much favor with consumers in the MENA region as it is in many other geographies, with nearly 80 percent indicating they are familiar with the concept and 45 percent using it already.
Most consumers in the MENA region are open to direct account-to-account payment options, by linking their account to a merchant site for future purchases. Eighty-one percent of MENA consumers using account-to-account payments have maintained or increased their usage in the last year.
