Sav makes Visa its exclusive card network in the UAE and Saudi Arabia

Sav‘s entire card portfolio is now exclusively powered by Visa, after the Dubai-based consumer fintech signed a five-year, multimillion-dollar deal making Visa its sole card network across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

What the Visa deal covers

The integration gives Sav users global acceptance across Visa’s merchant network, access to Visa’s Benefits Program, and cashback on domestic and international spending, the companies said. Sav’s card already carries 5% cashback, instant top-ups from linked bank accounts, real-time freeze and unfreeze controls, and a monthly spending cap of AED 100,000, issued by NymCard under a Visa license.

Why Sav can pursue a credit card next

Purvi Munot, co-founder and CEO of Sav, said the company plans to introduce a credit card, pending regulatory approval. Sav already holds an in-principle Category 4 license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, granted in August 2024, covering arranging money services and advising on and arranging deals in credit. That is the regulatory groundwork behind the credit card plan, though a separate lending approval has not been disclosed as granted.

Sav was founded in Dubai in 2022 by Munot and Mithil Ajmera, and has been backed by Sanabil, 500 Startups’ Saudi Arabia program, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund and the UAE Ministry of Finance.

Also, read UAE Financial Technology Just Crossed $46 Billion, and Here’s Why it May Cross $90 Billion by 2031

In their words

Munot said: “Through our partnership with Visa, we are combining global acceptance with meaningful everyday rewards, while continuing to build an intelligent financial platform that helps users spend, save and grow their wealth more effectively.”

Salima Gutieva, Vice President and Country Manager for Visa in the UAE, said: “Consumers across the region are increasingly seeking secure, seamless and digitally enabled payment experiences. By combining Visa’s global network, innovation capabilities and trusted security with Sav’s customer-centric approach, we look forward to supporting the next phase of growth.”

Mithil Ajmera, Sav’s co-founder, told UAE Fintech Vibes: “Everyday spending is where consumers build their deepest financial relationships, and this partnership puts Sav at the center of that relationship across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. With Visa’s distribution and infrastructure behind our entire card program, and credit and multi-currency cards ahead, we have the foundation to build a global payments business from the UAE.”

Why it matters

For UAE consumer fintechs

Sav’s move fits a wider pattern: consumer fintechs locking in a single network partner rather than running multiple card relationships, betting that depth with one partner beats spreading thin across several. A five-year exclusive commits Sav to Visa specifically, for better or worse.

For Sav’s competitive position

UAE consumers have seen a competing digital-banking brand fail before: YAP, the fourth digital bank to launch in the UAE, suspended operations in 2024 after funding challenges, with customer balances migrated to RAKBANK. A five-year exclusive network deal is one way a smaller fintech tries to lock in distribution and avoid the same fate, though it also means Sav is tied to a single card network for half a decade.

What’s next

The deal’s financial terms have not been disclosed beyond the multimillion-dollar description in Sav and Visa’s own statements. Sav’s next milestones are still ahead: user numbers, transaction volumes and revenue figures are yet to come, and the credit card and multicurrency products central to Ajmera’s growth pitch are working through the regulatory approval process built on Sav’s 2024 DFSA license.

FAQs

Editor’s take: Sav and Visa call this ‘multimillion-dollar,’ which could mean almost anything, and Sav hasn’t put out user numbers to size the business the deal is meant to scale. What is concrete is the bet itself: five years, one network, across two markets, with credit and multicurrency cards still waiting on regulators. UAE consumers have already watched one digital-banking brand run out of runway. Locking in Visa for half a decade is Sav’s answer to that risk, and it is also the thing that makes this worth checking back on once the credit card actually ships.