Table of Contents
TotalPay has received SAMA approval to operate as an E-commerce Payment Technical Service Provider (PTSP) in Saudi Arabia, the company said, giving it regulatory clearance from the Saudi Central Bank to run payment technology services in the Kingdom.
What TotalPay’s SAMA approval covers
TotalPay said the approval lets it work directly with three groups in the Kingdom:
- Merchants that need payment processing infrastructure.
- Financial institutions operating in the Saudi market.
- Technology partners building on top of payment rails.
The company framed the license as the starting point for building a presence in Saudi Arabia rather than the end goal. It has not disclosed which merchants or banks it plans to work with first, or a timeline for onboarding customers in the Kingdom.
TotalPay’s co-founders, Akif Mohsin and Rahim Pattarkadavan, gave the following comment exclusively to UAE Fintech Vibes:
“This is a proud milestone for TotalPay as we take the next step in our journey by expanding into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are incredibly proud of our team, whose dedication, commitment, and relentless efforts made this achievement possible. We would also like to express our appreciation to the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) for its professionalism and guidance throughout the approval process.”
Why it matters
For Saudi Arabia’s payments market
SAMA has been steadily licensing new payment technology providers as part of its work building out the Kingdom’s digital payments infrastructure. Each new PTSP approval adds another processor that merchants and banks can plug into, which is the kind of incremental, unglamorous groundwork that ends up mattering more than any single announcement. TotalPay’s approval fits that pattern: one more name on the list of providers SAMA has cleared to operate.
For merchants and businesses in the Kingdom
A new SAMA-approved PTSP gives merchants and financial institutions in Saudi Arabia another vendor option for payment processing, alongside whatever providers they already use. Whether that translates into better pricing or service for merchants depends on how TotalPay competes once it is live in the market, not on the approval itself.
What’s next
TotalPay has SAMA approval. It does not yet have named customers in Saudi Arabia, a launch date, or disclosed pricing. The approval is a regulatory gate cleared, not a market presence built. Whether TotalPay converts the license into merchant and bank relationships in the Kingdom is the part worth watching.
Editor’s take: A license isn’t a customer base. TotalPay’s SAMA approval is a real regulatory hurdle cleared, and SAMA doesn’t hand that out casually, so it’s worth noting. But the real test is whether TotalPay can sign merchants and banks in a market where processors are already competing for the same business. Come back to this one in six months and check who TotalPay is processing payments for.