Saudi fintech DaftarPay has received a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) licence from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the regulator’s 76th approved finance company. The Riyadh-based firm joins SAMA’s roster days after Tabby, the larger BNPL platform in the Kingdom, secured two wider licences covering consumer and SME financing. SAMA confirmed the approval in a statement carried by Saudi outlets.
Both approvals fit inside a SAMA pattern documented over nine months. Per Arab News, the central bank’s roster of licensed finance companies has moved from 68 in October 2025 to 71 in April and 75 in June. Each step has coincided with a fresh BNPL or consumer-finance approval across the Kingdom. The progression tracks the regulator’s pace of new authorisations through 2026.
Eight New BNPL Licences in Nine Months
DaftarPay’s licence was confirmed in the central bank’s statement carried across Saudi outlets. Arab News reported the same total on publication. The official Arabic release names the firm Tqniyat Daftar Company; the English transliteration on SAMA channels is Daftar Technologies.
That count sits at the end of a documented climb. Arab News reported that SAMA’s tally of authorised finance companies moved from 68 in October 2025 to 71 in April and 75 in June, the latest step landing in July. Each step has come alongside a fresh BNPL or consumer-finance approval. The progression tracks the regulator’s pace of new authorisations under the BNPL framework.
SAMA’s stated rationale has stayed close to identical language across that string of approvals. The regulator says each approval is intended to support and enable the finance sector. The same releases cite raising the efficiency and flexibility of financial transactions and promoting innovative financial solutions. They also point to financial inclusion, with SAMA describing each name as a step toward wider access to financial products and services across the Kingdom. The same phrases appear in the central bank’s description of its BNPL rules.
DaftarPay is a Riyadh-based fintech with a wallet-based BNPL offering on its own channels. The regulator’s announcement did not describe the company’s product, customer base, or fee structure.
- 76 SAMA-licensed finance companies today, per Arab News
- 68 in October 2025
- 71 in April 2026
- 75 in June 2026
Tabby Scored Consumer and SME Licences a Week Earlier
Tabby crossed SAMA’s threshold one week before DaftarPay. The company announced its two SAMA licences from Riyadh on June 29, framing them as a step beyond its existing BNPL activity. The two approvals covered consumer finance and SME finance.
Headquartered in Riyadh, Tabby serves more than 25 million registered users and 65,000 businesses across the GCC. Its existing retailer network in Saudi Arabia spans Noon, Fitness Time, Almanea, IKEA, Almosafer, Almatar and flynas. Long-format payment plans priced above SAR 2,000 were already live at those names at the time of the announcement. The new licences extend rather than replace Tabby’s earlier SAMA credentials.
Saudi Vision 2030 is the strategic frame Tabby cited for the new licences. Longer plans of up to SAR 50,000 over 12 months run on a Murabaha structure, a Shariah-compliant form of cost-plus financing. Each plan’s cost is fixed upfront, with no compounding and no late fees, per the company’s newsroom. The two approvals sit on top of Tabby’s earlier SAMA credentials, including the BNPL licence it received in 2025 after graduating from the regulator’s sandbox. Tabby is run by CEO and co-founder Hosam Arab.
The contrast with DaftarPay is more than size. Tabby’s two licences grant it activity beyond BNPL, covering consumer finance and SME working-capital lending, while DaftarPay’s licence sits inside the BNPL category alone.
| Aspect | DaftarPay (this week) | Tabby (June 29, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| SAMA licence | BNPL | Consumer Finance + SME Finance |
| Activity scope | BNPL only | Consumer credit, SME working capital, BNPL inherited |
| Stated ticket size | Not disclosed in SAMA notice | Up to SAR 50,000 over 12 months |
| Financing structure | BNPL-specific (per SAMA rulebook) | Murabaha (Shariah-compliant cost-plus) |
A consumer finance licence lets Tabby extend SAR-denominated loans on its own balance sheet, not just collect merchant-side BNPL fees. An SME finance licence opens a separate channel for working-capital lending to retailers on its platform. DaftarPay holds the narrower BNPL licence, which under SAMA’s published rulebook limits its activity to short-form pay-later products at checkout. The rulebook does not list consumer-finance or SME lending inside a BNPL licence’s scope.
What SAMA’s BNPL Rules Demand From Licensed Players
DaftarPay signed up for a defined regulatory package by accepting the licence. SAMA’s rules for buy-now-pay-later companies, dated December 2023 and currently in force, set a minimum capital of SAR 5,000,000. They also set fees of SAR 5,000 for licence issuance and SAR 2,000 for renewal or amendment. Licences run for five years from issuance and must be renewed through a written request at least three months before expiry. Applications must be filed with SAMA in the form the regulator provides, accompanied by commercial register documents, ownership disclosures, and a business plan, per the SAMA rulebook for BNPL companies.
Beyond capital, the rules require founders and senior executives to satisfy SAMA’s fit-and-proper standards and to be permanent residents of Saudi Arabia. Senior and supervisory positions must be filled by people SAMA deems professionally qualified and experienced in the field. Companies must keep written internal policies on credit, risk, compliance, data protection, outsourcing, AML/CTF, and consumer complaints. They must also hold that data for at least ten years after the consumer relationship ends.
Saudization is built into the framework. At least half of a BNPL company’s human resources must be Saudi at the start of operations, with the share rising by at least 5 percentage points a year until it reaches 75%. Non-Saudi hires require SAMA’s non-objection letter before joining control departments.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Minimum capital | SAR 5,000,000 |
| Licence issuance fee | SAR 5,000 |
| Licence renewal / amendment fee | SAR 2,000 |
| Licence term | 5 years, renewable on written request |
| Residency for executives | Permanent residents of Saudi Arabia |
| Saudization | Min 50% at start, +5pp/year to 75% |
| Data retention | At least 10 years after consumer relationship ends |
| Application completion window | 30 working days from SAMA request |
The $2.8 Billion BNPL Trajectory Draws New Entrants
Saudi Arabia’s BNPL market sits inside a wider consumer-finance growth story. Arjun Singh, partner and global head of fintech at Arthur D. Little Middle East, told Arab News the Saudi BNPL market is poised to grow from $1.4 billion in 2024 to $2.8 billion by 2029. Singh cited a compound annual growth rate of over 10 percent. Saudi retail payments were electronic in 85% of transactions in 2025, per SAMA data cited by Arab News. The electronic-payments share gives a BNPL provider a settled payments rail to plug into. SAMA has tied each licensing decision to its stated goal of widening access to financial services.
Vision 2030 is the policy backdrop SAMA keeps referencing. The regulator has framed the DaftarPay approval alongside a Saudi push to widen access to digital financial services, support small business competitiveness, and diversify GDP. The roster’s growth through 2026 has tracked that policy line, climbing from 68 in October 2025. Tamara, another Saudi BNPL player, received its SAMA licence earlier than DaftarPay and Tabby did. Abdulaziz Saja, Tabby’s general manager in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News the licences support the company’s ambition ‘to become a broader financial services provider.’
Deal Only With Licensed Firms, SAMA Says
SAMA paired the DaftarPay approval with a customer-facing message. The central bank urged consumers to deal only with authorised financial institutions and advised them to verify a provider’s status through SAMA’s official channels. The same guidance has appeared in earlier SAMA licence announcements this year. SAMA’s standing rule on BNPL activity is firmer still, spelling out that the activity shall not be carried out except after obtaining a license from SAMA.
Saudi online retail and consumer-lending markets hosted BNPL-style products for years before SAMA’s dedicated framework. Some of those products have shifted to merchant-side instalment plans outside SAMA’s BNPL definition. Others have applied, or are applying, through the regulator’s framework.
SAMA emphasises the importance of dealing exclusively with authorized financial institutions.
DaftarPay enters the licenced cohort at a moment when SAMA is actively publishing the count. The regulator did not name what it charged DaftarPay in fees, nor disclose customer-volume figures, nor lay out the merchant relationships behind the activity. Tabby’s June 29 announcement included those kinds of operational details. The two announcements together sketch a regulator expanding the licenced roster quickly while leaving each firm’s product detail to the firm and the wider market. Across each approval, SAMA has told consumers the same thing: deal only with authorised firms. None of the recent announcements has named any unlicensed competitor the regulator is targeting.
Saudi retail and consumer-lending markets hosted BNPL-style products for years before SAMA’s dedicated framework took hold. Abdulaziz Saja, Tabby’s general manager in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News the licences support the company’s ambition ‘to become a broader financial services provider.’ The newest name on the roster Saudi consumers are told to consult is DaftarPay. Tamara, Tabby, and the previous BNPL entrants sit above it on the same numbered list. DaftarPay’s five-year licence term is now in force under SAMA’s rulebook.
