Where Cash Hides (third edition) - Saudi Arabia.
Visa's third wave of research tracking where Saudi consumers still use cash. Digital payments now make up the large majority of transactions, mobile wallets are gaining, and the remaining cash use is concentrated in tips, peer-to-peer payments and rent.
By Visa · Jan 21, 2026
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Visa's third wave of research tracking where Saudi consumers still use cash. Digital payments now make up the large majority of transactions, mobile wallets are gaining, and the remaining cash use is concentrated in tips, peer-to-peer payments and rent.
Key findings
- 80% of payments in Saudi Arabia are now digital.
- Mobile payments make up 16% of all transactions.
- 67% of Saudi consumers are mostly cashless, up 4 points on the previous wave.
- Cash use fell 9% for eating out and 8% for paying bills.
- Tipping is the biggest remaining use of cash (39%), followed by peer-to-peer services (28%) and rent (14%).
Why it matters
Payments in Saudi Arabia are now overwhelmingly digital, so marketers can rely on mobile-wallet checkout and tap-to-pay in retail and promotion plans.
About this report
Published by Visa, 2026-01-21. Free to download. Read Visa's release on Zawya