Payfort, a leading online payment service provider in the region, has announced the launch of its Saudi Arabia operation.

The announcement was made during the ongoing ArabNet Digital Summit 2013 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh. Payfort is the online payment sponsor of the event.

“We are excited to be announcing our Saudi Arabia operation at ArabNet, a market where internet penetration has crossed the 12 million user mark and where over 25% of the user population depends on secure online payment solutions to protect their transactions,” said Omar Soudodi, managing director of Payfort.

“As the region continues to adopt online payments for shopping and services, more emphasis needs to be placed on improved payment facilities that help increase overall sales while reducing loss from risk and fraud.”

The region’s appetite for everything online continues to grow at a phenomenal rate with online payment user numbers enjoying double digit growth.  Online payment penetration currently stands at 25 per cent for Saudi Arabia (out of 12 million users), 30 per cent for Kuwait (out of 2 million users, 67 per cent for UAE (out of 5.6 million users) and 7 per cent for Egypt (out of 38 million users).

Smart phone penetration has also played a key role in further fueling online payment adoption as more Web-enabled devices become available to users in the region, and in Saudi Arabia, bank card penetration leads the region with over 12.3 million card users in the kingdom.

“Payfort has developed solutions that enable any organization accepting payments online to streamline and automate their payment processes, helping them increase sales conversion by offering their customers with many payment options, reduce payment abandonment by offering a highly customizable, simple one page checkout for all purchases, and drive repeat customers thanks to Payfort’s rigid payment security standards that meet today’s PCI compliance regulations,” said Muteb Alobeiwi, business development manager for Payfort Saudi Arabia.

“Payfort’s fraud control processes also help businesses protect themselves and their customers from typical fraud losses by minimizing risks, ensuring that business are able to accept more payments with a higher success ratio while eliminating many of the factors that reduce card payment acceptance and fraud.” – TradeArabia News Service