Industry leaders identify awareness, not technology, as the primary barrier to B2B payment digitization in MENA
July 30 | Dubai, UAE — The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA) convened the inaugural roundtable of its SHIFT – B2B & Commercial Payments Sub Committee, bringing together senior leaders from payment networks, banks, fintechs, acquirers, corporate payments providers, investors, and industry experts to examine the state of B2B payments across the Middle East and North Africa.
Held under the Chatham House Rule and chaired by Swapna Rege, Chair of the MFTA SHIFT Sub Committee, the session culminated in the publication of “The State of B2B Payments in MENA,” a report capturing the group’s insights and recommendations, and serving as the foundation for the Sub Committee’s future workstreams.
Participants acknowledged meaningful progress over the past decade, including banks embedding card solutions into broader corporate relationships, more sophisticated expense management tools, and faster SME digital financial inclusion driven by digital banks. Even so, participants reached strong consensus that the greatest barrier to commercial payment adoption is market awareness and ecosystem engagement, not technology. A recurring theme was that commercial card portfolios often sit within retail banking rather than transaction or corporate banking, leaving relationship managers under-incentivized to sell card solutions and disconnecting the product from the teams that own corporate treasury relationships.
Key themes included the need for dedicated, incentive-driven sales coverage, drawing comparisons to agent-led models used during India’s digitization efforts and historic American Express acceptance campaigns; deeper engagement with acquirers, who remain critical but under-engaged in driving supplier acceptance; and closer partnerships with ERP and enterprise technology providers, both as integration points for embedding card capabilities and as distribution channels for reaching corporate buyers.
Akshay Chopra, Co-Chair, MFTA SHIFT Payment Working Group, commented:
“This roundtable confirmed what many of us have suspected for some time the rails for commercial payments in MENA already exist. The real work now is building the awareness and ecosystem alignment needed to put them to use.”
The group also addressed two common myths slowing adoption: that acceptance costs near two percent are prohibitive for suppliers, when in practice this is often lower than a supplier’s cost of capital on receivables outstanding 60 or more days once financing costs and manual reconciliation are factored in; and that new verticals require bespoke products, when in many cases basic card enablement simply hasn’t been rolled out yet.
As next steps, the Sub Committee agreed to launch ecosystem-specific working sessions with corporate banks, acquirers, technology providers, fintechs, and corporate treasury leaders; develop a regional best practice playbook covering how commercial payments should be structured, priced, and mandated across banks, acquirers, and corporates; and explore a “State of B2B Payments” briefing for central banks and policymakers.
Clyde Rosanowski, Co-Chair, MFTA SHIFT Payment Working Group, commented:
“Supplier acceptance is where the next wave of B2B payments growth will come from. When suppliers understand the working capital and reconciliation benefits, acceptance follows our job is to make that case clearly and consistently.”
Swapna Rege, Chair of the MFTA SHIFT – B2B & Commercial Payments Sub Committee, commented:
“Commercial payments represent one of the most significant untapped opportunities within the financial services industry. As digital transformation accelerates across the region, success will depend not only on technology, but on stronger ecosystem collaboration, market education, and coordinated industry action. This inaugural roundtable represents the beginning of an important journey to help shape the future of B2B payments across MENA.”
The Sub Committee’s findings will now feed into MFTA’s broader regional agenda, with leadership underscoring the importance of this work to the Association’s mission.
Nameer Khan, Chairman of the MENA Fintech Association, commented:
“B2B payments represent one of the largest structural opportunities in our region’s financial ecosystem. The insights from this roundtable reinforce MFTA’s commitment to convening the right stakeholders, from banks to acquirers to technology providers, so the industry can move from awareness to action.”