Bahrain projected to be world leader in real-time payments

Bahrain projected to be world leader in real-time payments

Bahrain is projected to be the world leader in consumer adoption of real-time payments, says a new report, putting it ahead of Brazil, Thailand and its closest regional competitors, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Published by ACI Worldwide, a leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, in partnership with data and analytics company GlobalData, the 2023 Prime Time for Real-Time report notes that by 2027, Bahraini citizens are expected to make an average of 83.3 real-time transactions per month.

Total real-time payments in the country are expected to grow from 276 million in 2022 to 1.3 billion in 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.5 per cent, outpacing any other market in the Gulf.

Real-time payments are those that are initiated and settled almost instantaneously.

Highlighting that instant transactions are strongly embedded in the everyday lives of consumers and businesses in Bahrain, the report notes their penetration to all levels of the economy including salaries, peer-to-peer, consumer to business, in-store and online merchant payments, bill payments and QR-code payments.

In 2015, Benefit, the operator of the national electronic fund transfer system (EFTS), launched Fawri+, a real-time payments system that sets the standard for instant payments in the region.

Following a major upswing in its