Visa on Tuesday launched Apple Pay in Saudi Arabia, allowing its Kingdom-based cardholders to make payments using their Apple devices, according to reports.
Early reports via Apple Insider show “compatibility with previously confirmed financial partners including the country’s largest institution, the National Commercial Bank….Separately, individual banks like Al Rajhi confirmed access to the service in release notes accompanying iOS app updates.”
“Currently, Apple promises support for the Saudi Payments Network (MADA), Alinma Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Bank Aljazira, the National Commercial Bank and Riyad Bank. Cards with backing from Visa and Mastercard are also accepted,” Apple Insider said.
The release of Apple Pay in Saudi Arabia comes as the company faces scrutiny for allowing an app, called Absher, to remain in the App Store in the face of claims by some that the app allows men to track the whereabouts of their wives and others under their guardianship.
The Absher app.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) wrote a letter to Google and Apple to demand the removal of the app, saying American companies “should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government’s patriarchy.”
Apple has said it would investigate, and Google’s top exec said he will follow suit.
But the issue is more complex for Cupertino-based Apple, Inc. As a recent online campaign by Saudis in favor of keeping the app highlights, Absher is well-liked by some in the Kingdom for its streamlining of government services, “from paying traffic tickets to applying for new identification cards. The controls on women are just one of its functions,” the New York Times notes.
And as Bloomberg reporter Vivian Nereim wrote on Twitter last week, the timing of these calls to remove the app from Google and Apple platforms because of its role in the kingdom’s guardianship system “is a little confusing to be honest…the app isn’t new; it was launched in 2015” and noted that as a Riyadh-based reporter, she recently used the app to apply for a driver’s license.
