Arab National Bank and Mastercard Team Up to Revolutionise Cross-Border Payments

Editorial Team

Last updated 20-10-2025

3 min

Arab National Bank's TeleMoney partners with Mastercard for faster, affordable cross-border payments.

The partnership supports Saudi Vision 2030's drive for a fully digital economy.

Mastercard Move connects global banks, fintechs, and financial institutions across over 200 countries.

Expat transfers in Saudi Arabia rose 15% year-on-year, indicating a vibrant market.

Successful implementation could revolutionise regional global money movement practices.

Arab National Bank’s TeleMoney service has teamed up with Mastercard to bring faster, more affordable cross-border payments to customers in Saudi Arabia and beyond. The move taps into the Mastercard Move platform — the company’s global payments network — allowing users to send money to more than 160 countries at the click of a button. In simple terms, it’s a big leap for anyone tired of the usual faff that comes with international transfers.

According to the announcement, the partnership aligns neatly with Saudi Vision 2030, which has pushed hard for a fully digital economy across the Kingdom. Mastercard’s Adam Jones described the deal as a way to “bring people and businesses closer than ever,” while TeleMoney’s Head, Khalid Al Ibrahim, pointed out that more and more customers are ditching in-person services for online solutions. I reckon that’s spot on — after all, when you’ve got workers sending money home or small businesses paying overseas suppliers, time really does equal money.

Mastercard Move isn’t just another online payment tool. It connects banks, fintechs, and non-bank financial institutions to more than 200 countries and territories, supporting over 150 currencies. That’s almost 95% of the world’s banked population, which is quite something when you think about the billions depending on remittances for their families’ livelihoods.

Saudi Arabia, for its part, has become a powerhouse for such remittances. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) reported that expat transfers rose by 15% year-on-year to roughly SAR 13.83 billion this June — proof that the market is still buzzing with movement and opportunity. No surprise, then, that Mastercard and ANB saw fertile ground for innovation here.

From where we sit at Arageek, it’s always heartening to see collaborations that make life easier for the people at the heart of the economy — whether they’re overseas workers wiring funds home, or entrepreneurs pushing new boundaries. And believe it or not, even these big corporate partnerships can trickle down to help startups build better digital tools of their own.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding. Big announcements are one thing; seamless, secure transactions are another. Still, if Mastercard and ANB pull this off, it could definately set a new benchmark for how financial institutions in the region handle global money movement — faster, cheaper, and with a touch less headache for everyone involved.

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