MoneyHash and WalaOne Partner to Streamline Loyalty Integration in Saudi Arabia

I remember chatting with a couple of founders at an Arageek meet‑up in Riyadh last year, and they were saying how loyalty programmes in the region often feel like a bit of a faff — every merchant has their own system, nothing talks to anything else, and customers end up juggling five different apps just to redeem a small discount. So when I came across the new partnership between MoneyHash and WalaOne, it felt spot on with what so many merchants have been complaining about.

MoneyHash, which has been steadily positioning itself as a go‑to payment orchestration layer for emerging markets, is now teaming up with WalaOne, the Saudi digital wallet that aggregates loyalty points from multiple programmes. The idea is simple: instead of building loyalty features from scratch or signing separate contracts with each provider, merchants can plug WalaOne directly into their payment stack through MoneyHash’s unified API. One switch, and it works — or at least that’s the promise.

What’s interesting here is that MoneyHash is treating loyalty not as a side feature but as part of the core payment journey. WalaOne users already collect and redeem points across thousands of merchants, turning them into gift cards, discounts, airline miles, or simple purchase credits. By slipping this capability into the orchestration layer, merchants can test new incentives without rewriting half their backend code. I reckon that alone will tempt a lot of mid‑sized businesses who’ve been putting off loyalty upgrades because of technical headaches.

Abdullah El Khayat, who leads MoneyHash in Saudi Arabia, put it neatly when he said that loyalty is becoming a fundamental part of how merchants build long‑term relationships — not just a rewards add‑on. On the flip side, WalaOne’s Obadah Khaled highlighted that the partnership lets them extend their reach without merchants needing to wrestle with tricky integrations. And believe it or not, that pain point is what many founders keep highlighting whenever loyalty comes up in conversations.

Saudi consumers have always been enthusiastic about loyalty ecosystems — some retailers tell me customers will switch brands entirely just to maximise points. But each provider functioning as its own little island makes it harder for companies to keep up. This deal smooths things out by making loyalty feel like any other payment method. No platform rebuilds. No endless negotiation cycles. Just another module to activate.

WalaOne already works with brands like noon, Amazon, Baskin Robbins, temu and AliExpress, offering merchants access to a user base of more than 4.5 million across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Meanwhile, MoneyHash continues to push its “payments as infrastructure” mission — multiple payment gateways under one API, smart routing, multi‑currency processing, the whole lot. Together, they’re trying to make loyalty less of an afterthought and more of a lever for proper revenue growth.

As someone who’s seen how often startups in the region stumble over operational details rather than ideas, I’m chuffed to bits to see solutions that reduce friction rather than add more dashboards to people’s lives. It’s not going to fix everything overnight, definately, but it does show a shift towards cleaner, more connected payment journeys — and that’s something merchants across the Kingdom have been waiting for.

🚀 Got exciting news to share?

If you're a startup founder, VC, or PR agency with big updates—funding rounds, product launches 📢, or company milestones 🎉 — AraGeek English wants to hear from you!

✉️ Send Us Your Story 👇

https://en.arageek.com/send-us-your-story-or-a-news-tip