Saudi-based PayTabs Group has agreed to acquire the Middle East and North Africa operations of Amazon Payment Services in a deal valued at more than $100 million. Both sides have approved the transaction. The combined business will process over $40 billion in annual transactions — making PayTabs the largest MENA payments infrastructure provider. Amazon effectively exits its standalone MENA payments business.
The deal was reported on 7 September 2026 by specialist fintech media — Fintech News UAE, IBS Intelligence, Zawya, Arab Finance and WAYA. UAE-focused tech outlet tbreak separately clarified that PayTabs has not yet announced any changes to merchant services for its UAE customers.
What happened
PayTabs Group — the Saudi payments infrastructure provider — has agreed to buy Amazon Payment Services' operations across MENA. The parameters announced by the parties:
- Deal value — more than $100 million. The exact figure was not disclosed.
- Both parties have approved the transaction. Regulatory clearance and integration are the next steps.
- APS operations will be integrated into the PayTabs platform. Customers and payment processing move under PayTabs infrastructure.
- Combined business — SAR 150 billion (~$40 billion) annually. That is the total annual transaction volume of the two platforms combined.
- PayTabs becomes the largest MENA infrastructure provider with proprietary end-to-end solutions covering payment processing, automated switching and payouts on a single platform.
Amazon Payment Services is the former Payfort, a key Middle Eastern payments processor headquartered in Dubai. Amazon acquired Payfort as part of its purchase of Souq.com and later rebranded the service as Amazon Payment Services. The PayTabs transaction effectively means Amazon is exiting its standalone MENA payments business — the operations move to a specialist regional player.
Who PayTabs and Amazon Payment Services are
PayTabs Group is a Saudi fintech operating in the payments infrastructure segment. According to its own description on paytabs.com, the platform serves e-commerce, enterprises, fintechs and governments; it includes a Super App, payment orchestration and infrastructure layer. The company positions itself as a "Top 100 Global Fintech".
Over the years PayTabs has built partnerships with local banks, secured regulatory licences across several MENA markets and invested in AI-driven payment infrastructure — this is stated directly in its official materials and confirmed in the deal announcement.
Amazon Payment Services is the MENA arm of Amazon Payments. It is headquartered in Dubai (regulatorily tied to the UAE after Amazon's acquisition of Dubai-based Payfort). It serves e-commerce merchants, retailers and corporate customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. In the UAE, APS has historically been one of the leading card processors, and the operator of Payfort Start (for small business) and Fort (enterprise).
What this means for UAE merchants on APS
As of 7 September 2026, PayTabs has not officially announced any changes to merchant services for UAE customers — a point tbreak has flagged in its coverage. What is known and what is not:
| Aspect | Status as of 7 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Existing APS contracts | Continue to operate. Company states "minimal operational disruption" |
| Onboarding of new merchants | PayTabs promises "faster merchant onboarding" after integration |
| UAE local compliance | "Stronger local compliance capabilities", per PayTabs statement |
| Processing rates and fees | Not announced |
| Merchant portfolio transfer to PayTabs | Regulator — Central Bank of the UAE. Automated transfer requires approvals |
| Regulatory clearance for the deal | Pending |
PayTabs has officially stated that its focus during the transition is on customer service continuity and minimal operational disruption. Its forward-looking commitments — faster onboarding of new merchants and "stronger local compliance capabilities".
For UAE merchants on APS, no specific action is required today. Two practical checks are worth doing anyway: is your processing diversified (a single provider is a concentration risk in the event of integration issues), and are your UAE bank accounts correctly set up to receive payments. Requirements and typical pitfalls are covered in our review of the corporate bank account in the UAE.
Regulatory context: payments in the UAE
UAE payments infrastructure is regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE under the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation (RPSCS) and the Stored Value Facilities Regulation. Processors and card schemes are licensed as Payment Service Providers (PSPs) — the category that APS falls under in the UAE. Any large-scale transfer of a licensed merchant portfolio between PSPs requires CBUAE approval.
In parallel, the UAE is building its own domestic payments infrastructure. Al Etihad Payments has launched Jaywan — the first UAE national payment card, which keeps domestic transactions inside the country rather than routing them through international networks. A breakdown of what this means for accepting payments in a business is in our review of the Jaywan card and the UAE national payment network.
Where the deal sits in MENA consolidation
Fintech News UAE separately notes: the MENA region is on a payments infrastructure consolidation path. There are two drivers — growing demand for localised solutions (regulatory, language and settlement context) and visible activity from both regional fintech providers and global players. The PayTabs–APS deal is the largest in this segment by disclosed valuation in the past year.
For the regional market this means: demand for diversified processing is rising, the number of key players is shrinking, and focus is shifting from international providers to regional ones with local licences. The UAE, as the region's financial capital, is the central market for that shift.
What to watch over the coming months
- Official statement on UAE merchants. PayTabs has promised communications as integration progresses — possible contract, rate and SLA changes will hang on it.
- CBUAE regulatory clearance. Large-scale transfer of a licensed merchant portfolio requires regulator sign-off.
- Unified technical platform. Integrating APS into PayTabs means migration of APIs, integrations and checkout components. Merchants on custom integrations should plan for a possible refactor.
- Amazon's role in the region. Exit from the MENA payments business does not mean Amazon is leaving the market overall: e-commerce, AWS and other Amazon services in the UAE continue to operate.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. The primary source is the PayTabs announcement carried by specialist fintech media (Fintech News UAE, IBS Intelligence, Zawya, Arab Finance, WAYA); UAE-specific merchant impact — tbreak's coverage. Current service terms — on paytabs.com and in PayTabs' communications with existing Amazon Payment Services customers.
