Digital Wallets & Fintech Apps: Trends Driving GCC’s Cashless Future

Digital Wallets & Fintech Apps

We all have been using digital wallets since a very long time and there is no shame in considering the fact that these wallets are actually a saviour for a lot of us. 

You can use digital wallets to make secure payments because many users are afraid of attaching their debit cards to online platforms due to malware attacks and identity theft. 

A mobile app development company in Dubai understood the importance of using mobile apps for a longer run, and saw that a lot of companies are now working to add up the API of digital wallets to make payments easier and quicker.

Considering all the concerns posted and shared by the customers on various platforms, we decided to introduce digital wallets making the purchases easier because carrying huge amounts of money every day is quite a different task. 

Moreover, mobile app development company in Bahrain also includes the design and development of apps with alluring visuals and interface that backs the overall working of the app. 

Anyhow, for your ease, we are going to discuss the cashless payments through digital wallets available for app users, and again it’s a great achievement for them. 

Are you excited to hear it up with us? Let’s get started… 

Interesting Statistics Related To Cashless Payments and Digital Wallets 

According to magecomp, Digital wallets were used for 50% of online purchases in 2024, indicating a strong preference for this payment method. Peer-to-peer payment services saw a 30% increase in usage in 2024, with over 500 million users worldwide. QR code payments grew by 40% in 2024, with over 1 billion users globally.

Digital payments involve the usage of payments through apps like ApplePay, PayPal, or Alipay as they are predicted to be the fastest growing payment method throughout the world. The number of cashless payments in Asia-Pacific is forecast to be higher than transactions in Europe and North America combined.

The cash accounted for 12 percent of all the payments made in the United States during the peak of 2023. Moreover, four of them are 10 UK adults whereas, some are living cashless lives during the end of 2023. However,the number of people mainly using cash in 2023 rose to 2.6 per cent per cent of the population.

And you know what is the number one country who is using cashless payments and including digital wallets are their core offerings?

There is no surprise to admit that China, one of the primary users of digital payments in the world. Moreover, it topped the list for the countries using digital wallets. Digital wallets apps are now used like Tenpay, Wechat, AliPay and ApplePay are most commonly used and acquired by the people within the state.

Cashless Payment Made Easier – Digital Wallets A Great Saviour 

The GCC region is now moving rapidly towards a cashless future where they all are using digital wallets as a whole, and getting all the payments through the wallets for better adoption and results. 

Let’s hear about the key trends shaping the technology shift:

  • Digital Wallet Adoption

We first have Telco wallets that a lot of telecommunication companies are now offering digital wallets, known as “telco wallets” that are gaining huge popularity in the GCC region. Moreover, Contactless Payments, another digital wallet that is enabling the customers to make contactless payments and all the transactions made through it are faster and come up with frequent and efficient results. 

Lastly, digital wallets are now offering advanced security features like encryption and tokenization to protect the user’s financial information.

  • Fintech App Trends 

The second digital payment that we are going to talk about is Fintech apps that are revolutionizing digital payments with different platforms, like Careem Pay, PayBy, and Telr gaining traction in the GCC region.

Next we have, Neobanks like STC Pay, Emirates NBD’s Liv., and YAP are offering digital banking services that allow the users with more flexible timings and convenience.

Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) Services are just like the Tabby app, which is increasingly popular allowing the users to make purchases and pay later. Lastly, AI based solutions are also using algorithms like trading and robo-advisors that are being adopted by fintech companies in the GCC region.

Key Players and Initiatives for Digital Wallets

The key players who are playing a great intuitive for digital wallets include:

GCC exchange, a digital remittance platform that allows the user to send money to any place within any country, is indeed a great initiative. Whereas, google wallet, that enables the users to make the payments, store loyalty cards, and tracking the tickets online.

Initiatives like DIFC Fintech HIVE, , ADGM Fintech Program, and Bahrain Fintech Bay are supporting the growth of fintech in the GCC region.

Government Support and Regulation 

Regulatory frameworks which include governments in the GCC region that are establishing regulatory frameworks for supporting the growth of fintech and digital wallets. Countries like the UAE and Bahrain are creating a supportive environment for fintech companies, with initiatives like sandbox environments and funding opportunities.

How much does it cost to build an app with digital wallets?

The average cost for app design and development starts somewhere from $15,000 to $20,000 however, if you add up different features like APIs integration then, the pricing will range between  $40,000 to $300,000 (approximately €37,000 to €280,000), influenced by app complexity and development team expertise. 

Wrapping Up – Are You Enjoying Digital Wallets To Make Payments

And we are done for the day. We hope you all enjoyed reading about the digital wallets, and how it has become a great initiative removing the cashless payments, and making everything fluent and simple for the end users.  Hire professional web app developers for working on the APIs integration, for better consideration and outcomes because they know everything related to app design, and development.

If you think we have missed anything within the blog, then, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. We would love to hear it back from you. Happy Reading…

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Bessie Simpson

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