Thirty-one agreements, a fintech unicorn, and a card deal between two central banks - plus a few things that ran quietly under the headline.

Day 2 at a glance

• 31 agreements and MoUs signed - up from 19 on Day 1

• $1.85B - barq becomes a unicorn, Series A of $329.5M

• 85% of Saudi retail payments now electronic, per the SAMA Governor

• SR 30B+ invested in the fintech sector to date, per the SAMA Governor

• 370 licensed fintech companies as of end-August 2026

• 1 cross-border card deal - SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank agree mutual mada/Himyan acceptance

Day 1 was the Minister setting the frame. Day 2 was the floor proving it - more deals, the weeks first unicorn, and a deal no single company could sign alone.

The regulator wrote Day 2 biggest headline

H.E. Ayman M. Al-Sayari, Governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), delivered Day 2 keynote. What he said, and what he then went and signed:

• 85% electronic - of Saudi retail payments are now electronic, a number he framed as the base case for everything else

• SR 30B+ invested - in the fintech sector to date, with continued commitment to trust and innovation

• 370 licensed firms - as of end-August, fast growth even the Governor called out by name

• A sovereign first - SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank agreed to accept mada and Himyan cards in both countries, moving interoperability from bank deals to central-bank infrastructure

• The optics - Al-Sayari toured the floor with the Qatar Central Bank Governor and the CMA Chairman. Regulators, not vendors, were Tuesdays story

Day 1 keynote was a frame. Day 2 keynote was a signature - a cross-border card deal that no bank, however large, could have closed on its own.

Capital showed up before the panels did

• barq - $1.85B. Series A of $329.5M, the largest fintech raise in the region this year. barq crosses 15M users across 210+ nationalities and enters the unicorn club.

• BSF Capital x Lendo - SR 100M. Initial financing partnership to expand SME lending capacity.

• Abwab AI - SR 15M. From Speed Invest, the funds first investment in Saudi Arabia, for AI-driven SME financing.

barq round alone is bigger than Day 1 three raises combined. One digital-native, one story: Day 2 belonged to barq.

Thirty-one deals, two names signed nine of them

Agreements and MoUs announced on Day 2, by signing party: Moyasar (8), barq (4), D360 Bank (3), Zid (2), Wekad (2), SAB (2), and ten single-deal signers.

• Moyasar signed STC Bank, Sayarah, HOTSPOT, Payrails, Wadaie, Safqa Al-Maliyah, Lean Technologies and mispay

• barq signed Distribution Technology, Mastercard, Floward and Masdar

• D360 signed Ghanem App, Intelligent Media and Abana

• Zid signed MoneyHash and STC Bank; Wekad signed Al-Awwal Finance and BSF

• Also: SAB x Orbii, SAB x Stream, Alinma x Harrods/Visa, Elm x Shurti, Tamam x Sadiq, Al-Majed Aoud x Emkan, Meem x Almatar, PayLater x Salla, Vision Bank x Publicis Sapient, Mascanid x Lean

Moyasar signed more partners in one day than any company managed across all of Day 1. Quiet, high-volume dealmaking, not a single splashy headline.

Day 2 launches served existing customers

• Alinma x Harrods x Visa - a co-branded Alinma Harrods credit card, pitched as the only card of its kind in the Kingdom, blending private-banking service with the Harrods name

• Mastercard - a new SME platform phase, "from small beginnings to a strong launch," timed to Mastercards sponsorship of the event

• Network International - merchant payment-acceptance services now live in Saudi Arabia, alongside the GM confirming ~SR 300M invested into the market

• STC Bank - a live prize draw on the floor for its "Maksab" savings account, deposit from SR 100, enter a draw worth up to SR 1M

Luxury co-branding, program relaunches, a live market entry. Day 2 built on what customers already have, rather than creating a new category.

Five threads ran through Day 2

• Cross-border rails go sovereign - SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank agree mutual mada/Himyan acceptance

• The gateway layer keeps consolidating - Moyasar alone signed eight partners in a single day

• Digital-natives keep raising the stakes - barq unicorn round follows Tabby and Tarabut Day 1 raises

• Loyalty reaches for luxury - Alinma Harrods card signals banks chasing lifestyle credibility, not just cashback points

• SME financing infrastructure quietly scales - BSF Capital x Lendo, Abwab AI x Speed Invest, Wekad two agreements

The through-line is distribution. Whoever owns the loyalty points, the checkout and the data pipe owns the customer. The bank licence is table stakes.

Five stands worth the walk

• barq - fintech unicorn, live on the floor. Closed its $329.5M Series A the same day it signed Distribution Technology, Mastercard and Floward

• Alinma - luxury meets banking. Launched the Alinma Harrods credit card with Visa, the first of its kind in the Kingdom

• SAB - two more open-banking bets. Signed innovation-cooperation agreements with Orbii and Stream, building on its Day 1 gateway MoU with Geidea

• Bank Albilad - a quieter digital-account deal. Signed an MoU with SingleView for an integrated digital account-opening journey

• American Express Saudi Arabia - a second session, a sharper title. Fahad Al-Guthami returned to The Bridge stage for "The Trust Layer: Building Financial Systems People Choose to Use"

A unicorn, a luxury card, two more open-banking bets, a quieter account-opening deal, and Amex back on stage with a sharper title. Five playbooks, one floor.

What did not make the headlines

• A central-bank card deal, buried under a funding headline - SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank agreeing on mada/Himyan interoperability is arguably bigger than any single companys raise

• Moyasar eight-deal day - no single post went viral, the volume was the story

• The Samsung Pay pressure campaign continues - replies under STC Bank Day 1 Samsung Pay news kept tagging barq and D360, asking them to match it

• Abwab AI quiet SR 15M - Speed Invest first-ever Saudi investment, covered in one interview and little else

• Insurance found the floor again - Elm relaunched its electronic claims-settlement service with Shurti

The floor announces what it planned. The corridors decide what matters. On Day 2, the corridors were arguing about Samsung Pay while a central bank rewired cross-border payments.

Key takeaways

Day 2 out-signed Day 1 by half: 31 agreements versus 19

barq became the weeks first fintech unicorn at a $1.85B valuation

SAMA and the Qatar Central Bank agreed mutual mada/Himyan card acceptance

Moyasar signed more partners in one day than any Day 1 company

Alinma launched a Harrods-branded credit card with Visa