The Middle East & Africa share of global cross-border payment revenue increased from 6.2% in 2020 to 7.1% in 2024.

Market Share Shift: MEA’s Growing Footprint in Global Cross-Border Payments

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region captured 7.1% of global cross-border payment revenue in 2024, up from 6.2% in 2020, according to market sizing by Grand View Research. This 90-basis-point gain translates into absolute market revenue of USD 20.67 billion in 2024, placing MEA as the fourth-largest regional market by revenue share, behind Europe (~20%), Asia-Pacific, and Latin America (16%). The region’s revenue is projected to grow at a 7.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2025 to 2030, reaching USD 31.15 billion, outpacing global average growth expectations for cross-border payments.

Regionally, MEA’s upward trajectory stands in contrast to the relative stasis of more mature markets. The revenue share gain reflects a combination of volume growth from remittance-heavy corridors—particularly those linking the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to South Asia—and early-stage digital payments adoption that had been lagging in Sub-Saharan Africa. Convera’s analysis notes that MEA accounts for 10% of the broader cross-border payments market by value, a figure that aligns with Grand View’s revenue share numbers when factoring wholesale flows.

Structural Drivers: Remittances, Instant Payments, and Infrastructure Gaps

The Middle East’s share gain is powered primarily by outbound remittance flows. The GCC-to-South Asia corridor processed an estimated USD 142 billion in remittances in 2025, supported by the UAE Instant Payment Platform and bilateral clearing arrangements, according to Mordor Intelligence. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region recorded the lowest digital remittance costs globally at 4.2%, per the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) October 2024 progress report, well below the UN’s 3% target but significantly cheaper than Sub-Saharan Africa’s 8.7% average.

Africa presents a more nuanced picture. While the continent remains the most expensive remittance corridor—cash remittance costs in Sub-Saharan Africa declined only slightly from 9.3% to 8.7% between 2023 and 2024—digital infrastructure constraints are slowly easing. The FSB report highlights that Sub-Saharan Africa’s correspondent banking relationships have not deteriorated further, though the region saw a 0.6 percentage point decline in the share of payment service providers settling within one hour (to 7.7%). Fintech innovations, particularly mobile money platforms, are beginning to expand access, but the region remains constrained by limited real-time payments rails and high correspondent-bank fees that can inflate transaction costs by up to 12% on certain corridors (Mordor Intelligence, 2025).

Speed Benchmarks and the Middle East’s Accelerating Processing

The Middle East showed the most pronounced improvement in payment speed metrics among all regions tracked by the FSB. From 2023 to 2024, the share of payments processed within one hour on the in-flight leg rose 1.8 percentage points to 87.5%, while the beneficiary leg improved by 5.8 percentage points to 35.3%. Despite these gains, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa (24.7%) remain among the slowest regions for final beneficiary settlement. By contrast, Europe benefits from the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system, which cleared EUR 1.8 trillion (USD 2.0 trillion) in 2025, with cross-border volume accounting for 31% of total activity.

For peer-to-peer (P2P) remittance services, speed varies dramatically by corridor. The FSB reports that 56.3% of P2P payments sent from Sub-Saharan Africa to other Sub-Saharan African countries settle within one hour, but that figure drops to approximately 20% for flows sent from Sub-Saharan Africa to MENA or Latin America. This disparity underscores the fragmentation of integration between regional payment systems.

% of services (%)Source: Orionmano Industries

Policy Responses and Regional Integration Initiatives

Regulators in both sub-regions are moving to close the cost and speed gaps. The GCC’s cross-border payments scheme, BUNA, and the Arab Monetary Fund’s initiatives have gained traction, while the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has spurred pilot projects for a pan-African payment and settlement system. The SmaRT (Smart Remitter Target) indicator, which measures costs for savvy consumers, fell to 3.2% for USD 200 remittances globally and to 2.4% for USD 500, suggesting that competition from digital-first providers is narrowing spreads where infrastructure allows.

MENA’s real-time payments (RTP) market is the fastest-growing globally, with a projected 30% RTP transaction growth rate through 2027 (PCMI, 2024). This growth, coupled with open-banking frameworks expanding in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE, is laying the groundwork for MEA to sustain its revenue share gains. However, the region’s ability to reach or exceed the 10% threshold cited by Convera will depend on whether Sub-Saharan Africa can overcome structural barriers to financial inclusion and correspondent banking.

Outlook: Sustained Growth, Uneven Distribution

The MEA region’s cross-border payment revenue share gain from 6.2% to 7.1% between 2020 and 2024 is a material shift, but the distribution of that growth is uneven. The Middle East, buoyed by high-value remittance corridors and instant payment adoption, accounts for the majority of the gain. Africa’s potential remains latent, constrained by high costs, slow settlement times, and fragmented digital infrastructure. The USD 20.67 billion revenue base provides a foundation for continued expansion, and the 7.1% CAGR forecast from 2025 to 2030 implies MEA will approach USD 31 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade—provided the region’s regulators and fintech players sustain the current pace of infrastructure development.