UBPIN network launches a global payments alliance from Riyadh to connect cash systems without compromising operational sovereignty

Ventra Holding announced during the Money20/20 Middle East conference in Riyadh the launch of the UBPIN Alliance via its global UBPIN payments network, a step aimed at creating an open global platform that brings together payment networks, banks, financial institutions, digital wallets, money-transfer companies and open-finance service providers, to shape strategies and market priorities and develop cross-border payments infrastructure.

The move coincides with the expansion of the UBPIN network to cover more than fifty markets worldwide and to serve over five hundred million accounts, providing access to more than one hundred alternative payment methods. The network confirmed the completion of the first live, direct financial transaction launched from a local wallet in Africa through its global system, marking a practical shift from software development to real-world operational deployment.

Neutral interconnection safeguards the sovereignty of local systems.Dr. Walid Sadiq, founder and CEO of Ventra Holding, explains that the payments industry is experiencing rapid expansion through card and wallet networks and instant-payment systems, yet most of these entities still operate within isolated technical, settlement and commercial environments, which multiplies the complexity of interconnection and lengthens the time required to enter new markets. The alliance’s philosophy operates as a neutral inter-operability layer that unifies the infrastructure, allowing each institution to retain its local identity, regulatory responsibilities and direct customer relationships without needing to create duplicated bilateral integrations.

The network aims to cover a broad spectrum of financial transactions, including person-to-person transfers, consumer-to-merchant payments in brick-and-mortar stores and digital commerce platforms, as well as cross-border trade settlements, with the ability to support liquidity and foreign-currency access in line with the regulatory and commercial routes applicable to each financial corridor.

The alliance opens membership to national settlement networks, micro-finance banks, buy-now-pay-later service providers, government payment platforms, and licensed digital-asset service providers, based on precise criteria that assess technical readiness, compliance controls and settlement capability.

This shift reshapes the region’s financial-building options.For banks and fintech firms in the Gulf states, Egypt and the Arab region, this model changes the calculations for regional and intercontinental expansion; the challenge shifts from depleting resources to build complex, slow bilateral integration agreements with each market individually, to joining unified operating layers that preserve each country’s regulatory sovereignty. It also requires local financial engineering teams to develop open-source integration standards that align with multi-party instant-settlement protocols, reducing the cost of money transfers and placing wallet providers in direct competition with regional rivals that rely on extensive distribution networks and rapid execution.