Seismic shifts in consumer behavior, technology, and risk are intersecting, urging payments ecosystem players to rethink what it means to compete, win, and build trust. With 74% of consumers in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) planning to use digital payments more in the next 12 months¹, and over 80%² leaning strongly towards personalized experiences, it is now more crucial than ever for banks and merchants to meet consumers where they are.
Earlier this year, at the Visa Payments Forum CEMEA 2025, Walter Lironi, Head of Value-Added Services, CEMEA, Visa, sat down with Osama Bahaa, AGM — Head of Cards Business at Al Rajhi Bank, to discuss customer-centricity, the role of digital enablement in powering innovation, and fraud prevention amidst an evolving payments landscape. Al Rajhi Bank, the world’s largest Islamic bank and a long-standing Visa partner for over 30 years, serves more than 18 million clients and has been at the forefront of digital payment innovation in the region.
Walter: Leading transformation at the world’s largest Islamic bank is no small feat. Looking back at your six years with Al-Rajhi, what were the key turning points in your transformation journey?
Osama: Over the past five years, we have revamped and launched a full set of product offerings to our customers, including cards, instalments, and loyalty programs. Our strategic objective was to ensure we have the full range of products that cater to different customer profiles and needs. Looking at the product range, specifically credit and prepaid cards, we’ve launched a full range of products catering to different customer segments, whether they’re travelers, value seekers, or price-sensitive customers.
Walter: Customer-centricity is an easy term to use, but hard to execute at scale. For Al-Rajhi, what does putting the customer at the center really look like in practice?
Osama: Customer-centricity is the driving force behind everything we do. We always look at the customers’ needs; what they want, and how they want to deal with us as a bank. From there, we innovate and develop our propositions.
Walter: How does Al-Rajhi balance digital convenience with trust and personalization?
Osama: We understand that our customers are looking for instant self-serve capabilities. They want more control and higher visibility — this is where we have invested heavily in our mobile application to deliver real value. Through our mobile app, customers can buy or apply for a card and get it instantly and digitally end-to-end. After obtaining their cards, they have access to a full range of world-class services, features, and benefits.
Walter: Innovation in payments is often defined by speed and convenience. Can you share a moment where a new product or solution not only solved a customer pain point but actually surprised you with how it shaped behavior?
Osama: With the increasing trend and interest in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offerings came the need for higher ticket size purchases, with longer and more flexible payment options. We overhauled our proprietary instalment solution and program to offer customers extended tenors and dynamic pricing. Most important of all, we focused on accessibility; we made our instalment programs available at the point of sale, at merchant counters, through our mobile application, and through traditional channels like call centres.
Walter: With 18 million customers, how do you approach portfolio growth, especially given your already large base?
Osama: It’s about scaling with precision. Dealing with millions of customers isn't just about scale; it’s about intelligence, capabilities, platforms, and understanding how to deal with these customers, how to understand their needs, and deliver against those needs.
Walter: Which platforms are key to managing this growth?
Osama: Visa’s insights capabilities has been a strategic pillar and key enabler for us — providing deep intelligence into our portfolios. This has helped us to constantly manage our portfolios profitably, upgrade product offerings, and, more importantly, refine our rewarding strategy for different customer segments and profiles.
With 18 million customers, adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy isn’t workable. These platforms were integral to our business strategy on how we can differentiate and serve our customers better.
Walter: Fraud never stands still — what is Al-Rajhi doing to stay ahead of the evolving fraud landscape?
Osama: Fraud is more than risk; it is a growth deterrent for businesses. It’s inevitable that all businesses should have well-built-in fraud prevention and control strategies as part of their systems and day-to-day operations.
As businesses grow, the stakes also grow. With the current expansion of the cards business globally, mobile payments, digital payments, and e-commerce, there is even more reason why businesses should build these fraud prevention capabilities as part of their ecosystem.
Walter: How has Al-Rajhi implemented Visa solutions to enhance its fraud prevention capabilities?
Osama: We embedded real-time intelligence, adaptive authentications, and AI-powered decisioning as part of our operating platforms and systems, and at different layers of our ecosystem. Visa Consumer Authentication Service (VCAS) helps us manage and process frictionless transactions across different digital channels.
Visa Risk Manager (VRM) is a very simple, adaptive, rule-based system that helps us increase our fraud capture rates and keep our fraud losses under control. The beauty of it is that it’s highly dynamic and adaptive. As market conditions change, simple rule definitions and setups can immediately help us manage and deliver against our fraud detection strategies.
Walter: How do you view Visa’s fraud prevention platforms?
Osama: These are not just defensive platforms, they are growth enablers. Reflecting on the data and portfolio capabilities and platforms, as well as risk, these are fundamental building blocks of our day-to-day business operations and management. It helps us ensure we have sustainable business growth over the years and is an absolute must to run the business profitably with the lowest risk exposure possible.
Walter: Looking ahead, what emerging trends should the industry be prepared for?
Osama: With the inherent nature of the fast-moving payments industry in general, we should all be ready, prepared, and brace for an era of intelligent, embedded, and real-time financial services because this is what our customers will be expecting from us. This would definitely require a great deal of investment and development to stay ahead of the game and exceed our customers’ expectations.
¹ Visa CEMEA Stay Secure Study 2025 (custom online survey to 5,800 adults aged 18+ in 17 CEMEA markets)
² Visa Spotlights Podcast with Walter Lironi, SVP, Head of Value-Added Services, CEMEA, Visa – Unpacking Visa’s Value-Added Services (VAS)