After more than a decade of war and sanctions that left the nation’s financial system largely frozen, Visa will begin operations in Syria, working with the Syrian Central Bank to help establish a modernized payments ecosystem.
Visa stated that its initial efforts will involve collaborating with licensed financial institutions to develop a secure payments foundation. This includes introducing payment cards with global standards such as EMV chips, enabling digital wallets, and supporting tokenization.
For merchants, Visa will assist in enabling acceptance methods like tap-to-phone and QR codes. The aim is to develop an accessible payment network through the Visa Acceptance Platform that maintains low costs and fosters open acceptance. These capabilities are expected to be particularly useful for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, which make up a sizable share of Syria’s economy.
A Clean Slate
Visa also plans to support targeted programs for local entrepreneurs working to build and scale new payment processes. These initiatives will connect local innovators with broader network of regional and global fintech partners.
“Syria can leapfrog decades of legacy infrastructure development and immediately adopt the secure, open platforms that power modern commerce,” said Leila Serhan, Visa’s Senior Vice President, for North Africa, Levant and Pakistan.
Rebounding from War and Sanctions
President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 prompted sweeping sanctions from Western states, including measures against the central bank. The sanctions, paired with the effects of the conflict, damaged key elements of the country’s infrastructure and industrial base, reducing the economy to less than a third of its 2011 value. As a result, banks in the region became largely isolated from the global financial system.
Following Assad’s removal from office last year, both the U.S. and European governments eased their economic restrictions on Syria. Recently, the International Monetary Fund announced it would provide technical assistance on financial sector regulation and help rehabilitate the country’s payment and banking systems.
Syria is now moving to catch up broader developments in the Middle East. Last year, the BRICS economic alliance expanded to include Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, aiming to deepen economic cooperation and extend cross-border payment capabilities across member countries.
