China’s fintech major Ant International is set to expand into Saudi Arabia to tap into the growing digital payments market in the region.

The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the company, to facilitate its business expansion into the kingdom, according to a statement.

The Singapore-based firm will establish an entity in Saudi and use the kingdom as a gateway into the rest of the Middle East, further expanding the reach of its payment and financial services.

Ant International offers payment services for merchants, digital payment and financial services for cross-border trade and digital wholesale bank regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Ant’s foray into Saudi will not only benefit businesses in the country but “potentially hundreds of thousands” of merchants across the region, according to Saleh Khabti, Deputy Minister of Investment at MISA.

“We have worked closely with Ant International on its expansion into the kingdom… We are seeing tremendous growth in digital payments in Saudi Arabia and we expect this trend to continue with Ant International’s expansion,” Khabti said.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com