The Mada system is the national electronic payment system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
1952: The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) was established (currently the Saudi Central Bank).
1990: The Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) was launched.
1993: Point-of-sale (POS) service was launched.
1994: Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) transactions were accepted in the GCC countries.
2008: The international system for Saudi smart payment card standards was implemented.
2012: Mada achieved the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
2015: The updated identity of the Saudi Payments Network (Mada) was launched.
2016: The Mada Atheer contactless payment service was launched.
2017: The Mada Cash service was launched.
2018: The following services were launched: Mada for e-commerce, Esal (invoice service), and payment via smart devices (Apple Pay).
2019: The Mada Pay service for smart device payments was launched.
2021: The Soft POS service was implemented.
2022: Discover cards were accepted in the Kingdom.
2023: The Mada Public Transport Payments service was launched.