The team of Pakistani fintech ABHI - Speedinvest/website/File

 

Pakistan’s ABHI Gets Saudi Shariah Certification for Flagship Wage-Access Product

By Naimat Khan

Islamabad: Pakistan-founded fintech ABHI has secured Shariah certification for its flagship earned-wage access product from a Saudi-based advisory body, the company said on Tuesday, as it expands its financial services business in the Kingdom.

The approval by the Shariah Committee of Badiha Company covers ABHI’s Earned Wage Access, or EWA, service, which allows employees to access part of wages they have already earned before their regular payday rather than taking a conventional short-term loan.

The certification marks another step in ABHI’s expansion into Saudi Arabia, where it entered the market in 2024 through a partnership with Alraedah Digital Solutions. Under that agreement, Alraedah said it would enable access to $200 million over three years to develop financial products using ABHI’s technology and adapted for the Saudi market.

Founded in Pakistan in 2021, ABHI initially built its business around earned-wage access, allowing salaried employees to withdraw part of their accrued earnings through employer-linked digital platforms instead of waiting for the monthly salary cycle.

It has subsequently expanded into payroll processing, payroll financing and financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, and now operates across Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman. The company says it serves more than one million users and works with over 7,000 businesses across the region.

Its expansion comes as Saudi Arabia is seeking to develop into a global fintech hub under its Vision 2030 diversification program, with the number of fintech companies rising from 82 in 2022 to 281 by August 2025, according to the Saudi Central Bank.

The Kingdom aims to have 525 fintech companies by 2030, while the sector had attracted more than SR8.9 billion ($2.37 billion) in cumulative investment by July 2025.

For ABHI, the Shariah approval potentially broadens the appeal of a product around which it has built much of its Saudi expansion. Earned-wage access differs from a conventional payday loan because employees are accessing income already accrued during the salary period rather than borrowing against future earnings… - AN