DarbThe Payments Desk by Darb
Understanding payments. Making better decisions.
Perspectives grounded in hands-on payments experience: risk, cost, time and the decisions behind better financial products.
4 articles
01The Payments Desk
Who is Saudi Arabia's biggest card issuer?
Card count doesn't tell the whole story. Debit-card scale, credit-card spending and the mix of spending reveal very different banking businesses.
The Payments Desk
Why one Saudi bank's customers are 17 times bigger than another's
Merchant counts, payment volume and terminal usage tell different stories. A closer look at six Saudi banks' 2025 figures—and what the word “merchant” really measures.
The Payments Desk
"It's Too Much Work for Pennies" — Are You Losing Money by Not Reclaiming VAT?
A finance manager told me reclaiming VAT on small spend isn't worth the effort. He was right about the effort. He was wrong about the pennies.
The Payments Desk
Why Do Payment Technologies Get Adopted?
Risk, cost and time: a framework for understanding the adoption of cheques, cards and stablecoins—and how it guides product decisions at Darb.