Visa plans Syria launch after deal with central bank on digital payments

Reuters

Thu, December 4, 2025 astatine 8:16 AM CST 1 min read

DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Visa said connected Thursday that it plans to motorboat operations successful Syria, pursuing ​an statement with Syria's cardinal slope connected a roadmap ‌to make a integer payments ecosystem, according to a institution statement.

"The contiguous ‌focus volition beryllium connected moving with licensed fiscal institutions to make a robust and unafraid payments foundation. This includes issuing outgo cards and enabling integer wallets utilizing planetary standards," Visa said.

In ⁠November, the International ‌Monetary Fund visited Damascus and said it volition supply method assistance connected fiscal assemblage regulation, the ‍rehabilitation of outgo and banking systems and rebuilding the cardinal bank's capableness to efficaciously instrumentality monetary argumentation for debased and unchangeable ostentation ​and supervision of the banking system.

Syrian banks were mostly isolated ‌from the planetary fiscal strategy during the civilian war, aft President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown connected anti-government protests successful 2011 prompted Western states to enforce sweeping sanctions, including measures against the cardinal bank.

Assad was ousted successful an violative by Islamist-led ⁠rebels past year, and the interim ​government has since moved to reconstruct ​international ties. Those efforts culminated successful a May gathering successful Riyadh betwixt interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and ‍U.S. President ⁠Donald Trump, followed by Sharaa’s sojourn past period to the White House.

Washington has since eased important parts of its ⁠sanctions program. European governments person announced the extremity of their ain ‌economic sanctions connected Syria.

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan; Editing by ‌Toby Chopra and Rod Nickel)