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AFAQ

RTGS

Arabian Gulf System for Financial Automated Quick Payment Transfer - the pan-GCC cross-border RTGS. Connects domestic RTGS systems of 6 GCC countries. Live in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman. Qatar joining. Cross-currency settlement at daily fixed exchange rates. Operated by GPC (owned by 6 GCC central banks, HQ in Riyadh).

NowHours: computing from the published schedule…Service condition: not monitored details

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Next

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ClearingPost holds sourced upcoming items for 10 of 150 systems; an empty list is a statement about ClearingPost's records, not about a system's plans.

Changed

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The full activity log for this system, including context notes, is on the Changes page.

Sources ClearingPost reads Gulf Payments Company · Authoritative (T1) · 6 of 11 fields carry a source and a recorded date · latest sourced entry recorded 16 Apr 2026 · evidence details ↓

Record · AFAQ

Country
GCC (GCC)
Currency
Multi-currency (6 GCC currencies) (SAR/AED/BHD/KWD/OMR/QAR)
Operator
Gulf Payments Company (GPC)
Type
RTGS
Operating Window
05:00–13:00 UTC · Sun–Thu
Year Established
2020
Daily Volume
234,000+ transactions since launch
Tier?
Tier 1
ISO 20022?
Native
Region
Middle East & Africa
Settlement Type?
Gross
Participants
69+ banks across 5 GCC central banks (UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait)
Availability
Sun-Thu business days
Notes

Hours: 08:00-16:00 KSA (UTC+3). Uses ISO 20022 messaging (pacs.008, pacs.009, pacs.004) alongside MT equivalents. Private MPLS-VPN network (not SWIFT). GPC owned by 6 central banks. Qatar QAR listed as 'coming soon'. Future plans include single-currency payments and cross-border multilateral net clearing.

Gulf Payments Company (GPC) official website →
Reference Sources
Gulf Payments Company
Authoritative (T1)Entry recorded Mar 13, 2026
Status →Participants →Rules →
See all RTGS systems →See all systems in GCC →ISO 20022 migration status →Payment rails by country →
Other systems in the same country or region
SARIERTGS
Saudi Arabia · SAR · SAMA
UAEFTSRTGS
UAE · AED · CBUAE
SAMOSRTGS
South Africa · ZAR · SARB
KEPSSRTGS
Kenya · KES · CBK
PAPSSFPS
Africa (Pan-continental) · XAF · Afreximbank
RTGS EgyptRTGS
Egypt · EGP · CBE

Operations · AFAQ

Operational monitoring: not configured. ClearingPost does not monitor operational sources for this system and does not assess its current service condition.

Operations lists the systems ClearingPost monitors and the operational events it has recorded.

Intelligence for AFAQ (2)

Coverage whose headline or summary names AFAQ, or names its operator or country together with its system type. Each item quotes that evidence and says whether the source is the AFAQ operator or external.

AnalysisMar 11, 2026Summary names “AFAQ”
MENA's Real-Time Payment Rails: From Domestic Instant Systems to Cross-Border Interlinking
The GCC and wider MENA region now operate seven domestic instant payment systems and two cross-border platforms. Here is how SARIE, Aani, Fawri+, Fawran, SADAD, Buna, and AFAQ compare - and where the interlinking gaps remain.
External source · Ib
NewsFeb 12, 2026Headline names “AFAQ”
National Bank of Oman Joins GCC AFAQ Cross-Border Payment System
AFAQ enables real-time cross-border transfers between banks across the six GCC member states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman).
External source · Gulf Payments Company
Not listed here: 1 tagged article that does not mention AFAQ. All coverage is in Insights.