Pakistan’s fintech sector faced a major disruption after SadaPay announced that its mobile application became unavailable for users due to an outage in Amazon Web Services infrastructure in Bahrain, triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
App Outage Linked to AWS Disruption
SadaPay confirmed that its services were affected after AWS, the cloud infrastructure provider it relies on, experienced disruptions in Bahrain. The outage comes amid escalating tensions following attacks on Iran, which have expanded across the region and impacted Gulf countries including Bahrain.
In a statement, the company said, “The SadaPay app is currently unavailable for all users. Our infrastructure runs on AWS in Bahrain, which has been disrupted since the drone strikes on March 1.”
It added that “conditions in the affected AWS region worsened, causing a full app outage for our users.”
Wider Impact of Regional Conflict
The disruption is part of a broader fallout from the Iran conflict, which has affected critical infrastructure across the Middle East. Reports indicate that drone activity near AWS facilities caused the outage, marking the second such disruption in recent weeks.
AWS, one of the world’s largest cloud service providers, plays a vital role in powering apps, financial platforms, and even government services globally. Any disruption to its infrastructure can have cascading effects on businesses that depend on it.
Amazon confirmed that its Bahrain region had been “disrupted” and said it was working to restore services while helping clients shift operations to alternative locations.
SadaPay Assures Users on Funds Safety
Despite the outage, SadaPay reassured customers that their money remained secure.
The company said user funds were “safe and fully accounted for,” and clarified that essential services such as debit cards, ATM withdrawals, and point-of-sale transactions were still operational.
“This is not a SadaPay-specific failure, but it is our problem to solve for our users, and we are treating it with full urgency,” the company stated.
The fintech firm also acknowledged that it was dealing with the “downstream consequences of physical damage to shared cloud infrastructure,” similar to other financial services across the Gulf.
Previous Issues Add to Concerns
The outage comes shortly after users reported issues such as incorrect deductions and negative balances in their accounts. SadaPay had earlier attributed those problems to a temporary issue with a technology partner and assured users that all balances would be corrected.
These back-to-back disruptions have raised concerns among users about reliability, although the company has maintained that all funds remain secure.
Growing Dependence on Cloud Infrastructure
The incident highlights the increasing reliance of fintech companies on global cloud providers like AWS. Experts say such dependencies can create vulnerabilities when geopolitical events disrupt infrastructure.
As the Middle East conflict continues, analysts warn that similar outages could affect more digital services across regions connected to impacted data centres.
