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News and resources on payments systems, innovations and initiatives worldwide.

UAE to launch national domestic card scheme

The United Arab Emirates is to establish its own domestic card scheme in a bid to encourage strategic independence from the Visa/Mastercard duopoly.

5 comments

UAE to launch national domestic card scheme

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and its subsidiary payments infrastructure provider Al-Etihad Payments are to develop and implement the DCS in partnership with NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), which led the development of India's RuPay card scheme.

Led by former Mastercard and Visa exec Ritesh Shukla, NIPL was established in 2020 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to sell the technology behind its RuPay network and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to other countries

For the UAE project, NIPL has been commissioned to build the foundational infrastructure, operate the DCS and provide fraud monitoring and data analysis support. The new card scheme is scheduled for introduction in early 2024.

Says Shukla: "Our DCS solution is based on the principles of sovereignty, speed to market, innovation, digitisation, and strategic independence.”

Saif Al Dhaheri, assistant governor - strategy, financial infrastructure and digital transformation at CBUAE comments: “We are pleased to collaborate further with our counterparts in India and are confident that we have chosen the ideal partners to accomplish this venture with. We also look forward to establishing an innovation fund that will look to support the payment systems of India and the UAE, drive R&D, and foster the capabilities of UAE citizens to ensure their effective management of the DCS."

The latest initiative comes as the central bank launches a new instant payments platform, Aani, capable of giving consumers the ability to split bills and transfer money using just phone numbers, while also enabling businesses to accept payments using QR codes. Eight national banks are onboad at launch with the rest of the country's financial institutions coming on stream later this year.

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Comments: (5)

Jonathan Bowles

Jonathan Bowles director at bushido Impact

that is the best news I've seen in years 

 

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

I always believed that, unlike UPI, RuPay Credit Card has a strong value proposition all over the world and had shared a playbook for taking RuPay Credit Card global in my blog post titled How RuPay Can Disrupt Visa And MasterCard. (hyperlink to post on my company website removed to comply with Finextra Community Rules but this post should appear on top of Google Search results when searched by its title + "GTM360")

Happy to hear that RuPay Credit Card has started going global!

A Finextra member 

With respect. Calling him an exec might be overstating his position. He was in business development. Not even an SVP.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

LOL. Unlike American companies, "exec" is a midlevel position in Indian companies, including subsidiaries of American companies in India. Like I was "Marketing Executive" in a Top 3 IT company with only three years of work experience. OTOH, General Manager is higher in US companies than Indian companies. Director is the other way around. I could go on and but job titles don't travel too well across geographies. 

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

... or industries even within a given geography e.g. Managing Director is top management position outside of Investment Banking industry in every country. 

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