Checkout.com first to secure acquiring licence from the UAE Central Bank

Checkout.com has been granted a Retail Payment Services licence from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. This makes Checkout.com the first global payments provider to be granted an acquiring licence in the country.

Securing an acquiring licence allows it to unlock its full proposition for merchants in the UAE. This means offering merchant acquiring solutions, payment aggregation services and cross-border fund transfers.

Fundamentally, with direct acquiring it now has more control over processing outcomes and can drive best in class payment acceptance performance for its merchants.

“Our thanks to the Central Bank of the UAE for their approval. The issuance of this licence shows the level of trust, commitment and strength of the relationship we continue to have in serving both domestic and international brands to expand in the UAE,” said Guillaume Pousaz, CEO and Founder of Checkout.com.

The growth of e-commerce in the UAE is forecast to reach a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11%, increasing its e-commerce market size to $17 billion by 2025.

This is being driven by 91% of consumers in the UAE now favouring to make their purchases online.

Consumers across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are indicating a preference for digital wallets. Already the second leading online payment method in MEA with 20% share, digital wallets are set to continue their remarkable growth at 25% CAGR through 2026, when they are projected to attain 27% share of e-com transaction value.

A similar story is unfolding at POS: wallets are projected to double their 2021 share of 12% to 24% by 2026.

“We’ve continued to invest in our operations in the UAE to serve several hundred merchants such as Cafu, Talabat, Careem and OSN in the country as we fundamentally believe in the potential of growth in the digital economy here,” comments Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager in MENA for Checkout.com.

“It’s why we’re scaling our operations here in the UAE and opened a new office in Media City to house our growing team of close to 100 dedicated local experts.”

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