Dubai unveils affordable payments platform!

• The platform offers zero onboarding cost to encourage merchant adoption.

To facilitate affordable and seamless transactions aimed at taking the UAE closer to its goal to be among the top 10 cashless economies, Dubai Economy announced on Tuesday at Gitex the launch of an inclusive platform that will bring together all payment service providers, and unbanked as well as underbanked merchants.

The platform offers zero onboarding cost to encourage merchant adoption.
With the Unified Payments Network (UPN), offering an affordable and seamless platform, Dubai Economy will seek to accelerate financial inclusion rate in the UAE by empowering local wallets to onboard and encouraging every payment service provider to be part of the network, Dubai Economy said.

The platform is a subsidiary of the flagship ‘EngageDXB’ initiative of Dubai Economy to promote engagement between the private and public sectors, and aims to empower the existing players in the payment ecosystem to accelerate the transition towards a cashless society.

Sami Al Qamzi, director general of Dubai Economy, said UPN would benefit the under-served merchants and individuals, while also empowering the existing players in the digital payments ecosystem. “UPN will enable and accelerate the digital and cashless initiatives aimed to enhance the competitiveness of Dubai and UAE in the digital transformation race globally.”

He said the platform will help achieve the secure and seamless transition of Dubai towards a cashless society in line with the vision of the government and the strategic plans of the Cashless Dubai Working Group constituted recently.

Mohammed Shael Al Saadi, CEO of the Corporate Strategic Affairs sector in Dubai Economy, said the platform would further reduce the time, efforts and investment to market and promote new payment products and services. “This platform will encourage payment service providers to focus on their offerings and to onboard more users, without investing further on the traditional acceptance network. It’s indeed a win-win situation for payment service providers, merchants and individuals.”

Dubai Economy said UPN would boost the growth of digital payment and ensure that no merchant or individual is left behind in the race towards a cashless society. Merchants will be able to join the platform seamlessly; they will have the choice to configure the payment acceptance channels on the go.

The UPN digital settlement account will also enable merchants to accept all types of payments in one digital account that supports their business at zero adoption cost.