Emirates NBD, Network International to launch Emirates NBD Pay

Emirates NBD has expanded its portfolio in the payments space with the launch of Emirates NBD Pay.

In a statement, the leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) region said it collaborated with Network International to launch its new platform that will offer card acceptance solutions to the bank’s existing and potential institutional banking clients in the UAE.

Emirates NBD Pay will enable clients to accept card payments across multiple channels including Point of Sale (POS) machines, payment gateway, Pay By Link, unified commerce, soft POS along with unattended kiosks.

The bank will also offer value-added services including buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), attractive POS lending solutions for Network International merchants, business-to-business payments, and sector specific integrated payment acceptance solutions for select clients, along with additional services such as easy payment plan (EPP) on POS, instant loyalty points redemption and dynamic currency conversion (DCC).

Ahmed Al Qassim, senior executive vice-president and group head, Corporate and Institutional Banking at Emirates NBD; and Nandan Mer, group chief executive officer, Network International, signed the agreement.

“As a leading bank in the region, we are constantly working towards empowering businesses to succeed in a rapidly evolving digital environment. We are pleased to announce our foray into the merchant acquiring space, further adding to our rich suite of innovative solutions by enabling merchants to enhance their payment acceptance capabilities to meet changing customer expectations," Ahmed Al Qassim said.

"We are confident that our collaboration with a market leader like Network International, holding a solid track record in reliable and secure acquirer processing services, will help us offer our clients a superior value proposition,” he said.

Emirates NBD a leading player

Emirates NBD is one of the largest issuing banks in the UAE with one in every four cards issued in the region belonging to the bank. With the growing demand for digital payments in the region, the agreement will support Emirates NBD in providing card acceptance solutions to its existing and potential Institutional Banking clients, whilst reaffirming Network International’s position as the region’s largest end-to-end payment service provider.

Ahmed Al Qassim said the UAE payments market is ripe right now and expected to grow rapidly over the next few years, given the strong uptick in digital payment adoption during the pandemic.

"As a digital-first bank, we see this as a strong market opportunity and look forward to establishing ourselves as a key player, thus complementing our leadership position in the issuing space and supporting the UAE’s vison to become a cashless economy,” he said.

A win-win collaboration

Emirates NBD has a long-standing relationship with Network International. The payments leader provides a range of issuer solutions and value-added services to the bank across the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This collaboration represents the first extension of the relationship into the merchant acquiring business. The bank has chosen Network International to leverage their expertise in the cards acceptance industry, built on best-in-class technology and decades-long experience.

Nandan Mer said “Emirates NBD has been a long-standing and major client and "we are delighted to be their partner of choice" as they expand their service offering in the payments space.

"As the preferred partner for more than 200 financial institutions and 150,000 merchants across MEA, we are confident that the bank will benefit from our proven expertise and experience in customised merchant management solutions," he said.

"As we continue to strengthen our leadership position in the region, we look forward to supporting financial institutions, merchants and consumers when it comes to payments,” Mer concluded.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com

• Business