New Noor Bank White Paper Explores UAE's Prepaid Cards, Digital Payments Ecosystem

The fragmentation of the UAE payments landscape can be reduced through greater coordination between banks, regulatory authorities and industry sectors, according to a new white paper by Noor Bank, one of the leading Shari'ah-compliant banks in the UAE, prepared in collaboration with business intelligence service provider MEED.

Titled 'UAE's Prepaid Cards & Digital Payments Eco-system', the report offers a unique perspective on the current payments landscape, highlighting the resilience of cash in the market as well as the growth of non-cash payments. Moreover, the study examines the impact of digital tools on financial services and stresses the importance of innovation and financial inclusion.

John Iossifidis, CEO of Noor Bank, said: "The UAE's push towards a smart government and digital economy through innovation and leveraging leading technologies has resulted in the huge transformation the financial services industry is going through. At Noor Bank, we are very cognisant of these developments and have made digital transformation integral to our strategy of delivering outstanding customer experience. In the payments space, we have redefined our business model to be agile through partnerships with FinTech players. This has enabled us to differentiate and significantly enhance the value proposition for our clients."

The white paper features insights from industry experts, including Ehsaan Ahmed, Head of Global Transaction Services at Noor Bank, Patrick Ngan, CEO and Co-founder of QFPay International, Claire Ingram Bogusz, Research Fellow at House of Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics, and Umair Hameed, Partner – Financial Services at KPMG Lower Gulf. The contributors highlighted the factors that can boost the adoption of digital payments in the UAE while also sharing their views on the benefits and challenges of diversifying the payments ecosystem and the importance of enhancing interoperability between payment platforms.

Ehsaan Ahmed said: "The UAE market is evolving from cash to cashless, and Noor Bank is at the forefront in supporting this transition through various initiatives on pre-paid card programmes, e-commerce acquiring and digital wallets by leveraging strategic tie-ups across the value chain."