Banks and financial institutions in the UAE will start issuing the payment card called Jaywan from the second quarter of this year, Khaleej Times can reveal. The process to roll out the scheme — which was announced recently — will be completed in two years, according to a senior official.
“We have an aggressive growth plan for Jaywan, hoping to launch debit cards in Q2 2024 with select partners who are ready to issue. Over the next few years, the Central Bank of the UAE (will) mandate all banks to issue Jaywan as debit cards to their customers in the UAE,” Andrew McCormack, chief operating officer at Al Etihad Payments (AEP), told Khaleej Times.
Created in 2023, Al Etihad Payments (AEP) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE. It was established to develop and operate financial markets infrastructure for the UAE. The company started operations in all retail systems, including legacy ones that the Central Bank used to run such as the Wage Protection System and the UAE Switch.
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In October 2023, AEP and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) of India signed a partnership to advance the development of the UAE’s first national Domestic Card Scheme (DCS).
Jaywan, owned and operated by AEP, was announced during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE. Jaywan uses licensed technology from India’s payment operator NPCI.
As part of this new payment scheme and strategy, the Jaywan cards are to be issued to UAE residents who have bank accounts or to those who are banking with exchange houses.
Jaywan would be useable in India also, once all the electronic linkages are put in place. According to Global Data, the UAE’s cards and payment market was estimated to be nearly $120 billion (Dh440.4 billion) by the end of 2022 and it is expected to grow at a high single-digit growth rate in the coming years.
Mono-badged, co-badged
Currently, the banks issue Visa and Mastercard debit cards.
“Importantly, they (Jaywan) can be co-badged with Mastercard or Visa cards. So, there will be two badges on it because a large segment of the UAE travels extensively, and this will enable them to use it all around the world. So, the reach of the Jaywan card is the UAE, GCC and India. Beyond that, we will rely on co-badge partners Mastercard and Visa to extend the reach to the rest of the world,” he said.
McCormack explained that when banks issue new cards or renew old cards, debit cards will be either Jaywan debit cards for domestic transactions or co-badged cards with Mastercard and Visa for international travel.
He added that Jaywan’s relationship now extends into India and GCC countries and will not rely on Mastercard or Visa systems only when used in India or Gulf countries.
McCormack added that Jaywan’s credit cards are not on the table right now. The launch partners for the Jaywan card will be revealed soon.
Why Jaywan?
Al Etihad Payments COO elaborated that there are two primary objectives for introducing a new domestic payment method.
“Most countries have developed – some of them did a long time ago – because the importance of having a national sovereign payment scheme is critical to economic health and ability to process transactions. Control over the payment system is a priority for any country. It is not uncommon to have some control over the domestic payment system because all small and medium businesses depend on their ability to collect payments from their customers,” he said.
“Secondly, taking control of it over time allows us to manage the cost of payments as well. And the ultimate benefit will accrue to consumers and merchants. This is something we can achieve better if we have a better degree of control,” he added.
McCormack reasoned that the banks and other financial institutions were given two-year periods as such projects require time and investment.
“When new customers are onboarded, they will be issued a new card, and when the existing cards expire, the new cards will be Jaywan or co-badged to be issued,” he said.