MBME Pay licence lifts UAE payments push

MBME Pay has secured a Category 3 Payment Service Provider licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, giving the company regulatory approval to carry out merchant acquiring and payment aggregation activities and placing it in a narrower circle of fully licensed operators in one of the Gulf’s fastest-moving fintech markets. The approval marks a step up for the Abu Dhabi-listed MBME Group subsidiary as businesses across the UAE shift more transactions to digital channels and regulators tighten oversight of payment infrastructure.

The licence is significant because it moves MBME Pay beyond being seen chiefly as a technology-enabled payments and service network and formally anchors it within the central bank’s retail payments framework. Under the UAE’s Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation, merchant acquiring and payment aggregation are among the regulated payment activities requiring central bank licensing, alongside services such as payment instrument issuance and domestic or cross-border fund transfers. That framework, introduced in 2021, has become a central pillar of the country’s effort to build a safer and more standardised digital payments market.

MBME Pay said the authorisation allows it to provide end-to-end merchant acquiring solutions, operate as a licensed payment aggregator and deliver compliant transaction processing for businesses, small firms and government entities. Abdelhadi Mohamed, managing director and group chief executive of MBME Group, described the approval as a “strong vote of confidence” in the company’s vision and capabilities. The company has framed the development as a springboard for a broader push into digital commerce in the UAE and the wider Middle East and North Africa region.

For the market, the decision underlines how the UAE payments industry is maturing from a growth story built on convenience into one centred on licensing, resilience and scale. The central bank says payment systems are a critical part of the financial market infrastructure, and the policy direction is increasingly clear: more real-time rails, more regulated providers and closer supervision of operational, fraud and anti-money-laundering controls. On Friday, Al Etihad Payments, a central bank subsidiary, said the national instant-payments platform Aani had topped 12.5 million users, with 74 licensed financial institutions connected and transfers showing sixfold year-on-year growth.

That backdrop helps explain why a PSP licence now carries strategic value well beyond simple compliance. Dubai’s cashless strategy is targeting 90 per cent of transactions to be conducted digitally by 2026, with officials saying the shift could add more than AED 8 billion annually to the economy. As public policy, merchant demand and consumer behaviour align, licensed acquiring and aggregation capabilities are becoming more commercially important for companies serving e-commerce merchants, service providers and public-sector payment flows.

MBME enters that race with an established physical and digital footprint. The group says it operates smart kiosks, point-of-sale systems and payment gateways, while a separate disclosure tied to a new partnership said MBME Pay’s kiosk network spans more than 4,000 locations across the UAE, including malls, hospitals, residential complexes and government offices. That kind of reach could prove useful in a market where digital adoption is rising quickly but cash-intensive user segments still matter, particularly for bill payments, top-ups and hybrid online-offline transactions.

The opportunity, however, comes with sharper scrutiny. A full licence does not by itself guarantee market dominance in a sector crowded with banks, established payment firms, wallet operators and global technology providers. The central bank’s rulebook places weight on anti-money-laundering compliance, consumer protection, governance and risk controls, all of which can raise costs even as they strengthen the market’s credibility. Companies that win regulatory approval must still prove they can convert it into merchant volumes, dependable settlement, strong cybersecurity and durable margins.

MBME Group’s corporate trajectory adds another layer to the story. The company, which listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in 2023, presents itself as a UAE-based technology and digital services group with subsidiaries spanning payments and related platforms. Its earlier market disclosures and corporate material show an ambition to build a broader fintech and digital commerce ecosystem rather than a single-product payments business. The new licence gives that strategy stronger regulatory footing at a time when investors and clients alike are attaching greater value to regulated status.