Checkout.com just received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to become the first global payments company to offer both acquiring and card issuance together in the country. Joining me to unpack it all is Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com. Remo, welcome to Wall Street to Mena.
Thanks for having me.
You just got approval to add issuance to your acquiring license here. What does that actually unlock?
First of all, it allows us to offer merchants an additional service. We have been offering acquiring solutions in the UAE for many years. Now merchants on the same platform can also issue cards — without needing a separate integration or managing two different platforms. The power of combining issuing with acquiring is that merchants can pre-fund cards with their acquiring volume and do not need to worry about maintaining a separate balance. All the money we collect from acquiring automatically becomes available on the Checkout.com business account, which can then be used to fund card issuance.
You were also the first to get an acquiring license here in the UAE. Why did issuance come as a second step?
I would not say it took long — we are primarily an acquiring platform. We came here many years ago and since then we have been growing extremely fast. We grew 62% last year, 78% the year before. It has been more about sequencing than timing. We first focused on what we do best, and now we are adding the next level of service. Receiving the licence is the first step — there is still work to do in terms of building the product and the internal infrastructure.
Your media volume grew 62% last year. What is driving that?
Three main things. First, consumer behaviour. More than half of UAE consumers say they spend money online at least once a week, and two thirds plan to spend even more next year — e-commerce and digital payments are clearly growing. Second, the demand for invisible payments. 96% of consumers we interviewed want payments to be frictionless. If there is any barrier, they leave. We see that 60% of consumers who experience a false decline at the payment page simply abandon the purchase — that is direct revenue loss for the merchant. Third, the rise of digital wallets. Nearly 40% of UAE consumers are now using digital wallets — not just for food delivery or retail, but increasingly for money remittances as well.
Is the UAE's regulatory environment forward-looking enough or does it need to catch up with merchants?
Absolutely forward-looking. The UAE has been one of the places where regulation has been progressive and innovation-friendly — not only in payments, but fintech in general. This is why we continue to invest here and why more and more players are coming to the region. There is a very good balance between compliance and a customer-centric approach, which is critical — maintaining consumer trust has always been important, both for us and for the regulator.
Is there room for everyone as more players race to get licensed here?
It is getting crowded — which means you need to solve a specific problem. Just getting a license does not mean you automatically get a space in the market. The UAE is growing, the numbers show it year over year, and at the same time there are different use cases every player is solving. For us, we are enterprise — we only focus on large merchants. Others have different segments. So yes, big opportunity, but differentiation is everything.
Issuing goes live. What is next on the roadmap?
A very busy roadmap. The next big focus is AI. We have introduced Intelligent Acceptance — a product that uses AI to decrease false declines and improve transaction approval rates. Continuing to drive the best acceptance rates in the market is something that will keep us very busy.
Thank you so much, Remo.
It has been my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
