Abu Dhabi, UAE – 6th of February 2018:   The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates launched an initiative to develop a National Payment Systems Strategy for the U.A.E. The initiative aims to position the U.A.E. at the forefront of innovation and establish a world-class payment system to enable safe, efficient and customer-centric domestic and cross-border payments. This initiative will enable the U.A.E. in transitioning to a cashless society, reducing the cost of domestic and cross-border payments, promoting innovation and positioning the country as a global leader in payment systems in line with the U.A.E. Vision 2021.

H.E. Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, said “In recent years, countries across the world have harnessed technology to accelerate economic development and transform their economies. In the context of the UAE, we believe that the empowerment and enablement of customer-centric payments will serve to drive the overall competitiveness level of the UAE economy and benefit the public and private ecosystem, while supporting the UAE smart government agenda. This will result in benefiting from higher quality services at a competitive cost, in addition to reduced transaction fees, greater levels of efficiency, improved collection cycles, and more innovative payment channels.”

In its role as the custodian of the major payment systems, and given the strategic importance of this initiative, the Central Bank will own and lead the delivery of the National Payment Systems Strategy. Under this strategy, a number of key objectives will be achieved among which, ensuring the payment systems are interoperable and well regulated, and implementing the enabling environment to support the transformation of the U.A.E. to a cashless society on the long run. 

In the context of its continuous support to the U.A.E. Government's strategic agenda, the Central Bank, as part of this initiative, will consult and collaborate with the relevant stakeholders from the federal and local governments, other regulatory entities, financial and non-financial institutions, telecommunications companies, industry and other entities.