Mastercard Expands Partnerships With Emirates NBD and Checkout.com

Mastercard has expanded two partnerships in the Middle East.

These include a partnership with Emirates NBD, a banking group in the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye (MENAT) region, and a partnership with Checkout.com in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Emirates NBD will integrate Mastercard Gateway within the Emirates NBD Pay platform, which will support transactions throughout the region and make the banking group the first acquiring bank globally to offer Mastercard’s Brighterion AI technology through the integration, the companies said in a Thursday (Feb. 27) press release.

“The integration of this cutting-edge platform in the bank’s systems will simplify payment processes for online merchants, allowing them to offer their customers a faster, more secure and seamless transaction experience,” Gina Petersen-Skyrme, country manager, UAE and Oman at Mastercard, said in the release.

Mastercard Gateway provides businesses with a single connection and simple integration of a global payment gateway, while Brighterion AI provides artificial intelligence (AI) protection for the payments ecosystem, according to the Mastercard website.

Checkout.com will leverage Mastercard Move’s money movement solutions to enable individuals and businesses in the UAE to send funds directly to Mastercard cards, the companies said in a Wednesday (Feb. 26) press release. The companies expect this offering to facilitate insurance disbursements, wallet cashouts, refunds and other use cases.

“Together we will set a new standard for payment technologies in the region, enabling faster, more secure payment flows that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Mete Guney, executive vice president, commercial and new payment flows, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Mastercard, said in the release.

Mastercard Move’s money movement capabilities power person-to-person payments, business payments and disbursements and can access more than 95% of the world’s banked population, according to the release.

Mastercard reported in January that its worldwide gross dollar volumes (GDV) in the fourth quarter were up 12% year on year to $2.6 trillion.

The number of cards wielded by consumers and commercial clients across the globe was up 6% to 3.5 billion.

Mastercard Move transactions leapt 40% year over year in the quarter, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said Jan. 30 during the company’s quarterly earnings call.