About 1.5 million users in the UAE have enrolled with Aani, the central bank's new instant payments platform, as the Emirates seeks to increase financial inclusion and move towards a cashless society.
“There’s about 10 million people in the UAE, and we want to make sure everyone is on board this year,” said Andrew McCormack, chief operating officer at Al Etihad Payments, the UAE's nationally designated payment system operator. “We're about 15 per cent of the way there and hope to close that gap in 2025. Similar services in other countries include UPI in India and PayNow in Singapore.”
Aani offers real-time, 24/7 money transfers using mobile numbers, email addresses or QR codes, eliminating the need for international bank account numbers (IBANs). It has enrolled 57 licensed financial institutions, including major banks and exchange houses, and more than 80,000 merchants.
The platform has a transfer limit of Dh50,000 ($13,614) per transaction, with daily or monthly limits set by each financial institution. In the past 12 months, it has recorded an average of 27 per cent month-on-month growth in transactions and a 30 per cent monthly growth in transaction value, according to Al Etihad Payments.
Customers need to enrol with Aani, “but it’s an easy, one-time process”, said Mr McCormack. Both the sender and recipient need to be enrolled because “we are building a network effect”.
Most banks and licensed institutions are already connected to Aani. Once a customer enrols, they can open their bank app or preferred financial app, select a contact from their phone book and send money, he said. Users can also download the Aani app, which is available in all major app stores, link their bank accounts and use it to make payments.
“The idea is to make those peer-to-peer transfers convenient,” he said. “It’s a convenient way to send small amounts of money to people within your circle, without having to go and register a beneficiary on your online banking platform and get their IBAN, address and middle name.”
About a quarter (23 per cent) of transactions by UAE consumers are done using cash, according to a survey of 2,800 people across the GCC by Visa in January.
Within the peer-to-peer segment, tips and money exchanges between friends and family are the prime areas where UAE consumers use cash, the research found. The top reasons respondents prefer cash for peer-to-peer payments are habit and acceptance.
The Dubai Cashless Strategy aims to make 90 per cent of transactions in the emirate cashless by 2026. The strategy was announced last year by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence.
More options for businesses
Aani currently offers only peer-to-peer remittances, such as sending money to a family member or a small-business owner. The platform will soon roll out QR code payments for small businesses, Mr McCormack said.
“A lot of merchants don't appreciate the costs that come with accepting credit card payments. Aani will offer merchants an alternative to accepting digital payments, thereby minimising their costs,” he added.
Al Etihad Payments is also working to add features like request to pay, bill splitting and international remittances to Aani this year.
One of the Central Bank’s objectives is to look for opportunities to work with countries that have similar systems, according to the senior executive. An initiative is under way to connect the payment systems between India and the UAE. “We expect there'll be more such international remittance opportunities this year and into 2026,” he said.
Aani will also roll out an electronic direct debit feature this year. This aims to help users dealing with, for example, a utility provider, an insurance company or a vehicle loan, where payments are automatically deducted from the customer’s account, Mr McCormack explained.
“There's a lot of interesting use cases that could also eventually extend into, say, subscriptions. So, if you have a Netflix subscription, instead of using a credit card on file, you could have an automatic deduction from your bank account using Aani,” he said.
The Aani platform supports bank accounts, digital wallets and salary cards, and allows the user to link multiple accounts.
Once a user links their accounts and opens the Aani app, they can see their exchange house account, bank account or digital wallet, with all the balances visible in one place.
Aani stands out from other market players since private companies only offer payment systems within a closed loop, Mr McCormack said. “The idea that you can pay from any wallet or app to any merchant or any person is a pretty powerful differentiator. That's very difficult for a single player, bank or wallet provider to replicate in the market,” he added.
Jaywan card roll-out
The Central Bank has also asked all financial institutions to be ready to issue Jaywan cards early in the second quarter of this year, McCormack said.
Jaywan is the UAE’s first national domestic card programme, owned and operated by Al Etihad Payments. “Jaywan cards are almost ready to be accepted universally at points of sale, both through contact and contactless payment methods,” he said.
“We're working hard with digital wallet providers … We’re also working with all e-commerce gateways to accept Jaywan cards.”
People will start to familiarise themselves with Jaywan and be able to use it everywhere later this year, he added.
