Dubai: The UAE’s new payments card system – Jaywan – will have cleared two major milestones by end August before banks start issuing the card to its clients by end of the third quarter and picking up serious pace during the fourth quarter.

By end August, more than 90 per cent of Point-of-Sale terminals in the UAE will be able to process payments using a Jaywan card. Already, around 95 per cent of ATMs in the country have been tuned up to process any Jaywan based card withdrawal or related services.

Then comes the actual issuance of Jaywan cards – conceived by Al Etihad Payments and a subsidiary of Central Bank of UAE – by individual banks operating in the country. (Even branches of foreign banks can issue these cards. The eligibility mandate for an issuing bank is that they operate accounts on behalf of their clients in the UAE.)

Jaywan will operate as debit cards issued by banks or as pre-paid ones from local exchange houses. (Jaywan does not have a credit card feature for now.)

Being debit cards, there will likely be no issuing charges applied to the user.

Can be used for ecommerce buys too

The ability to use Jaywan for e-commerce transactions will be added shortly. Jaywan will thus be a payment platform in much the same way that Visa operates. Market sources say that the Jaywan fee structure for users could come in at 'competitive rates', and which will work to the advantage of the local consumer.

By September, the leading banks, retailers and service provider in the UAE should be launching major campaigns and promotions tied to the Jaywan scheme.

JAYWAN CAN ALSO BE USED OUTSIDE THE UAE

While principally meant for payments in the UAE, the Jaywan can also be used when UAE residents travel outside. But under certain conditions.
“Banks in the UAE can issue standalone Jaywan cards – or they can issue them featuring Jaywan and other international card schemes,” said Jan Pilbauer. “The second option is called a co-badge in the payments industry, and this essentially allows cardholders to make payments outside of the UAE as well.

“In time, Al Etihad Payments will have agreements with (payment authorities in) other countries, and which would allow for transactions to be done by Jaywan cardholders when traveling.”

Why create the Jaywan?

Jaywan, which means a ‘precious pearl’ in Arabic, should be seen as an integral part of UAE’s efforts to create a domestic payments platform and with its own unique features. Already, the UAE has its own payment processing platforms in the form of ‘Magnati’ from the banking giant FAB and Dubai headquartered Network International (which was recently bought by the Canadian investment firm Brookfield).

“With Jaywan, we wanted to create something that everyone in the UAE could be proud of,” said Pilbauer. “It brings financial stability and makes sure that we have solid domestic payments solutions serving the needs of the UAE.

“The second objective was to be more efficient with what we have created domestically.”

“While we as Al Etihad Payments will not be setting the (transaction) fees, we will still try to make it as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

“I expect that Jaywan will lower the end-to-end cost of card processing in the UAE.”

Will there be a Jaywan credit card?

“As things stand now, the honest answer is I don’t know,” said the CEO. “It will depend on how the market evolves around the Jaywan card services that are available at the time of launch.

“There are domestic card schemes in other countries evolving and offering a credit product. That may be a future path for Jaywan - but not for now.”