The word Jaywan means ‘precious pearl’ in Arabic and aims to be seen as UAE’s effort to create a domestic payment platform with their own features that are unique.
Jaywan is UAE’s new payment card system which the UAE banks are said to issue about 8 million of such cards for free of cost. Over 90% of the ATMs are preparing to introduce Jaywan. The Point-of-Sale terminals will be ready to include them by the end of August. The network system in the UAE is also fully prepared to introduce the country’s own domestic payment system.
Before issuing the card to the public and clients, the new payment card system would achieve two big milestones by the end of the next month. This is predicted to take place towards the end of the third quarter and speed up during the start of the fourth quarter.
Naturally towards the late of August, almost all ATMs will be able to process payments using the new payment system. About 95% of the country’s ATMs have signed up to process any withdrawals and related services through the Jaywan card system.
Jaywan is only issued by individual banks that are operating in the country and is created by a subsidiary of the Central Bank of UAE and Al Etihad Payments. Although the card can be introduced in the branches of foreign banks as well. The eligibility is that the bank should operate accounts on behalf of their clients in the UAE.
The new payments system Jaywan will operate as a prepaid card from the local exchange houses or as a debit card which is issued by banks. The debit card will not include any issuing charges applied to the user to own it. The credit card feature is not a part of the payment system yet and introduction will depend on how the market evolves around it.
The word Jaywan means ‘precious pearl’ in Arabic and aims to be seen as UAE’s effort to create a domestic payment platform with their own features that are unique. With UAE’s already existing payment processing platform ‘Magnati’ from the banking giant FAB and Dubai headquartered Network International, the CEO wanted to bring in something new.
Jan Pilbauer, CEO of Al Etihad Payments wanted to create a payment system that the UAE could be proud of. He aims at bringing a solid solution that serves the needs of the country and brings in financial stability. Another purpose was to be more efficient with what we have created domestically.
The card will be as efficient and cost-effective as possible and lower the cost of end-to-end cost of card processing in the UAE.
An added feature of using Jaywan for ecommerce transactions will soon be added to the card. It will then operate in similar ways as the Visa and Mastercards. The fee structure of Jaywan for the users could be seen at competitive rates which in turn will work as an advantage for the local consumers.
In September, major campaigns and promotions to advertise the Jaywan scheme will be done by the leading banks, retailers and service providers in the UAE. As per the UAE banks, the total distribution of the cards which is more than 8 million in number should take about a year or two.
For most parts the Jauwan is meant to be used for payments within the UAE but it can also be used by the UAE residents for travel outside the country under certain conditions.
“Banks in the UAE can issue standalone Jaywan cards or they can issue them featuring Jaywan and other international card schemes (such as Visa or Mastercard),” said Jan Pilbauer.
While another option involves a co-badge in the payments industry. This essentially allows the cardholders to make transactions outside the UAE, added the CEO.
To make things easier and allow payments for the Jaywan cardholders while travelling, Al Etihad Payments will have made agreements with payment systems in other countries.