Finance News
By Bruce Buterin
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What the Licence Would Actually Change. Checkout.com is already an acquirer in the UAE. It processes payments.
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Rivals Are Already There. Checkout.com's competitors didn't wait. Revolut secured both a full stored value facilities…
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The 62% Growth Number. Here's what Checkout.com did put on the table: 62% year-over-year growth in processing volume…
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Checkout.com just got a foot in the door. The Central Bank of the UAE handed the payments firm in-principle approval for a stored value facilities licence, a move that could…
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The stored value facilities regime has been around since 2016. It's the UAE central bank's framework for licensing non-bank companies to hold customer funds and issue financial…
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Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, Checkout.com's General Manager for MENA, pointed to what merchants could gain once the service goes live.
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Checkout.com is already an acquirer in the UAE. It processes payments. What it can't do right now is issue — meaning it can't let merchants sit on balances and deploy funds…
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That dual capability — acquiring and issuing together — is the real prize here. It probably makes the company stickier for merchants who'd rather manage everything through one…
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There's also the Equiti Group angle. Earlier this year, Checkout.com signed a deal with the CFD broker for deposits and cross-border transfers.
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Checkout.com's competitors didn't wait. Revolut secured both a full stored value facilities licence and a retail payment services licence — and it did it within nine months of…
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Related: KB Kookmin Bank Joins JPMorgans Kinexys Network for Dollar Payments Across 10 Countries
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Remitly moved fast too. The international remittance company became one of the first of its kind to land a full stored value facilities licence, clearing that milestone earlier…
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That gap matters. The UAE payments market isn't standing still, and every month without full operational capability is a month competitors can lock in merchants. Checkout.
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Here's what Checkout.com did put on the table: 62% year-over-year growth in processing volume across MENA for 2024 to 2025. That's a big number. It's also kind of vague.
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Still, 62% isn't nothing. MENA has been one of the faster-moving regions for digital payments adoption, driven by younger demographics, high smartphone penetration, and…
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