UAE Banks Federation Hosts Historic Meeting of Member Banks on Mobile Wallet

Abu Dhabi, 8 December 2014: The UAE Banks Federation convened an exceptional meeting of CEOs and senior representatives of all member banks today, 8 December 2014, in ADCB in Abu Dhabi, to mark the completion of the pre-implementation phase of the Mobile Wallet project, which is the financial component of the UAE Government’s Smart Government initiative. The meeting was chaired by HE Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation.

The Mobile Wallet, initially unveiled in February of this year, comprises the design, construction and roll-out of a purpose-designed platform that interfaces with all banks operating in the UAE. The project incorporates the facility for smart phones and other digital devices to be used for cashless purchasing in UAE retail and other outlets, as well as a means to store and transfer money. The project has been developed under the aegis of the Federation by a special steering committee, Chaired by Tirad Al Mahmoud, CEO of ADIB, and comprising representatives from the following member banks: ADCB, ADIB, CBD, DIB, ENBD, FGB, MasreqBank, NBAD, HSBC, SIB and SCB; as well as technical consultant Cap Gemini. The pre-implementation phase of the project has included design of its governance structure, processes to run the system and the business model for its operation.  

The project will not only focus on the consumer, but will also return benefits to the economy by facilitating banking and payments on the go and improving the cash Management by reducing the cash in the market, and benefits will also reach retailers since they will get a new option of payment available to all consumers.

Implementation of the project will include building the application to be used by individuals to access the payments system, as well as developing the interfaces needed to integrate the platform with the banking system as a whole. Participating banks will have the choice to link with this application or integrate the system with their own internet and mobile banking platforms.

The Mobile Wallet system which will include person to person payments and a number of pilot retailers participating in the purchasing system, as well as proximity payments across all participating retail outlets, and integration with retailers’ loyalty programmes.

HE Abdulaziz Al Ghurair said “The fact that we have called a meeting to gather all of our members and discuss one key issue shows how serious we are about making a success of this unique project.  But we are nevertheless looking to all UAE Banks Federation members to give the project their full support and buy-in, and the purpose of the meeting was to give them a full briefing and to ensure that any lingering concerns were dealt with. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the team who have brought the project to this crucial point, overcoming all of the challenges.  The system design is now ready, and after implementation this will be the first experience in the world where All Banks in the country represented by UAE Banks Federation are involved in the initiative to support have such a state-of-the-art mobile phone based solution able to receive & store money, transfer to others or pay for goods & services available to every member of the society, whether banking clients or not.