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Checkout.com Gains Acquiring License From UAE Central Bank
The direct acquiring license allows Checkout.com to unlock the full potential of its platform in the UAE while offering cost savings and improved performance for merchants.
The United Arab Emirates Central Bank has granted Global payment service provider Checkout.com a Retail Payment Services license. The recent press release by the platform notes that Checkout.com is “the first global payments provider to be granted an acquiring license in the country”, and the announcement strengthens its position as a leader across the MENA region.
Now that Checkout.com has secured an acquiring license, the company can unlock its full proposition for UAE merchants, including card acquiring, payment aggregation, and cross-border fund transfers. Most importantly, Checkout.com’s new acquiring license gives the company greater control over the entire payment processing mechanism and enables best-in-class payment acceptance rates for merchants.
“Our thanks to the Central Bank of the UAE for their approval. The issuance of this license shows the level of trust, commitment, and strength of the relationship we continue to have in serving both domestic and international brands to expand in the UAE. We’re proud of the small part we’ve played to increase the trust in digital payments and allow businesses in the digital economy to thrive,” says CEO and Founder of Checkout.com, Guillaume Pousaz.
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The UAE has recently witnessed an explosive eCommerce growth trajectory. It is forecast to reach a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11%, increasing the eCommerce market size to $17Bn by 2025. 91% of consumers in the UAE now favor making their purchases online, and Checkout.com already supports some of the country’s top brand names, including Cafu, Washmen, Shahid, Qlub, Carrefour, Namshi, Mamo, MakeMyTrip, and The Entertainer.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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