News

Dukhan Bank To Launch Wristband-Based Payment Option

Published

6 years ago

February 18, 2021

dukhan bank to launch wristband-based payment option

VISA

Qatar’s leading retail bank, Dukhan Bank, has recently published a press release, announcing the launch of its new payment platform and companion wristbands that make use of NFC technology to facilitate contactless payment.

Called Dukhan Pay (D-Pay), the new platform is intended to meet customer’s growing demand for digital banking products and services. It can also help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus by providing a safer alternative to traditional payment options.

“The Dukhan Bank wristbands are entering the market at a time when there is an increased demand in safe, contactless payment. In addition to being safe, the wearables facilitate fast and easy transactions using blended technology that is both secure and fashionable,” commended Dukhan Bank.

Dukhan Bank

The wristbands are available in three colors (gray, pink, and blue), and they are compatible with any point-of-sale terminal with support for contactless payments, allowing customers to spend up to 1,500 QAR per day without touching the terminal.

“The initiative falls under D-Pay, a key cornerstone in Dukhan Bank’s digital transformation that seeks to absorb the latest technologies and online banking solutions to make banking simple, safe, and convenient for our customers,” the bank added.

Not long ago, Dukhan Bank launched contactless credit and debit cards. Other banks in the region are being similarly digital-forward. For example, the Qatar National Bank partnered with fitness tracker makers Fitbit and Garmin to enable contactless transactions via their smartwatches.

Also Read: Thales Deploys Its Security Solution At Bahrain International Airport

Even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, major retail chains had been adopting various scan and pay solutions to make shopping faster, safer, and more convenient. Airports are now widely adopting self-check kiosks to increase their capacity and reduce the number of transmission vectors for infectious diseases.

Indeed, the future seems to be contactless, and the technology to enable it is already here. The only question that remains to be answered is how well it will be received by customers.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.