News

First Paperless Direct Debit Marketplace Launches In UAE

The UAE-based FinTech company, Direct Debit System, has launched an all-in-one platform called Direct Debit Marketplace to help users make recurring payments.

Published

4 years ago

September 12, 2022

Nour Nasir

first paperless direct debit marketplace launches in uae

Direct Debit System’s new platform will charge merchants a fixed fee for credit card & current account transactions, significantly reducing operating costs. The platform provides consumers and merchants with a simple all-in-one method for setting up and receiving recurring payments, such as school fees, rent, utility bills, and general subscription-based services, such as gym memberships.

One of the headline features of the service is that it will not affect merchant relationships with banking providers. In addition, the platform’s transactions are integrated with (and regulated by) the UAE Central Bank.

“We are delighted to see the launch of Direct Debit, another success story from our Innovation Accelerator program, where we nurture promising startups that innovate and use technology to disrupt industries. Direct Debit is a perfect example, providing merchants and payers in the UAE with a marketplace where they can transact recurring payments efficiently at low cost,” says Fatima Al Naqbi, Chief Innovation Officer, Ministry of Finance and MBRIF representative.

Writing cheques for rent or school fees is still common in the UAE, so Direct Debit Marketplace hopes its app will provide a safer, more convenient, and centralized alternative. UAE-based merchants using the platform can easily integrate with their accounting software or use the built-in dashboard. Direct Debit Marketplace is integrated with UAEPASS, the UAE’s secure digital identity scheme, which makes the entire process paperless.

Also Read: Virtuzone Partners With Binance For Crypto Payments

“Data security is very important for us, and the system is hosted in Dubai’s Data Center, known as Dubai Pulse. This makes us DESC (Dubai Electronic Security Center) compliant, with data positioned safely behind government firewalls and systems, which are the best in the world. Direct Debit Marketplace is a Decretal System of the UAE, which means the system is accepted by the national courts. With recent changes to laws related to cheques, both paper-based redundant cheques and new paperless digital direct debits carry equal weight when it comes to the law,” says Ummair Butt, Founder, and CEO of Direct Debit System.

The new service is supported by the National Bank of Fujairah (NBF), and it’s hoped that the platform will be fully operational before the end of 2022. Direct Debit Marketplace is already seeing huge interest from merchants and promises to drastically cut the time spent organizing recurring payments.

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.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

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.