News
Whish Money Partners With Mastercard For Cross Border Payments
Users in Lebanon can send money abroad to over 50 countries, while Lebanese people living overseas can send money home.
Whish Money, Lebanon’s leading e-wallet and personal finance app, has partnered with Mastercard to unlock faster inbound and outbound remittances for consumers across the country. The tie-up taps into Mastercard Move, the company’s global money movement network, to allow users in Lebanon to send funds to more than 50 countries — and for Lebanese abroad to send money home in near real time.
Through the Whish Money mobile app, users can now make cost-effective transfers to a wide range of destinations. Depending on the recipient’s market, senders can choose how funds are delivered: directly into bank accounts, mobile wallets, or collected as cash. Customers can also fund their Whish Money wallets with cards as well as cash, expanding convenience for everyday users. This marks Mastercard’s first collaboration with a mobile wallet in Lebanon to facilitate remittances.
“Many people in Lebanon rely on remittances from their family members abroad to meet their basic needs. In this challenging economic situation, international money transfer services provide a vital inflow of foreign currency into Lebanon. Thanks to Mastercard Move, we can now offer fast, efficient and secure remittances to Lebanese people,” said Toufic Koussa, Co-founder and CEO of Whish Money.
Onur Kursun, Executive Vice President of Commercial and New Payment Flows, EEMEA at Mastercard, added: “Our collaboration will give Whish Money the reach, transparency and speed needed to scale its cross-border business and address consumer demand for sending and receiving funds internationally. Meanwhile, it will enable us to expand our payment network and introduce market firsts for inbound and outbound money transfers in Lebanon. We look forward to working together to improve the lives of Lebanese people and address their everyday needs”.
Also Read: Private Photoshoots, Powered By AI And Built For Arab Women
According to World Bank estimates, Lebanon was the third-largest recipient of remittances in the MENA region in 2022, receiving around US$6.4 billion. Only Egypt (US$28.3 billion) and Morocco (US$11.2 billion) recorded larger inflows. For Lebanese residents, remittances are both a lifeline and a source of foreign currency, meaning the Whish Mastercard collaboration could soon prove to be transformative.
News
Noon And Yango Switch On Robot Deliveries In Dubai
The rollout folds autonomous couriers into noon’s rapid-delivery network as the UAE tests everyday autonomy.
Noon and Yango Group have signed an agreement to put autonomous robot deliveries into commercial use in Dubai, turning Yango’s earlier pilots into a daily service for noon Minutes orders. The launch in Sobha Hartland is the first full integration of Yango Autonomy’s electric robots with a major e-commerce network in the region, with wider deployment planned across Dubai and, later, other GCC markets.
Residents can choose a robot at checkout, track it in the app and unlock its compartment once it arrives. The hardware runs on Yango’s AI navigation and routing stack, which plans paths, avoids obstacles and yields to pedestrians. The units had already covered more than 1,500 kilometers during previous Dubai pilots, a test bed that demonstrated their ability to operate in mixed pedestrian environments and dense residential streets.
The rollout adds a contactless option to noon’s last-mile network and is positioned as extra capacity during peak periods. “Partnering with Yango Group lets us bring a future-ready delivery option straight to our customers,” said Ali Kafil-Hussain, noon’s Chief Business Officer. Noon has used Minutes to set rapid-delivery expectations in UAE cities; autonomous units now slot into that same high-frequency model.
Regulatory clearance from Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority underpins the move. The RTA authorized Yango’s robots to operate on public walkways and in neighborhoods, smoothing the shift from controlled trials to commercial work. Dubai has framed autonomous mobility as part of its smart-city buildout, and the partners lean on that agenda to accelerate integration.
Also Read: Uber And WeRide Roll Out Driverless Robotaxis In Abu Dhabi
For Yango, the partnership is an anchor for its autonomy platform in the Gulf. Islam Abdul Karim, Yango’s Middle East regional head, said the aim is to make autonomous delivery an “everyday, reliable service” for UAE communities. The company views operational data from early districts as the basis for scaling into more communities and, eventually, cross-border rollouts.
The move lands as Gulf retailers search for faster fulfilment and lower-emission logistics. Autonomous couriers remain a small share of last-mile delivery, but Dubai’s approvals and early usage data give the partners a clearer path to turn pilots into durable infrastructure.
Noon And Yango Switch On Robot Deliveries In Dubai
botim money & Binance Weigh UAE Path For Regulated Crypto Access
Kalshi Secures $1 Billion As Prediction Markets Race Heats Up
Uber And WeRide Roll Out Driverless Robotaxis In Abu Dhabi
Cartlow Rolls Out Subscription Model For GCC Retail Platform
Lebanon Sets 2027 Launch Date For Low-Cost “Fly Beirut” Airline
Emirates Airline To Roll Out Free Starlink Wi-Fi This Month
RØDE Shrinks Its All-In-One Studio Console With RØDECaster Video S
Dorsey-Backed diVine Brings Back Vine’s Looping Videos
