Emirates NBD’s smartBUSINESS Connect supports high volume transactions with assured data exchange, providing data for reconciliation as per industry standard formats. Through smartBUSINESS Connect, DoF will be able to conduct automated and secured outgoing payments with simultaneous transfer of payment data and approvals.

"In line with the vision of the wise leadership to transform the Government of Dubai into a fully smart model, DoF has gone a long way in achieving full electronic connectivity with banks, under the Dubai Paperless Strategy launched by H. H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council," said Jamal Hamed Al Marri, Executive Director of Central Accounts Sector at DoF. "Our fruitful cooperation with Emirates NBD is aimed at reducing the burden and workload on employees, saving on financial resources and reducing paper waste, as well as enhancing security and speed of work. We are keen to continue looking at advancing our relationship with the bank in the future."

“Emirates NBD is at the forefront of driving technologies to digitise clients’ processes, bringing greater efficiencies in their day-to-day operations and making banking smoother, faster and more secure,” said Ahmed Al Qassim, Executive Vice President, General Manager of Corporate Banking at Emirates NBD. “We were delighted to support DoF in this critical project that reflects our commitment to enabling the leadership’s Smart Dubai agenda of a paperless economy. Emirates NBD looks forward to future such collaborations with public and private sector clients to transform this vision into reality.”

Pär Ekroth, marketing manager, Swish, says: "Seven million Swedes walk around with the Swish app in their pocket, and it’s clear that the demand for easier in-store payments is increasing. As such, we are pleased to offer mobile payments functionality to our customers.”

For the trials, Swish will be tethered to a Bluetooth module developed by Nets that provides an NFC-like ‘tap and pay’ experience for consumers. Integration with merchants’ systems requires only the addition of a ‘Bluetooth box’ to Nets payment acceptance terminals.

The in-store payments functionality also enables better loyalty programmes, as Bluetooth technology opens up use cases such as real-time, geo-tagged offers.

Nets already provides this Bluetooth feature to Danish merchants, enabling them to accept in-store payments from locally issued wallets.

Jan Lundequist, SVP, Nets Merchant Services, says: "The payment experience is similar to making a contactless payment, which consumers are accustomed to - particularly in countries like Sweden with high digital penetration. Not only can merchants easily install the solution and accept Swish payments through their existing Nets terminals, but it’s also easy and intuitive for consumers to use."

Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay. Using a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on the device. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

David Rintel, CEO of TrustPay commented: "We are excited to bring Apple Pay to all our merchants as it is becoming more and more popular contactless payment system in the world. By integrating Apple Pay, TrustPay will provide effortless real-time transactions and more security protection to prevent fraud."

Apple Pay is easy to set up and users will continue to receive all of the rewards and benefits offered by credit and debit cards. Apple Pay works with iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and later, and Apple Watch.

The AIFC was created by the first president of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 7 December, 2015, to drive innovative financial and technology initiatives. The organisation focuses on research and development in new digital technologies. It has implemented accelerators and incubator programmes and attracted partnerships and investments from leading fintech and VCs.

Based in Dubai, UAE, Fidor Solutions’ international entity, sister-company to Fidor Bank, known as ‘the oldest fintech bank in the world’, is a pioneer in the area of open banking. Fidor Solutions provides technology and advisory services to financial institutions and contributed to the creation of three innovative digital banks in 2018 alone. The organisation contributes to fintech programmes in key global financial centres.

This MoU foresees AIFC and Fidor fostering fintech collaboration to boost the digital economy and increase financial literacy and access.

It includes:

- Initiatives to support the development of a cashless economy in Kazakhstan.
- Development of joint fintech education programmes with key regional universities.
- Support in developing the AIFC fintech marketplace to boost financial market innovation and collaboration while driving e-commerce activities.
- Mentorship and partnership on accelerator programmes.

Kairat Kelimbetov, Governor of AIFC, stated: “AIFC has great ambitions for its fintech innovation programme that go beyond borders. We are proud to be growing our fintech network by signing an MoU with Fidor, a European fintech that has successfully developed internationally. Their contribution will be valuable to all our members and partners.”

Gé Drossaert, Board Member and Group CCO of Fidor, commented: “We are glad to be joining AIFC’s fintech innovation programme. Fidor share similar core values to AIFC, such as openness and knowledge sharing. We are glad to put this into action by offering our expertise in launching this fintech education programme, and financial marketplaces while mentoring regional fintechs. The collaboration between our organisations will pave the way for fintech success in the region with a direct impact on the digital economy and financial access.”

At the beginning of July, we’re right in the thick of what travel agencies and tour operators across the northern hemisphere know as the summer high season. The confluence of warmer weather, brighter days, and school summer holidays has turned would-be travellers into actual travellers, driving up the travel industry’s revenues to heights unreachable in the depths of winter. But just because revenues are climbing doesn’t mean they couldn’t climb higher, and there are a number of travel payment technologies that could see those revenue molehills turn into revenue mountains.

Giving Customers the Travel Payment Technologies They Want

Practically any travel site you care to name can accept a single lump sum payment from a Visa or Mastercard credit/debit card, and while it’s still essential to make that process as smooth and pleasant as possible, it’s nowhere near enough by itself at this point. Travellers want the ability to structure their own payments, now, whether that means splitting them across the entire group or paying in increments. To meet customer demand, Airbnb developed their own split payments mechanism, while payment service providers can offer incremental payment options for operators aiming themselves at holidaymaker market segments with a lower average income.

Here, There, Everywhere: Travel Meets Global Payment Technologies

So, opening up your card payments to things like split and incremental payments will earn you some fans, but it’s far from the only thing you can do. Why restrict yourself to card payments? In a payment technology ecosystem that’s increasingly mobile-focused, it’s more and more vital to adapt to payment methods beyond the traditional. That can mean the obvious stuff like Apple and Google Pay, but it can also mean things like WeChat Pay and Alipay, whose meteoric rise in China has seen over 400 million people making mobile payments in the last year alone. If your business is sending tourists across the globe, it pays to be global!

Travel Payment Technologies for Intelligent Growth

So, expanding your capacities is key to making the most of the high season, but it’s still as important as ever to protect yourself against malicious activity. With travel industry fraud predicted to cost in excess of $25 billion by 2020, it’s more important than ever to take steps to defend against it. That means investing in technological solutions that can analyse your business’ payments for potential fraudsters and stop it at the root. Luckily, there are more than a few companies out there that offer solutions for precisely this, it’s just a matter of finding the one that best fits the needs of your business.

Travel operators are quite literally responsible for running global businesses. Global businesses need global payment solutions, and in this case, that specifically means payment technologies targeting the travel industry. By investing time and resources in expanding the range of payment methods available to travellers, you stand to make the absolute most of the summer high season, and by dedicating some of that time to security, you can even clamp down on fraud while you’re at it. Not bad for a summer job.