3 digital wallets in Qatar boosting cashless payments

By Leandra Monteiro

Qatar, boasting an abundance of natural gas is one of the richest countries in the world. However, the country is looking to invest heavily in economic diversification, in order to improve its FinTech sector and allowing for greater digitisation.

As part of the Second National Development Strategy 2018-2022, FinTech was identified as a crucial tool to achieve long–term development for Qatar’s financial sector. FinTech has disrupted the financial industry in an unprecedented way, using technology to offer a seamless and secure experience to customers. Qatar market’s largest segment is Digital Commerce with a projected total transaction value of US$5.38 billion in 2022. Total transaction value in the Digital Payments segment is projected to reach US$5.58 billion in 2022. With this in mind, here are 3 digital wallets to make use of in Qatar:

• CWALLET

CWALLET aims to digitally empower and enable individuals in the region by giving solutions to low-income and unbanked migrant workers, domestic helpers and blue-collar workers allowing them to access financial services that are currently unavailable to them.

The payments company further aims to become a premier FinTech influencer by providing services beyond digital wallets, remittance and payment solutions in building a cashless society for all sectors including the bottom of the pyramid but not limited to unstable societies, unjust governments and even refugee camps in order to create jobs and micro-entrepreneurs specially women within the business ecosystem.

• iPay Qatar

Vodafone Qatar’s Infinity Payment Solutions (IPS), a financial subsidiary of Vodafone, recently rolled out iPay, one of Qatar’s first licensed e-wallet. iPay is an e-wallet created by Infinity Payment Solutions, in collaboration with Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), Gulf Exchange, and Paytm. The e-wallet offers customers direct access to instant local transfers to all banks and wallets under the Qatar mobile payment network, as well as international remittance and merchant payments.

iPay is an operator agnostic wallet and is available for all consumers in Qatar, regardless of their telecom service provider. Customers can register through the iPay application and conduct fast and secure local and international remittances, instant merchant payments, and select utility payments services.

• Samsung Wallet

Mastercard recently announced that cardholders in Qatar can now use Samsung Wallet, a digital wallet solution that allows mobile payment services and more, to complete secure contactless payments at several online, on-site and in-store outlets around the world.

Samsung Wallet is a quick, easy and secure way for users to complete payments. It will be equipped with additional features in the near future including storing sensitive documents such as IDs, electronic keys, and boarding passes – with just one swipe. As Samsung continues to collaborate with a variety of trusted partners and developers, the capabilities of Samsung Wallet will continue to grow.

The Samsung Wallet platform is protected by strong hardware and Samsung’s Knox-based security technology to safely store sensitive information in device, including fingerprint recognition and encryption to make sure users’ important data are protected. It also replaces sensitive data with unique identification symbols which offers an extra layer of protection against potential digital and physical hacking attempts.

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