Foloosi secures UAE Central Bank approval for payments licence

By Divya Shah

UAE-based payments technology company Foloosi has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for a Category III licence under the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) Regulation, marking a key step in its regulatory journey. 

Foloosi provides digital payment solutions that help merchants accept and manage payments across online and in-store channels. The company said the approval supports its plans to expand its payments infrastructure and technology capabilities in the UAE. 

Omar Bin Brek, co-founder and CEO of Foloosi, said, “Receiving in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE is important for Foloosi and reflects the progress we have made in building a strong, secure and scalable payments business in the UAE.” 

He further added, “Our focus now is to complete the remaining regulatory requirements and continue building Foloosi into a trusted payments infrastructure company for the UAE.” 

As part of its next growth phase, Foloosi is developing a platform built around artificial intelligence and data-driven payment capabilities. These include AI-powered transaction intelligence to monitor transaction behaviour, real-time fraud and risk monitoring, intelligent payment orchestration, and merchant analytics designed to provide insights into customer activity and revenue performance.  

The company is also investing in automated reconciliation and settlement tools aimed at reducing manual payment operations, while exploring agentic AI capabilities that would allow authorised AI agents to interact with payment infrastructure through secure permissions and controls. 

Alongside the regulatory process, the company plans to further invest in payment infrastructure, artificial intelligence, fraud prevention, risk management, merchant intelligence, security, and payment operations.