Network International, TerraPay to boost mobile wallets across UAE

By Leandra Monteiro

Network International (Network), an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TerraPay, a global payments infrastructure company, to boost acceptance of African mobile wallets across Network’s large base of merchants in the UAE.

The proposed association will see both companies welcome a large addressable market from the African mobile wallet ecosystem by enabling acceptance of the same at Network’s terminals in the UAE as well as at e-commerce platforms using TerraPay’s payment processing rails. This aims to benefit Network’s merchants and acquirer processing clients in the UAE, with the potential to expand to Network’s remaining markets in the Middle East and Africa region.

Speaking on the partnership, Ani Sane, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, TerraPay, commented, “We are excited about our upcoming association with Network International, in driving mobile wallet acceptance and consumption across multi-channels on Network International’s terminals and e-commerce sites in the UAE. This paves the way to foster financial inclusion and independence for customers by offering real-time mobile wallet payments for the very first time in the UAE. Opening up interoperability for mobile wallets is the next big wave in digital payments across the world. We look forward to leveraging our mobile wallet payment rails, with Network’s deeply rooted and extensive merchant network in the region.”

“With the rising digital payments movement across businesses and their consumers, our association with Network will further drive this transformation to cashless societies. As the UAE’s largest acquirer, Network has a large and established network of point-of-sale devices across the country, in addition to a wide scale of medium and large merchant clients in both the physical and digital spaces. This is an opportunity to connect the company’s digital prowess and on-ground reach and offering end-consumers their choice of money payment channels,” said Rizwan Qazi, Vice President – Payments Partnership and Special Projects, TerraPay.

Nandan Mer, Group CEO, Network International, said, “Mobile wallets are increasingly gaining popularity as a preferred payment method across the world, and as a market leader in end-to-end payment solutions, we are delighted to work with TerraPay to enable acceptance of mobile wallets across our UAE merchant network. We believe this will help us build a digitally connected payments ecosystem in the region, starting with the UAE. TerraPay’s unique technology platform, with interoperability at its core, backed by our strong merchant network, is expected to facilitate easy and quick adoption of mobile wallets across the region, serving consumers seeking secure contactless payments options.”

The proposed association will play a key role in building sustainable and scalable interoperable payment options to cater to their partners’ and customers’ payment requirements, thereby driving increased and repeat usage of mobile wallets and digital currency for digital payments.