CBUAE grants MBME Pay coveted payment service provider licence

Staff Reporter, Gulf Today

Abu Dhabi: MBME Pay Payment Services Provider – Sole Proprietorship (MBME Pay), a wholly owned subsidiary of MBME Group, has received its Payment Service Provider licence (Category 3) from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) to conduct Merchant Acquiring and Payment Aggregation activities.

This licence elevates MBME Pay into an exclusive group of fully regulated payment service providers in the UAE, reinforcing the company’s role at the heart of the country’s digital payments transformation. It reflects the strength of MBME Pay’s infrastructure, its rigorous compliance framework, and its strategic ambition to power the next generation of digital commerce.

“This is more than a regulatory milestone – it is a strong vote of confidence in our vision and capabilities,” said Abdelhadi Mohamed, Managing Director and Group CEO at MBME Group.

“With the Central Bank’s licence, MBME Pay is uniquely positioned to accelerate the shift to a cashless economy in the UAE and across the MENA region, while setting new benchmarks for reliability, security, and customer experience in digital payments.”

With CBUAE’s license, MBME Pay is now fully authorized to: Provide end-to-end merchant acquiring solutions, from onboarding to settlement; Operate as a licensed payment aggregator across multiple channels; Deliver secure, scalable, and compliant transaction processing for high-volume, high-growth businesses; Empower businesses, SMEs, and government entities to accelerate the transition to a cashless, digitally enabled economy

By combining regulatory approval with deep technical expertise, MBME Pay offers merchants a single, trusted partner to manage their entire payments journey. This includes onboarding, integration, risk and fraud controls, transaction processing, and ongoing support, all within a robust and transparent regulatory framework.

As part of MBME Group, MBME Pay sits at the core of a dynamic technology ecosystem that connects consumers, merchants, and institutions.

Through this ecosystem, MBME Pay: Integrates advanced payment technologies, APIs, financial services, and digital platforms into a unified, regulated offering; Supports innovative payment experiences across e-commerce, retail, services, and government channels; Enables secure and frictionless payments tailored to the evolving expectations of businesses and consumers in the UAE and wider MENA region.

This licence strengthens MBME Pay’s ability to expand strategic partnerships with financial institutions, technology providers, and ecosystem players, while broadening its suite of value-added services for merchants and partners.

The Central Bank’s approval aligns MBME Pay with the UAE’s national agenda to build a resilient and inclusive digital economy. MBME Pay aims to: Drive financial inclusion and access to digital payments; Support government digitization of services and collections; Accelerate innovation in the payments landscape with scalable, technology-led solutions.