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Through this partnership, Apaya enables merchant adoption through its no-code orchestration platform, while NymCard provides the licensed Open Finance payment infrastructure required to support secure, consent-driven A2A transactions in real-time. 

“For Open Finance to succeed, merchants need more than just access to new payment rails -they need the tools to deploy them quickly alongside the providers they already work with,” said Michael Tomlins, Co-Founder and CEO of Apaya. “Our partnership with NymCard removes the technical complexity that has historically slowed adoption of innovative payment solutions. Merchants can now add Al Tareq to their checkout in minutes, not months, without writing a single line of code and without disrupting their existing payment stack.”

Through Apaya’s platform, merchants can incorporate NymCard’s solution into a unified checkout experience that works seamlessly with their existing payment service providers, whether for card payments, buy-now-pay-later, mobile wallets, or other local payment methods. Apaya’s intelligent routing technology enables merchants to orchestrate transactions across all connected providers, optimising for payment success rates and cost efficiency.

“Al Tareq extends NymCard’s payments infrastructure into Open Finance, enabling regulated, real-time account-to-account payments that move funds directly from consumers to merchants,” said Shiraz Ali, Chief Business Officer at NymCard. “Partnering with Apaya allows these capabilities to be delivered through a merchant-ready orchestration layer, making Open Finance payments practical and deployable at scale.”

Key Benefits for Merchants

UAE Merchants using the Apaya enabled NymCard implementation of Al Tareq benefit from:

• Instant Settlement – Funds transferred directly to merchant accounts in real time through secure A2A flows
• Reduced Costs – Lower transaction fees compared to traditional card payments
• Simple Onboarding – No-code integration through Apaya’s merchant dashboard
• Unified Checkout – Al Tareq presented alongside existing payment providers in a single experience in line with customisable business rules
• Intelligent Orchestration – Smart routing to maximise transaction success across all providers
• No Disruption – Works with merchants’ current PSPs for cards, BNPL, wallets, and more

About Apaya

Apaya is a payment orchestration platform for the Middle East and Africa that enables merchants to connect and manage multiple payment providers through a single, no-code integration. The platform optimises payment performance with intelligent routing, unified reconciliation, and flexible checkout experiences, allowing businesses to adopt new payment methods quickly without disrupting their existing stack.

About NymCard

NymCard is a leading payments infrastructure company licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), providing the technology behind card issuing, payment processing, and money movement for financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises across the CEMEA region.

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This new capability allows NymCard to settle card transactions with Visa using USDC, supporting faster, 24×7 settlement and introducing a more streamlined approach to settlement. By leveraging this alternative model, issuers can significantly lower operational costs, reduce collateral and prefunding requirements, and create a foundation for simpler multi-currency settlement in the future.

Stablecoin settlement is emerging as a key enabler of global money movement, providing enhanced speed, transparency, and efficiency across borders. Through the integration of USDC into settlement flows, NymCard and Visa are helping modernize the region’s payments infrastructure while supporting new, innovative ways for money to move securely and reliably across Visa’s global network. 

“We are proud to be the first issuer in the GCC to enable a modern settlement capability with Visa. This milestone reflects NymCard’s focus on building the payments infrastructure of tomorrow. It reinforces our commitment to continuous innovation and bringing advanced payment capabilities to the region,” said Omar Onsi, Chief Executive Officer, NymCard.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Nymcard to bring next-generation settlement solutions to the MENA region,” said Godfrey Sullivan, Head of Product and Solutions for CEMEA at Visa. “Stablecoins are redefining how value moves globally, and this milestone demonstrates Visa’s commitment to empowering financial institutions with speed, transparency, and cost efficiency, without compromising on compliance or reliability.”

About NymCard

NymCard is a leading payments infrastructure company that provides the technology behind card issuing, payment processing, and money movement for financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises across the CEMEA region.

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Visa’s mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network—enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.

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Many scam messages don’t look suspicious at first glance. They often mimic legitimate banks, merchants, or delivery services and use familiar language designed to trigger quick reactions. Understanding how these scams work is the first step to avoiding them.

Why Scam Messages Are So Convincing

Fraudsters rely on psychology, not just technology. Their messages are crafted to feel urgent, relevant, and trustworthy.

Common tactics include:

• Creating panic (“Your card will be blocked”)
• Creating pressure (“Action required within 24 hours”)
• Creating false reassurance (“This is a routine security check”)

When emotions take over, people are more likely to click links or share information without verifying the source.

Common Types of Scam Messages to Watch For

1. Fake Transaction Alerts

Messages claiming a suspicious or failed transaction has occurred and asking you to “verify” or “cancel” it immediately.

Red flag:
The message includes a link asking you to enter card details or one-time passwords.

2. Suspicious Links

Links may look legitimate at first glance but often contain:

• Misspellings
• Extra characters
• Slight changes to known brand names

Red flag:
Being redirected to a website that asks for full card numbers, CVV, or login credentials.

3. Urgent Requests for Action

Messages that demand immediate action to avoid consequences such as account suspension or blocked cards.

Red flag:
Threatening language combined with a short deadline.

4. Requests for Sensitive Information

Scammers may ask for:

• Card numbers
• CVV
• One-time passwords (OTP)
• Login credentials

Red flag:
Legitimate banks and financial institutions do not ask for sensitive information via SMS, email, or messaging apps.

How to Protect Yourself

You can reduce your risk by following a few simple rules:

• Pause before clicking — urgency is a common scam tactic
• Check the sender — unknown numbers and unusual email addresses are a warning sign
• Avoid clicking links — access your bank or service provider through official apps or websites
• Never share sensitive details — including OTPs and full card information
• Report suspicious messages — notify your bank or card issuer if something feels off

If a message feels unusual, it’s better to double-check than react immediately.

Final Thought

Scam messages don’t always look like scams — and that’s exactly why they work. Staying informed and cautious can help protect you from becoming a target.

Awareness is one of the strongest tools against card fraud.

Access the CEA Survey

Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational and awareness purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or security advice. Always follow the guidance of your bank or card issuer. Further information and awareness steps are available on our Consumer Education & Awareness page.

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For many banks and financial institutions, payment platforms were originally designed around a specific and well-defined purpose: issuing cards, authorising transactions, and settling funds efficiently. That approach worked when payment volumes were predictable, channels were limited, and regulatory change was relatively incremental.

Today, payments play a much broader role.

They underpin how banks serve consumers and businesses across cards, wallets, accounts, domestic and cross-border flows, emerging settlement models, and increasingly complex regulatory requirements. As that scope has expanded, many banks are finding that architectures designed for an earlier era are being pushed beyond their original intent.

This is why banks across the region are re-evaluating not just the features they offer, but the payments infrastructure architecture that supports them.

From issuer-led setups to infrastructure-led payment platforms

Traditional payment setups are typically issuer-led and product-specific. Capabilities such as issuing, processing, settlement, reconciliation, risk, and compliance are often optimised in isolation, sometimes across multiple systems or vendors.

Over time, this creates friction:

• Launching new payment products becomes slower
• Regulatory change requires repeated rework
• Operating complexity and cost increase
• Innovation is constrained by the underlying structure
  

Infrastructure-led payment platforms take a different approach. Instead of treating payments as a collection of individual products, they are designed as a foundational capability.

In this model, cards, wallets, settlement, risk, and compliance are built as integrated layers of a single platform — allowing banks to extend functionality, support new use cases, and adapt to change without re-engineering the core each time.

Why architecture now matters more than ever

The shift toward infrastructure-led payments is not driven by technology preference alone. It reflects the realities banks face today.

Modern payment architectures enable banks to:

• Support multiple payment types and rails through a unified operating model
• Introduce new settlement approaches alongside existing ones
• Apply consistent controls, risk management, and governance at scale
• Reduce long-term complexity while increasing flexibility

As payments evolve, architecture increasingly determines how confidently a bank can respond — whether the change comes from regulation, customer behaviour, or new payment rails.

In this context, payment architecture is no longer a back-office concern. It has become a strategic enabler of growth, resilience, and speed.

Where nCore fits

At NymCard, we see this transition first-hand across banks and licensed financial institutions operating in complex, regulated markets.

nCore was designed as a payments infrastructure platform, not a point solution. It underpins issuing, processing, settlement, reconciliation, controls, and compliance as integrated layers — giving banks a platform that can evolve as payments evolve.

This approach allows banks to introduce new capabilities, support different operating models, and respond to regulatory change without destabilising their existing environment.

The focus is not on replacing systems for the sake of modernisation, but on ensuring the underlying architecture is designed for long-term adaptability.

Looking ahead

As payments continue to expand beyond authorisation and processing, the distinction between product capability and infrastructure foundation becomes increasingly important.

Banks and financial institutions that rethink payment architecture early gain more than operational efficiency. They gain optionality — the ability to support new business models, integrate new rails, and introduce change in a controlled and deliberate way.

In an environment where payments are becoming more central to financial services strategy, architecture is emerging as a defining factor in how effectively companies can compete, collaborate, and grow.

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Open Finance in the UAE is designed to enable secure, regulated access to financial data and services – while ensuring transparency, consent and consumer protection remain at the core.  

At the centre of this ecosystem is AlTareq, the UAE’s national Open Finance platform, regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE. AlTareq establishes the standards, governance and controls that allow Open Finance services to operate safely across the market.

NymCard participates in this ecosystem as a licensed Third Party Provider (TPP), enabling approved Open Finance use cases.  

Secure. Transparent. Regulated.

Trust is the foundation of Open Finance.

AlTareq operates under the regulatory oversight of the Central Bank of the UAE, ensuring that every interaction adheres to strict standards around data protection, security, and governance.

Through AlTareq:

• Financial data is accessed only by authorised parties
• All interactions are governed by clear regulatory standards
• Data usage is transparent and auditable

This framework ensure that Open Finance innovation progresses responsible and consistently across the market.  

Consent at the Core of Open Finance

A central principle of AlTareq is explicit customer consent.

No data is shared and no service is initiated unless consent has been clearly granted through an approved process. Each consent interaction clearly defines: 

• What data or access is being requested
• The regulated entity involved
• How long the permission will remain active

Consent can be reviewed, paused, or withdrawn at any time, reinforcing transparency and consumer control throughout the Open Finance lifecycle. 

World-Class Protection for Financial Data

AlTareq applies strong security and encryption standards to protect financial data at every stage.

This includes encrypted data flows, secure authentication mechanisms, and strict access controls. These measures ensure that sensitive financial information remains protected, while still allowing regulated Open Finance services to operate efficiently and securely. 

The Benefits of Open Finance via AlTareq

By creating a secure, consent-driven framework, AlTareq unlocks tangible benefits for customers and financial institutions alike.

Smarter Financial Insights
Open Finance allows for a more complete view of financial information, supporting better-informed financial decisions.

Access to Tailored Financial Offers
AlTareq makes it possible securely access and compare tailored financial quotes from AlTareq-enabled providers, helping improve transparency and choice.  

Faster, Simpler Financial Interactions
By reducing repetitive steps and manual processes, Open Finance enables faster and more efficient financial journeys across participating services.  

Payment Experiences Enabled by AlTareq

Beyond data access, AlTareq supports modern, consent-driven payment experiences designed to simplify how customers move money.

Automated Payments
Customers can authorise automatic payments within predefined limits—removing the need for repeated approvals, card details, or manual actions.

Real-Time Payments
Payments can be initiated and completed in real time through AlTareq-connected institutions, offering speed without sacrificing control.

Peer-to-Peer Payments
Customers can securely split payments with family and friends—without switching between multiple applications.

AlTareq in 3 Simple Steps

Using Open Finance through AlTareq is designed to be straightforward and transparent. 

1. Review permissions
   Customers are shown the exact data or access required and the institution involved.
2. Authorise securely
   Approval is completed through the customer’s bank, insurer, or exchange house using secure authentication.
3. Consent is activated
   Once approved, the AlTareq connection is established and the service can begin.

Consent can be withdrawn at any time, reinforcing trust and customer control.

NymCard’s Role as a Third Party Provider

As a licensed Third Party Provider (TPP), NymCard:  

• Enables Open Finance use cases in accordance with AlTareq’s rules
• Operates within defined regulatory and consent frameworks
• Does not provide consumer-facing financial products
• Does not onboard or connect financial institutions directly

Together, AlTareq and NymCard enable secure, transparent Open Finance services designed for long-term market confidence. 

Open Finance gives you control over your financial data and services. With your permission, it lets you securely share your bank, insurance, mortgage, and other financial information with and initiate services via regulated providers to access more personalized, innovative, and convenient financial services.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Introduction to Open Finance

1.2 What is Open Finance called in the UAE?

Open Finance is known as AlTareq in the UAE. You will see this name and logo when using Open Finance services provided by banks or insurers, exchange houses or brokers, and Third-Party Providers. Examples include:

• An insurance comparison website
• An e-wallet and payments app
• A financial aggregation and insights app
• A foreign exchange comparison and money sending service

2. Getting Started

3. Open Finance Security Controls

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The partnership was formalized in an official signing ceremony, which took place on December 11 in Islamabad, attended by Jahanzeb Khan, President & CEO, easypaisa digital bank, and Shiraz Ali, Chief Business Officer, NymCard, alongside senior leaders from both organizations.

This collaboration brings together NymCard’s API-first payment infrastructure and easypaisa’s market leadership to reshape access to formal credit in Pakistan. The initiative aims to enable instant, secure, and compliant digital credit directly through the easypaisa app once it’s live.

By leveraging NymCard’s modular issuing and processing platform, easypaisa will be able to design, configure, and scale credit programs at speed, backed by real-time transaction monitoring, scheme tokenization, and built-in compliance.

Jahanzeb Khan, President & CEO of easypaisa digital bank, commented, “Partnering with NymCard marks a significant milestone in our mission to bring innovative credit solutions to millions of Pakistanis. Credit access remains a challenge for individuals and businesses alike, especially for unbanked and underbanked communities, and leveraging NymCard’s modern infrastructure gives easypaisa the flexibility and reliability needed to bring the vision of a cashless and financially inclusive Pakistan to life.”

“We’re proud to support easypaisa in shaping the next era of digital credit in Pakistan,” added Shiraz Ali, CBO of NymCard. “Together, we’re enabling the foundations for inclusive, digital-first financial access powered by advanced payment infrastructure.”

The collaboration represents a key step in advancing Pakistan’s digital banking ecosystem, where technology and compliance meet to unlock faster innovation, stronger customer engagement, and scalable access to credit nationwide.

About easypaisa

easypaisa is Pakistan’s first digital bank and has advanced Pakistan’s digital finance landscape. Backed by our shareholders, Telenor Group, the leading telecom operator in Asia and the Nordics, and Ant Group, the force behind Alipay, the world’s leading open internet platform, easypaisa delivers secure, convenient financial solutions to millions of Pakistanis.

About NymCard

NymCard powers modern payments across MENA and Pakistan with an advanced infrastructure platform built for speed, scale, and trust. From card issuing and processing to lending, compliance, and money movement, NymCard connects every layer of payments innovation — enabling banks, financial institutions, and businesses to build and scale their own solutions through one partner.

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