Dr. Samer Soliman, Group CEO, AFS. Image Courtesy: Arab Financial Services (AFS)
Businesses will benefit from increased efficiency, visibility and control over spending
Press Release
The innovative payment products will be integrated with the AFS Pro app, providing a seamless, digital-first business payments and expense management solution
Dubai, UAE: Mastercard and Arab Financial Services (AFS), the Middle East and Africa’s leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler, have joined forces to introduce corporate credit and prepaid cards, integrated with the AFS Pro mobile app, in the UAE and Egypt. Beyond offering business cards, AFS Pro delivers a holistic business payments ecosystem, enabling companies not only to manage spending but also to accept, track and optimize incoming payments through a single unified platform.
Together, the two companies will create a seamless, end-to-end proposition that simplifies day-to-day financial operations and supports smarter business decision-making.
Through the collaboration, businesses will gain access to AFS Pro’s advanced digital features while benefiting from the global acceptance, security and value-added services associated with Mastercard’s extensive portfolio of payment solutions. Using the app, companies will be able to issue and manage corporate cards, set spending controls, monitor transactions in real time and streamline expense management through a single digital platform.
In addition, AFS Pro empowers businesses with integrated payment acceptance capabilities, offering a comprehensive suite of tools designed to enhance merchant operations and streamline payment experiences. These include SoftPOS (Tap-to-Phone), enabling merchants to accept contactless payments directly on their smartphones, and Pay-by-Link functionality for secure remote and e-commerce transactions. Merchants will also gain visibility to real-time POS transactions, along with business dashboards that provide actionable insights into sales performance and business trends. The app also includes comprehensive merchant servicing and reporting tools designed to simplify reconciliation processes, support business analytics, and improve overall operational efficiency.
This unified approach allows businesses to manage both payables and receivables within one app, reducing fragmentation and improving financial visibility across the entire payment lifecycle. This will help finance teams reduce manual processes.
Financial institutions will be able to meet the growing demand from their business customers with a ready-to-deploy business payments solution that combines business card programmes and payment acceptance with enhanced transparency and reporting. The platform is designed to be deployed rapidly, with minimal integration complexity, enabling banks and financial institutions to bring a differentiated business payments proposition to market without extensive internal development investment.
Set for initial rollout in the UAE, followed by Egypt, the integrated offering is designed to assist businesses in digitizing their financial operations, improving oversight and adapting to the evolving payment needs in the region. The collaboration represents a next-generation fintech model that bridges issuing and acquiring capabilities through a single, scalable digital platform.
“As a leader in corporate payments and digital transformation, Mastercard is our trusted partner in our expansion into the two new key growth markets. Our landmark alliance is a major win for businesses in the UAE and Egypt, as it significantly boosts efficiency, visibility and control over corporate spending,” said Dr. Samer Soliman, Group CEO, AFS.
“At Mastercard, we are committed to equipping companies of all sizes with innovative tools that empower them to reach their full potential in today’s rapidly changing economic landscape. We look forward to working closely with AFS to provide businesses with a scalable, digital-first corporate payments solution that delivers meaningful value,” said Mete Guney, Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA, Mastercard
About Mastercard
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.
www.mastercard.com
About AFS:
Arab Financial Services (AFS) was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment ecosystem.
AFS is owned by 36 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across the Middle East and Africa. Today, AFS is the region’s leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler. Regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Central Bank of Egypt and licensed by the Central Bank of UAE, its dedication to innovation has made AFS a driving force in the market offering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including Open Banking Hub, popular digital wallets, market-leading merchant acquisition services, digital payroll solutions and more. Providing the highest quality payments solutions that are trusted by businesses, AFS has offices and data centers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Arab Republic of Egypt, Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
www.arabfinancialservices.ai
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