Mashreq Launches API-Enabled Instant Payments for Corporate Clients in UAE

Mashreq has launched a new application programming interface (API)-enabled instant payment solution for its corporate and institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This new offering is integrated with the Central Bank of the UAE’s (CBUAE) Aani or Instant Payments Platform (IPP), facilitating low-value payments for corporates in real time, the company said in a Monday (July 1) press release.

The adoption of instant payments will be “transformational” in the Middle East and will drive “huge growth” in eCommerce in the region, Victor Penna, head of global transaction banking at Mashreq, said in the release.

“We are already seeing the power of combining instant payments with APIs, which together look set to transform the payments landscape in the UAE and across the region,” Penna said.

Mashreq now provides this capability to its corporate and institutional clients for domestic fund transfers, account-to-account (A2A) transfers and bulk transfers, according to the release.

Having fully integrated its corporate online banking channels with the Aani or IPP platform, Mashreq aims to gradually expand its corporate API offering, the release said.

The company will provide faster payments around the clock, every day, without a cut-off time, per the release.

With this offering, corporate customers will be able to stay competitive as the demand for real-time payments grows and will benefit from greater efficiency in their financial operations, Devendra Kumar, head of global transaction banking channel products at Mashreq, said in the release.

“The instant payment APIs will accelerate the adoption of real-time payments, opening doors for seamless, secure and immediate B2B transactions, transforming the corporate payments landscape,” Kumar said.

The CBUAE introduced Aani in October, saying the instant payments platform is designed to provide seamless, secure and instant digital payment solutions, aligning with the UAE’s vision of becoming a global digital payment hub.

In another recent product launch, Mashreq partnered with PhonePe in March to enable Indian citizens visiting or working in the UAE to use the PhonePe app to make payments using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at Mashreq’s Neopay terminals.

In September, Neopay, the payment subsidiary of Mashreq, joined forces with Visa to introduce an installment payment solution to the UAE.

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