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United Arab Emirates: Scheme & Network Compliance

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Card-scheme and network compliance in the UAE combines the international schemes (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, UnionPay) with the national domestic card scheme Jaywan, operated by Al Etihad Payments (AEP, a CBUAE subsidiary) and routed through the UAESWITCH national switch. Jaywan launched 2024 and became operational in 2025, with co-badging agreements allowing domestic routing on Jaywan and cross-border processing on global networks; it is positioned to retain interchange/processing value onshore. PCI DSS remains the card-data security baseline, and the RPSCS Regulation governs card-scheme licensing and reporting to CBUAE.

Horizon · 2027 (± a year)Jaywan full issuance rolloutAdopted, not yet in force · Tier 1 source
Standing sub-brief · as of 7 July 202689 words · last cycle 2026-06-27

Scheme & Network Compliance

Jaywan, the domestic card scheme operated by Al Etihad Payments under the FIT programme, launched in 2024 and reached infrastructure readiness in 2025, co-badged with Visa, Mastercard, Discover and UnionPay, with domestic transactions routed through UAESWITCH and settled onshore while cross-border transactions run on the global networks.

Outlook

As of early 2026 Jaywan is accepted at most points of sale and ATMs but not yet widely issued, and a CBUAE mandate for banks to issue the card is expected to drive full rollout by end-2027.

no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief

Sources and findings (4)
  1. T1https://aep.ae/en/news-media/press-releasesarticles/jaywan-uaes-new-domestic-card-payment-scheme-all-your-questions-answered/retrieved
  2. T3https://blog.jobxdubai.com/2025/05/19/jaywan-uae-domestic-card-payment-scheme-guide/retrieved
  3. T3https://gulfnews.com/business/banking/uae-launches-first-domestic-card-scheme-jaywan-1.500048458retrieved
  4. T3https://itexus.com/instant-payments-domestic-card-scheme-what-builders-need-to-know/retrieved