title: United Arab Emirates — Scheme & Network Compliance | World Payments Monitor canonical: https://payments.gi/jurisdictions/united-arab-emirates/w4/ publisher: Asymmetric Intelligence ### W4 Scheme & Network Compliance Probable confirmed 2026-06-27 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 rollout_Adopted, not yet in force · Tier 1 source_ Standing sub-brief · as of 7 July 2026 89 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. T1 [https://aep.ae/en/news-media/press-releasesarticles/jaywan-uaes-new-domestic-card-payment-scheme-all-your-questions-answered/](https://aep.ae/en/news-media/press-releasesarticles/jaywan-uaes-new-domestic-card-payment-scheme-all-your-questions-answered/) retrieved 2026-06-27 2. T3 [https://blog.jobxdubai.com/2025/05/19/jaywan-uae-domestic-card-payment-scheme-guide/](https://blog.jobxdubai.com/2025/05/19/jaywan-uae-domestic-card-payment-scheme-guide/) retrieved 2026-06-27 3. T3 [https://gulfnews.com/business/banking/uae-launches-first-domestic-card-scheme-jaywan-1.500048458](https://gulfnews.com/business/banking/uae-launches-first-domestic-card-scheme-jaywan-1.500048458) retrieved 2026-06-27 4. T3 [https://itexus.com/instant-payments-domestic-card-scheme-what-builders-need-to-know/](https://itexus.com/instant-payments-domestic-card-scheme-what-builders-need-to-know/) retrieved 2026-06-27