Ant International has obtained two licences from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).
According to a statement, the fintech received a Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Category II (RPSCS) licence and a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licence.
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The RPSCS licence enables Antom, Ant International’s merchant payment and digitisation business, to provide merchant-acquiring services in the UAE.
Antom supports more than 300 payment methods, allowing merchants to accept payments from consumers across more than 200 markets in over 140 currencies.
Once launched, Antom’s UAE services will enable domestic merchants serve local and international customers across in-store and online channels.
The SVF licence will support the UAE operations of WorldFirst, Ant International’s global account platform.
WorldFirst provides international payments, collections, currency conversion, and treasury management through a single account.
The platform has served more than 1.6 million customers and handles transactions across more than 210 countries and regions in over 100 currencies.
Ant International said the licence will allow WorldFirst to provide digital cross-border financial services directly in the UAE.
Ant International chief sustainability officer and senior vice-president Leiming Chen said: “The RPSCS and SVF licences mark a crucial milestone in Ant International’s efforts to support the UAE’s fintech ecosystem, aligning with the nation’s ‘We are UAE 2031’ digitalisation and fintech strategy.
“In accordance with the applicable CBUAE regulatory framework, we look forward to launching AI-powered global payment and account solutions to make cross-border payments and financial management more accessible.”
Ant International already operates in the UAE through Alipay+, its cross-border mobile payment gateway.
Under partnerships with locally licenced banks and acquirers, UAE merchants can accept payments from users of international digital wallets. The company stated that those operations remain separate from the newly granted licences.
The regulatory approvals in the UAE follow Ant International securing a Payment Institution licence from the Central Bank of Brazil last month.
