Majid Al Futtaim Becomes First Major UAE Retailer to Enable Jaywan Card Acceptance

Quick Summary

Majid Al Futtaim has officially enabled Jaywan card acceptance across its 200+ UAE destinations, including Mall of the Emirates and VOX Cinemas. This move supports the UAE’s national domestic scheme, providing residents with a secure, locally-operated payment method that reduces transaction costs and enhances financial sovereignty.

How Does Jaywan Card Acceptance Benefit UAE Consumers?

Jaywan card acceptance across the Majid Al Futtaim ecosystem provides UAE residents with a sovereign payment alternative that is deeply integrated into their daily lives. By enabling this domestic scheme at over 200 physical destinations, the Group ensures that customers can use their locally-issued cards at high-traffic locations like Carrefour, Magic Planet, and various luxury hotels.

• Seamless checkout experiences across retail and leisure.
• Increased payment flexibility for domestic cardholders.
• Future-ready infrastructure supporting the UAE’s digital economy.

"Our priority is to make every interaction with Majid Al Futtaim simple, intuitive, and rewarding. Enabling Jaywan acceptance across our destinations gives customers more ways to pay while maintaining the seamless experience they expect from us. It also reflects the strength of our payment infrastructure, helping reduce transaction costs, accelerate settlement for domestic payments, and enable us to continue delivering new capabilities that meet the evolving needs of our customers." said Darren Taylor, Senior Vice President, SHARE Rewards & Customer Solutions, Majid Al Futtaim.

What Role Does Al Etihad Payments Play in This Rollout?

The introduction of the Jaywan domestic scheme by Al Etihad Payments (AEP) is a strategic move by the Central Bank UAE to localize payment processing. By partnering with a giant like Majid Al Futtaim, AEP ensures that the national card scheme gains immediate, massive scale. The integration is currently live across physical stores via Network International terminals, with e-commerce integration expected to follow in the coming weeks.

• Reduced transaction costs for local merchants.
• Accelerated settlement times for domestic payments.
• Enhanced financial sovereignty for the UAE’s banking sector.

"Merchant acceptance is where a card scheme becomes real for customers. Majid Al Futtaim operates some of the UAE’s most visited destinations, bringing Jaywan into more of the everyday payment experiences of customers across the country. Our focus is on continuing to expand acceptance across the ecosystem with more merchants, more issuers and more everyday transactions." said Andrea Cianchetti, Chief Products Officer at Al Etihad Payments (AEP).

FF NEWS TAKE:

This announcement significantly moves the needle because it provides the Jaywan card acceptance initiative with the critical mass it needs to succeed. When the region's largest retail conglomerate adopts a national domestic scheme, it signals a shift away from total reliance on international rails. This is a major win for UAE financial infrastructure sovereignty and sets a benchmark for other regional players to follow.