Revolutionizing the UAE’s Payment Systems

Enabling the UAE’s financial future

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is embarking on a bold transition towards an inclusive, digital-first economy that pioneers progress across everything from health and education to infrastructure and science. To power this agenda, the UAE set out to reinvent its financial services ecosystem and position itself as a leading FinTech hub. This presented a huge undertaking, especially considering that consumers in the UAE formerly paid in cash for over 60 percent of in-person transactions.

The first step was to create a best-in-class instant payment platform (IPP) to enable safe, innovative, and convenient electronic payments – the lifeblood of any digital economy. The UAE’s national payments company Al Etihad Payments partnered with Accenture to develop a user-friendly IPP called Aani that would make all payments in the country inclusive and universally interoperable. Since its launch, Aani has seen remarkable adoption—57 financial institutions, over 1.5 million end customers (more than 10% of the UAE’s population), and over 100,000 merchants* now use the platform for secure, real-time transactions 24/7.

As adoption grows, Aani will become ubiquitous in the UAE – fostering an economy less reliant on cash that bolsters economic competitiveness and financial inclusion for the country’s more than 10 million residents.

_{^{*Data as of March 2025.}}

A robust infrastructure aligned to global best practices

Accenture led the integration of more than 40 solutions across infrastructure, security, applications, mobile app and banking systems to build the IPP from the ground up. The platform was built on a private cloud designed to scale to support the growing number of users. Robust application, data and infrastructure security measures ensure alignment with international standards and regulations while protecting users and the UAE’s growing digital economy. Advanced cyber defenses and identity management ensure that only authorized users gain access.

The platform processes hundreds of thousands of transactions daily—simplified through convenient features like payments to a mobile phone or national ID, requests to pay, split bill payments or QR code payments — all cleared and settled instantly.

Making the leap to instant payments

Engaging the UAE’s broad financial services ecosystem was vital to a successful nationwide rollout. We aligned a diverse set of stakeholders—including banks, exchange houses, acquirers, fintechs, consumers and merchants—to a shared vision and purpose throughout the planning, implementation, testing and launch phases, and delivered a series of townhalls, training initiatives, and onboarding toolkits to bring everyone fully along the transformation journey.

The next step in the nation’s transformation

Thanks to a modular architecture, Aani will be continually enhanced with new features, and users will soon be able to complete cross-border payments and transfer money to international accounts.

Future solutions, including advanced data analysis and AI-driven automation will boost oversight and regulatory compliance for financial institutions.

Aani is already supporting the country's growth by making financial services simpler, innovative and inclusive, pushing the UAE toward global leadership in digital payments and increasing the country’s financial stability and consumer confidence. By embracing digital technologies, the UAE is paving the way for a competitive, sustainable and resilient economic future, where fintech and other digital-first industries can grow and thrive.