The Al Etihad Payments (AEP) which is a subsidiary of Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has taken a step which will help UAE in fulfilling its vision of becoming a global hub of digital payment.
Al Etihad Payments has recently launched Aani which is an instant payment platform and it will surely bring a big change in the digital payment culture of UAE as it will enable the licensed financial institutions (LFIs) and payment service providers to provide their customers with an easy and secure digital payment platform.
Aani has been launched under the CBUAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme for the purpose of providing customers, corporates, businesses (whether small or big) and government institutions an unprecedented digital transaction experience in which transactions will be made instantly in a safe manner, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Aani is equipped with various features such as making money transfers with the use of phone number of the recipient, it also has “Request money” and “Split Bills” functions and very soon, it will also provide the facilities of real-time direct debit and e-checks.
Presently, at the launch of Aani, there are eight licenced finance institutions which have come onboard – Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Finance House, Al Fardan Exchange, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Mashreq Bank and National Bank of Fujairah and most probably the remaining LFIs will also join by the end of the next year 2024.
Aani is certainly the future of monetary transactions in UAE.
