The document discusses payment gateway options for businesses in the United Arab Emirates. It provides an overview of the global payment industry trends of high growth. In the UAE, integrating local payment gateways requires businesses to be legitimate and pay setup and transaction fees. The document analyzes several payment gateway providers that are suitable options for the UAE market, comparing their transaction costs, fees, and currency acceptance. It concludes that 2Checkout may be the best initial option for new companies due to its lack of setup fees.

1. Version 1.0
-Jaladhi Kumar Bhatt
Middle East Payment Gateway Industry
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 1

2. Global Payment Industry Trends
• Without payment gateway,
your customers will not be able
to purchase your product or
services using their credit or
debit card and that is
everyone.
• So, if you are looking to make
it easier for most customers to
make purchase on your store,
then a payment gateway is a
must
Continue…..
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 2
(Source: Capgemini Analysis, 2012; “Goldman Sachs forecasts growth rate of global Ecommerce sales; Asia factors big,” Kent Allen, Pitney Bowes, 21 March 2011)

3. Global Payment Industry Trends
• The global payment gateway industry has grown at a CAGR of
more than 20 percent during just 2010-2012
• Expected to grow at a rapid pace in the coming years driven by
the recovery in private consumption and the rising popularity of
mobile shopping.
• Driven by high growth in developing economies, global e-commerce
sales grew by 17.9% in 2011 and are estimated to grow
by 20.7% annually through 2013 to reach $963 billion
• Emerging trends are in the Mobile commerce and mobile shopping
space.
• Major players include Authorize.Net, PayPal, Google Checkout,
Amazon Payment, Dwolla, Stripe, Braintree, WePay, 2CheckOut
etc
Continue…..
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 3

4. Global Payment Industry Trends
PayPal Pro, 56.2
FirstData, 1.6
SagePay, 2.8
Braintree, 3.6
eWay, 4.6
Stripe, 6
Authorize.net, 20.2
FirstData
SagePay
Braintree
eWay
Stripe
Authorize.net
PayPal Pro
Sales
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Sales
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 4
(Source: Capgemini Analysis, 2012; “Goldman Sachs forecasts growth rate of global Ecommerce sales; Asia factors big,” Kent Allen, Pitney Bowes, 21 March 2011)

5. Global Payment Gateway Overall Ranking
PayPal Pro, 56.2
FirstData, 1.6
SagePay, 2.8
Braintree, 3.6
eWay, 4.6
Stripe, 6
Authorize.net, 20.2
FirstData
SagePay
Braintree
eWay
Stripe
Authorize.net
PayPal Pro
Sales
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Sales
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 5

6. Differentiated Middle East Payment Method
Most online payment gateways have issues running in the Middle East
like PayPal etc… UAE industry will not accept all payment gateways.
The biggest problem in UAE is the ability to accept credit cards on
your website. Compared to the western counterparts such as Stripe,
WePay, Google Checkout, PayPal Pro, Amazon payments... etc. the
ability to accept credit cards on your website is far more tedious &
expensive. Here are some of the top reasons…
Holding stock / Import requirements
If you are importing products from outside the country and selling
them online to the UAE market, the business has to be registered
with the relevant emirate’s ports and customs authority, and receive
an importer’s code. A customs duty (often 5%) is applicable to goods
being imported.
Continue…..
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 6

7. Differentiated Middle East Payment Method
Businesses established within a free zone are exempt from customs
duties if they are selling their products/services within the free
zone or outside the country.
Moreover, the cost of holding stock can be an added cost as you may
have to pay for storage and warehousing.
Online Payment Gateway integration:
Payment gateways which are local solutions that integrate with a
merchant bank account here in the UAE need you to be a legitimate
business and only after an initial assessment will they agree to work
with you. They charge a setup fee in the range of AED 1000 – AED
7000 and also have fixed charges on a yearly basis. The standard
rate percentage per transaction and a fixed fee per transaction is
also applicable and just about everybody is required to pay a deposit
of anything over AED 35,000.
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 7

8. Payment Gateway Players in UAE Market
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 8
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 8

9. Solutions
We have searched through many payment gateway options in U.A.E.
To make the most informed decision on what to use for our project.
We found following listed payment gateways suggestions that we
found most suitable to integrate it with.
When you redirect your users to a hosted payment page on the
servers of the payment gateway itself, it’s called off site payments.
This means that the end-user is redirected to a separate domain
which may or may not include the branding and structure of the
payment processor and on a successful payment is redirected back
to the website.
Some options of payment processors that would work and enable
with UAE as merchandised solution:
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 9

10. Solutions
We have searched through many payment gateway options in U.A.E.
To make the most informed decision on what to use for our project.
We found following listed payment gateways suggestions that we
found most suitable to integrate it with.
When you redirect your users to a hosted payment page on the
servers of the payment gateway itself, it’s called off site payments.
This means that the end-user is redirected to a separate domain
which may or may not include the branding and structure of the
payment processor and on a successful payment is redirected back
to the website.
Some options of payment processors that would work and enable
with UAE as merchandised solution:
Continue…..
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 10

11. Comparison
PAYFORT: PAYFORT is solid choice if you are looking for a payment
gateway. With its transaction cost at 3.0% + AED 2 it is right in the
middle of the pack when compared
INNOVATE PAYMENTS: If you like choices, then this is the one on top
of list to be considered. It has 3 plans with varying fees and
transaction costs. Innovate Payment is mainly focused on the Gulf
region which is why it only accepts mainly the Gulf currencies.
NETWORK INTERNATIONAL: Network international is one of the
more established companies having been around since 1994. It offers
good rates at 2.5% + AED 1 per transaction but requires a huge
security deposit.
2CHECKOUT: 2Checkout has high transaction costs at 5.5% + $0.45
per transaction but no setup nor recurring fees. It accepts 20+
currencies. That is a good option if you are looking to sell globally
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 11

12. Conclusion
On the basis of provided Solutions, Gateway is suggesting solution
depending on the requirement. E.g. For new setup companies
2CHECKOUT would be the best suited solution as it has not setup
fees. Once you have proven yourself successful in market, company
may choose and upgrade with PAYFORT integration.
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 12

13. Thank You
UAE Payment Gateway Industry Overview 13