SMBs in the UAE will be first in region to enjoy new solution introduced by Visa and Mashreq to speed up their ability to accept digital payments

• UAE will be the first market within the CEMEA region to launch Visa's Rapid Seller Onboarding solution

• The new seamless solution helps fast-track digital acquisition and onboarding of SMEs, all within seven business days

• The solution is designed to eliminate digital payment acceptance issues for acquirers and small businesses alike

- In what is a first for the CEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, Visa, the world's leader in digital payments, and Mashreq, one of the largest card acceptance service providers in the UAE, have partnered to debut the new Rapid Seller Onboarding program in the UAE.

This solution will allow digital acquisition and onboarding of SMBs by allowing them to sign up directly with the payment acquirer (Mashreq) to accept digital payments from their customers in-store/at point-of-sale or online within just seven working days. Visa is initially rolling out this solution in the UAE before extending it to other markets in the CEMEA region.

Visa's Rapid Seller Onboarding program is designed to eliminate the pain points that both merchants and acquirers face during the traditional onboarding process. These include lack of digital touchpoints, lengthy onboarding timelines and limited feedback mechanisms that result in high costs for both merchants and acquirers.

UAE-based SMBs can join the automated onboarding process by submitting the new merchant application form online through Visas Small Business Hub. If the application is approved, the merchant is notified, and the preferred acceptance channel is activated.

"SMBs in the UAE have been hit hard by the pandemic and although they are on the road to recovery, we recognize the pressures they face to meet the changing payment habits of their customers. Most UAE merchants surveyed in Visa's Small Business Recovery 2021 study (82%) see digital payments as a necessary investment in business recovery, and 51% of them expressed interest in low-cost acceptance solutions. With this in mind, we are pleased to partner with Mashreq to launch Rapid Seller Onboarding, a program specifically designed to support both small businesses and acquirers with a faster, seamless and cost-effective onboarding solution. This innovative solution will accelerate the acceptance of digital payments among small businesses, which in turn will bring a number of benefits to them, including preventing revenue leakage and improving cash flow, and most importantly, accessing the UAE's burgeoning digital economy. For acquirers, this automated onboarding process will replace the traditional model, saving them money and enabling them to increase digital payment adoption among SMBs." said Shahebaz Khan, Visa's General Manager for the UAE.

Kartik Taneja, Mashreqs EVP- Head of Payments, said, Mashreq is glad to be the first in the region to partner with Visa for this innovative process of enabling merchant onboarding using digital acquisition. We are increasingly experiencing a shift from cash to digital payment methods in the SMB merchants segment. We are also experiencing unprecedented growth in the e-commerce merchants segment. The Rapid Seller Onboarding initiative will help to expedite the onboarding of these merchants with maximum convenience. A similar innovation implemented by Mashreq is its NeoBiz solution which offers a predictable and speedy digital account opening experience for SMB customers clubbed together with value added services such as payment acceptance via POS and payment gateways. We look forward to collaborating with Visa to continue our tradition of providing innovative solutions for our customers.

The Rapid Seller Onboarding program requires just a few basic steps before merchants can start accepting digital payments. To begin the digital onboarding journey, SMB owners need to follow these simple steps:

1. go to Visa's Small Business Hub page and click "Get Started" to be redirected to Mashreq's merchant registration page.

2. first enter their personal information and then fill in business information.

3. upload the business/company license and owner ID.

4. wait for the application to be validated by the acquirer.

5. the acquirer will reach out to the merchant regarding any further requirements.

6. if the application is approved, the preferred acceptance channel will be activated for the merchant.

Visa has been actively working to drive the acceptance of digital payments in the region. This initiative is the first of its kind for Visa in CEMEA and demonstrates Visa's commitment to digitally empower millions of small and micro businesses globally.