The international payments company Mastercard has launched its Click-to-Pay service in the UAE enabling customers to make fast and secure online payments.
The service was first revealed in the US in October 2019, followed by the Asia-pacific region in July last year.
The service uses a digital icon or button to replace the time-consuming process of filling out account details at the checkout stage. Users are not required to store their confidential data with participating merchants.
Mastercard’s Country Manager for the UAE and Pakistan Mr. Girish Nanda stated that the UAE will benefit from Click-to-Pay’s “simple and safe technology”.
“The UAE is the first market in the Middle East where Mastercard has introduced this service. Click to Pay is currently in use in eight markets around the world. We are aiming to expand into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar in the next few months … our goal for this year is to accelerate the adoption of Click to Pay among merchants and consumers to make it the industry-wide standard in the years to come” the Mastercard official further added.
Mastercard’s counterpart Visa has unveiled a similar service in the Middle East in July last year. Users who are signing up for the first time can use their email and phone number to complete the one-off Click to pay enrolment process.
When a consumer is ready to pay, Click to Pay will send a safe one-time code, removing the need for the card verification value number. To ensure that customer’s data is safe, the company uses tokenization technology.
According to Mastercard, the latest solution is expected to have high approval rates and result in fewer abandoned online shopping carts.
The company remarked that with 57 percent of consumers in the UAE citing a secure checkout process as a fundamental reason for a good shopping experience, the new Click-to-Pay icon will add to consumers’ confidence and trust.
As of July, Mastercard’s digital checkout solution had adopted by over 10,000 merchants around the world.
It is supported by Emirates Airline, Etisalat, online food ordering company Talabat, and Marriot in the UAE.
