The UAE’s Al Etihad Payments, which operates the national card switch (UAESWITCH) and the domestic card scheme Jaywan, has signed an agreement with Visa to introduce co-badged 'Jaywan - Visa' debit and prepaid cards in the country.

With both Jaywan and Visa logos on the cards, UAE customers will be able to pay in the UAE and at more than 150 million merchant partners across 200 countries and territories when travelling abroad or shopping online.

This will be the first co-badged Jaywan card in the UAE that customers can use for online payments and when travelling abroad.

As reported by Khaleej Times earlier, banks and other financial institutions will offer their customers a mono-badge card — Jaywan — for local usage as well as in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Meanwhile, a co-badge card in partnership with international payment schemes such as Discover, Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay will be offered for payments in foreign countries.

Transactions in the UAE will be processed through the UAESWITCH while cross-border transactions outside the GCC area will be processed through Visa’s global network 'VisaNet'.

Al Etihad Payments is a subsidiary of the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE).

In February, the Central Bank revealed that financial infrastructure is ready to launch the country’s first domestic card Jaywan locally and globally. The card will help individual customers and companies in reducing payment costs.

Saif Humaid Al Dhaheri, chairman of Al Etihad Payments, said the new cards in partnership with Visa will create a “seamless, secure, and efficient card payment ecosystem”.

“Jaywan is a key step toward strengthening the UAE’s financial infrastructure, offering a locally rooted payment solution that supports economic growth and digital transformation,” he said.

“With around 30 per cent of payments still made with cash, we look forward to implementing this agreement and continuing our collaboration with industry partners to extend the benefits of digital payments to more consumers and businesses, as well as the wider UAE economy,” said Dr Saeeda Jaffar, senior vice president and group country manager for the GCC at Visa.