19 January 2022: FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a globally leading provider of integrated payments and a payments processor announced its collaboration with YAP, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first independent digital banking platform, to deliver secure, digital-first card experiences to consumers in the Middle East and Africa.
YAP and FSS will work closely to deliver greater value to customers by combining FSS’ Unified Card Issuance Platform with particular emphasis on virtual card issuance and support around 3D Secure adoption. YAP services would initially be available in the UAE and would soon be rolled in other Gulf Council Cooperation (GCC) markets and Ghana.
The number of consumer digital transactions in the UAE are growing at an annual rate of more than 9 percent between 2014 and 2019, compared with Europe’s average annual growth of 4 to 5 percent, according to McKinsey.[i] With digital wallets becoming more prevalent, consumers are expressing an interest in new payment modes that offer a great user experience and fit with their digital lifestyles.
FSS Unified Issuance Platform enables YAP to provision instant, open loop virtual cards linked to its wallet app — with unique security features such as a unique card number, a unique CVV, and an expiration date for utility payments and online shopping. To build customer trust, the platform supports 3D Secure to safeguard customers against transaction fraud.
Speaking on the collaboration, Masood Khan, YAP UAE CEO, stated; “The pace of digital adoption across demographic groups in the UAE has accelerated over the past 12 months. Customers choose which platform they want to use based on the user experience. Through our partnership with FSS, we are providing secure, digital-fist card products designed to help customers manage their entire payments and personal finance ecosystem.”
Speaking on the partnership, Jaishankar A L, CEO FSS said; “FSS Unified Card issuance platform powers 800 million cards globally and is designed to help the world’s most innovative financial institutions launch game-changing products. We are delighted to work with YAP, on its ambitious goal to be the region’s leading digital bank and making secure digital payments seamless and accessible to everyone.”
The underlying FSS UIP platform manages the complete lifecycle of cards and allows issuers to craft tailored card products for delivery of unique payment experiences and to meet unmet needs of consumers. Virtual cards can be provisioned on-demand and delivered seamlessly to the customers’ mobile devices for immediate use. An API-based framework supports 60+ APIs for multiple card functions – issuance, risk and spend limits, wallet creation linked to a card.
The solution additionally supports programmable spend controls providing cardholders the flexibility to turn cards on and off as well as the ability to set card usage limits for specific time frames, amounts, and approved merchant categories as needed. Further, to protect customer funds, all transactions are authenticated using EMV 3D Secure 2.2. FSS Secure3D analyzes cardholder transaction patterns and spend behaviors to detect suspicious activity prior to the final authorization decision, allowing for fraud to be stopped before an account is debited.
