Checkout.com Wins Provisional UAE Approval as Revolut and Remitly Move Ahead With Full Licences

Monday, 27/07/2026 | 06:57 GMT by Damian Chmiel

Checkout.com won in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for a stored value facilities licence, the payments company said today (Monday). The clearance covers issuing, which the London-based firm wants to run alongside the acquiring business it already operates in the country.

In-principle approval is not permission to operate. It marks the first stage of the regulator’s two-step process, and Checkout.com gave no date for when the capability would actually go live.

The stored value facilities regime is how the CBUAE licenses non-banks to hold customer funds and issue wallets or cards. The framework dates to 2016 and has been rewritten as the central bank builds out licensing categories for payments and remittance firms.

Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, general manager for MENA at Checkout.com, said that “once operational, this connected approach will help merchants reduce complexity.” The company thanked the central bank for its support through the process.

Checkout.com is already an acquirer in the UAE, so the approval adds a product line rather than opening a new market.

The commercial argument is about working capital. Checkout.com says merchants that use both its acquiring and issuing services would be able to fund cards directly from balances they have already taken in, removing the need to pre-fund card programs. That claim has not been independently tested, and the company has not published pricing or the mechanics of how the two sides would settle against each other.

The two services are sold separately, according to the firm, so merchants can take either one.

Checkout.com is arriving at a stage of the process that others have already finished. Revolut received in-principle approval for stored value facilities and retail payment services in September 2025 and converted both into full licences in June (about nine months). Remitly announced a full stored value facilities licence with Exchange Business Category IV authorization on July 9.

Checkout.com said its total processing volume across MENA grew 62% year over year between 2024 and 2025, but did not disclose underlying volume or the UAE’s share.