Majid Al Futtaim has enabled customers to pay with Jaywan cards at more than 200 of its locations across the United Arab Emirates, expanding the reach of the country’s national card scheme into a broad consumer-facing network.
The Dubai-based company said that in-store acceptance was available across its retail, hotel, leisure and entertainment operations. The rollout places Jaywan at payment terminals used for routine purchases rather than limiting the scheme to bank issuance and financial-sector infrastructure.
Jaywan Moves into Everyday Retail
The rollout gives Jaywan cardholders another place to use the national scheme as the UAE shifts from infrastructure development toward wider commercial adoption. A domestic card network becomes more visible to consumers only after banks issue cards and merchants configure their payment systems to accept them.
Majid Al Futtaim operates businesses spanning shopping malls, grocery retail, hotels, cinemas and leisure venues. Jaywan can now be used across more than 200 destinations in the UAE within those business areas.
In-store transactions are being supported through Majid Al Futtaim’s acquiring relationship with Network International. The payments company announced a strategic agreement with Majid Al Futtaim in June, covering the group’s in-store acquiring operations, before separately expanding its support for Jaywan across online commerce.
Digital acceptance is expected to follow. Majid Al Futtaim said Jaywan would be introduced across its online platforms in the coming weeks, indicating that the current phase is centered primarily on physical points of sale.
Darren Taylor, Senior Vice President, SHARE Rewards & Customer Solutions, Majid Al Futtaim, said: "Our priority is to make every interaction with Majid Al Futtaim simple, intuitive, and rewarding. Enabling Jaywan acceptance across our destinations gives customers more ways to pay while maintaining the seamless experience they expect from us. It also reflects the strength of our payment infrastructure, helping reduce transaction costs, accelerate settlement for domestic payments, and enable us to continue delivering new capabilities that meet the evolving needs of our customers."
A National Scheme Takes Shape
Jaywan is operated by Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE established to develop and operate national payment infrastructure. The scheme is intended to provide a locally operated payment route while remaining connected with international networks for transactions outside the country.
The Central Bank of the UAE formally inaugurated Jaywan on July 20 and announced the start of nationwide issuance by licensed banks and financial institutions. The central bank described it as the UAE’s first national card scheme and linked the initiative to the country’s broader financial infrastructure strategy.
Its development predates the July launch. The central bank’s previous reports said the first phase of the domestic card scheme had been completed earlier, including the ability to route local point-of-sale transactions through UAESWITCH. The latest announcements reflect a transition from system development and testing to card issuance and wider merchant use.
Jaywan is designed around domestic debit and payment activity, but its usefulness depends on coordination among several parts of the ecosystem. Banks must issue compatible cards, processors must route the transactions, acquiring companies must connect merchants, and retailers must ensure their terminals and checkout systems recognize the scheme.
Several UAE banks have begun introducing Jaywan products. First Abu Dhabi Bank, for example, announced a Jaywan debit card alongside the national rollout. Those issuance announcements provide the consumer side of the network, while merchant integrations such as Majid Al Futtaim’s determine where the cards can be used.
Acceptance Expands Across Payment Channels
Network International said that it had extended Jaywan acceptance to online payments, allowing cardholders to transact across merchants connected to its e-commerce network. That broader processing capability provides technical support for companies planning to add Jaywan to websites and mobile applications.
Majid Al Futtaim’s rollout therefore sits within a larger series of coordinated announcements involving the central bank, Al Etihad Payments, issuing banks and payment processors. Rather than representing the launch of Jaywan itself, the company’s move expands merchant acceptance at a time when card issuance is beginning to reach a wider group of customers.
The arrangement may also allow more domestic transactions to be processed through infrastructure based in the UAE. Local routing can reduce reliance on overseas card rails for purchases where both the cardholder and merchant are in the same market.
Consumers may notice little difference at checkout beyond the presence of another accepted card brand. Behind the transaction, however, the scheme changes how domestic payments can be routed, settled and governed.
Majid Al Futtaim’s network gives the scheme immediate exposure across frequently visited consumer locations.
