Tabby Cash Launches in UAE as Tabby Moves Beyond Buy Now, Pay Later

More than 150,000 people are already using Tabby Cash. The company said the account will become available to all UAE residents aged 18 and older over the coming weeks, with prospective users able to join a waitlist before the wider rollout.

Customers can open the account without paying setup, account or card fees. The product includes unlimited local money transfers, while international transfers are expected to be introduced later. Although Tabby describes Tabby Cash as an alternative to a debit account, it is not presenting the product as a conventional bank account offered by a deposit-taking bank.

Spending is conducted through the Tabby Cash Card. Customers without a Tabby Plus subscription can receive 1% cashback, while Tabby Plus members can earn 3% on selected categories and international spending. As an introductory promotion, all cardholders will receive 3% cashback until November 1, 2026.

The launch represents the first product developed under Tabby’s Stored Value Facilities license from the Central Bank of the UAE. The central bank’s register of licensed financial institutions lists Tabby Payments LLC as a Dubai-based stored-value facility provider, independently confirming the company’s regulatory authorization.

Tabby Cash services are provided by the licensed Tabby Payments entity, while the company’s short-term credit products, including Pay Later and Tabby Card, are offered separately through Tabby LLC. Keeping those services under different legal entities reflects the different regulatory frameworks governing stored customer funds and consumer credit.

Building an Everyday Financial Platform

Tabby first established itself by allowing shoppers to divide purchases into installments, usually without interest when payments are made on schedule. Its expansion into stored balances and transfers gives the company a more frequent role in customers’ financial lives, extending beyond individual checkout transactions.

Tabby is broadening its reach elsewhere in the Gulf as well. In Saudi Arabia, the company recently secured consumer and small and medium-sized enterprise finance licenses from the Saudi Central Bank, allowing it to offer longer payment plans for larger purchases and working-capital financing to merchants. The Saudi approvals, alongside the launch of Tabby Cash in the UAE, show how the company is building a wider financial-services business around both consumers and retailers.

The company says it now serves more than 25 million consumers and works with 65,000 retailers across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. Tabby also reported processing more than $18 billion annually in sales volume, equivalent to approximately $18 billion (AED 66.11 billion).

Tabby CEO and co-founder Hosam Arab said: “We started Tabby because we believed money should be flexible enough to work around your life, not the other way around. That belief hasn't changed, but what we’re doing about it has. We're building a place where people have full control over their money, with the same clarity and flexibility they've come to expect from us.”

By adding stored balances, local transfers and a cashback card, Tabby is entering a broader segment of the UAE financial services market. The new account puts the company alongside banks, digital wallets and other app-based providers competing to handle more of consumers’ everyday spending.

Tabby is entering that contest with an existing user base developed through installment payments rather than traditional banking. Its strategic advantage lies in turning customers who already use the app at checkout into account holders who also keep funds, transfer money and use a payment card.

A Broader Identity for Tabby

Alongside the account launch, Tabby unveiled a new visual and verbal identity designed to move the brand away from the restrained look commonly associated with financial institutions. The company has introduced custom typography, revised photography and hand-drawn characters called “Monions,” which depict money performing everyday activities such as spending, earning and saving.

Chief Marketing Officer Jugal Paryani said: “Most financial brands are built to look expensive. But it's mostly surface, with rarely an idea underneath. We didn't want to look expensive, we wanted to be on your side. That meant throwing out the gradients and glossy 3D icons and building something with actual character and meaning.”

The redesign is being introduced across Tabby’s application, website and marketing channels, with remaining product surfaces expected to follow. Although the visual changes are prominent, the more substantial development is the company’s attempt to redefine what the Tabby name represents.

Until now, many consumers have associated Tabby primarily with splitting retail purchases into installments. Cash accounts, transfers and payment cards broaden that relationship and could give the company access to more regular transaction activity, while reducing its dependence on purchases financed at participating merchants.

Regulatory authorization also gives the expansion greater substance than a simple application redesign. The Central Bank of the UAE states that firms must obtain authorization before conducting regulated financial activities, and its published register identifies Tabby Payments as a licensed stored-value provider.

Tabby’s announcement claims that international money transfers can cost UAE consumers AED 75 or more before currency-conversion markups, equivalent to approximately $20.42 (AED 75).

The rollout ultimately shifts Tabby into a more demanding category of financial services. Customers may tolerate limited friction in an occasional installment transaction, but an everyday money account requires reliability, clear consumer protections and consistent service. Tabby Cash gives the company an opportunity to build a deeper financial relationship with millions of regional users. It also raises expectations well beyond the checkout page.