Network International Gives UAE Businesses One Integration to Accept Payments Across the GCC: Single Acquiring Platform With Centralised Reporting and Reconciliation for Retail, E-Commerce, Hospitality and Travel

2026-09-04

On 4 September 2026 Network International, the Dubai-based payments company that describes itself as the leading merchant acquirer in the UAE and works with more than 240,000 merchants in over 50 countries of the Middle East and Africa, announced a regional acquiring service for the Gulf: a business based in the UAE connects to the company once and accepts payments in several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets through that single integration, with centralised reporting and simplified reconciliation instead of a separate acquiring contract, technical integration and back office in each country. The service is aimed at retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel and services companies that expand from the UAE to neighbouring markets. The company has not published the list of markets live at launch, pricing or onboarding timelines. The facts below are taken from the company’s statement as reported by Gulf News on 4 September 2026 and carried in full by TechAfrica News the same day, with corporate background from the company’s earlier announcements, Linklaters, RAKBANK and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).

What Network International announced on 4 September 2026

The statement is short on numbers and precise on the problem it addresses:

• Product. A regional acquiring capability that lets merchants accept payments across GCC markets through a single integration. The company calls the approach “one integration, multiple markets”.
• Who it is for. Merchants in retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel and services that sell to customers outside their home market, from large chains to SMEs and digital-first businesses.
• What the merchant gets. A unified acquiring platform, centralised reporting, simplified reconciliation and what the company calls a consistent payment acceptance experience across markets, with acceptance “locally optimised” for each country.
• The problem. Until now a company expanding across the region typically needed a separate acquiring relationship, a separate technology integration, separate operational processes and separate reporting in each market. The company says this raises costs, lengthens deployment timelines and slows regional expansion.
• The claim. Faster market entry, a better customer experience and potentially higher transaction conversion, because customers pay through acceptance tuned to their own market.

Murat Cagri Suzer, Group Chief Executive Officer of Network International, said: “Commerce in the GCC is increasingly regional, yet payments remain fragmented across markets. At Network International, we believe merchants should be able to expand across the region as easily as they operate within their home market. Our solution is a significant step towards that vision. Through single integration, merchants can access multiple GCC markets, unlock new revenue opportunities, and reduce the operational complexity that often accompanies regional expansion.” He added that the company is “building the foundations of a connected payments ecosystem that enables businesses of all sizes to participate more effectively in the GCC’s digital economy” and that its role is “to provide the infrastructure that helps merchants grow without borders”.

In its statement the company also cited the World Trade Organization’s World Trade Outlook and Statistics report, according to which the UAE ranked ninth in the world by trade in 2025, and said the service is meant to strengthen UAE-based enterprises, SMEs and digital-first businesses in the regional economy.

How “one integration, multiple markets” works for a merchant

Acquiring is the service that lets a business accept card and digital payments: the acquirer signs the merchant, processes the transactions and settles the money to the merchant’s account. For a company that sells in two or three Gulf countries the acquiring setup has usually been replicated country by country. The table sets the company’s published claims against what they mean in practice.

What has not been published

The statement leaves several questions open, and a company planning to use the service should ask them before signing:

• which GCC markets are live at launch and which will follow;
• whether the merchant needs a legal entity, a bank account or a tax registration in the target market, or whether the UAE entity can contract for all markets;
• settlement currency and where funds are settled;
• pricing, including the merchant discount rate, cross-border and currency conversion fees;
• which local schemes, wallets and instalment methods are covered in each country;
• onboarding requirements and timelines, and whether SMEs are onboarded from day one.

Merchant acquiring is a licensed activity in the Gulf. In the UAE it is one of the retail payment services regulated by the CBUAE under the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation of 15 June 2021, which gave existing providers a one-year transition to obtain a licence. In Saudi Arabia, Network International obtained a Major Payment Institution licence from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) for merchant acquiring in February 2024. The other GCC central banks run their own licensing regimes, which is one reason a regional acquiring offer takes time to build: the provider needs to be authorised in each market it serves.

Who Network International is: from the London listing to a Gulf champion

The company has changed hands and shape in the past two years. The timeline below is built from public announcements.

The pattern is consistent: a licence in Saudi Arabia, the largest market of the region, then consolidation of the UAE acquiring market through Magnati and RAKBANK, and now a single commercial and technical layer across the GCC. The company’s shareholders include two Abu Dhabi sovereign investors, Mubadala and ADQ, and First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the UAE.

What it means for companies in the UAE

For a UAE company the practical change is on the cost side of regional expansion rather than on the legal side. Before the launch, a Dubai retailer opening a store in Riyadh or an online shop selling to Doha and Manama had to sign with an acquirer in each market, integrate each one and reconcile each one. If the service works as described, that becomes one contract, one integration and one reporting environment. Three points follow:

• A payments integration is not a market entry. Selling to customers in another GCC state can still require a local licence, a local entity, a tax registration or consumer-protection compliance, depending on the product and the sales channel. The acquiring layer removes one operational obstacle; it does not answer the question of where the company has to be registered.
• The UAE remains the base. The offer is built around a UAE-based merchant that expands outward. A company that has not yet set up in the UAE gets the regional service only after it has a licence, a corporate bank account and an acquiring agreement here.
• Reconciliation is where the savings are. Separate acquiring per country means separate settlement files, chargeback processes and fee schedules. A finance team that today closes the month across three acquirers is the first beneficiary of centralised reporting.

The launch also fits a wider pattern of the UAE payments market in 2026: the national Jaywan card scheme is being extended to hotels and tourist attractions across the country, banks are offering multi-currency accounts to residents and companies, and trade agreements such as the UK-GCC free trade deal treat the six Gulf states as one market. Payment infrastructure that spans the GCC is the commercial counterpart of those agreements.

Checklist for a UAE company that wants to use the service:

• Confirm which target markets are live and whether the UAE entity can contract for all of them.
• Request the fee schedule per market: merchant discount rate, cross-border and currency conversion fees, settlement currency and settlement timing.
• Check the local payment methods included in each market against what customers there actually use.
• Map the reporting and settlement files to the accounting system before going live, so that centralised reconciliation is real and not a promise.
• Review, separately from payments, whether the target market requires a local registration, a tax number or a consumer-law disclosure for the product being sold.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital works with founders and companies that use the UAE as a base for the wider Gulf. We handle company setup on the mainland and in UAE free zones, including the choice of licence activities for retail, e-commerce, hospitality and services businesses; corporate bank account opening, which is the prerequisite for any acquiring agreement and settlement of card payments; and work visas and residence permits for the founders and the team. Bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax filings are handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network.

Conclusion

On 4 September 2026 Network International offered UAE merchants one integration for card and digital payments across GCC markets, with centralised reporting and reconciliation in place of a separate acquiring setup in each country. The service is aimed at retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel and services companies that grow from the UAE outward. It comes from a company that has been rebuilt since 2024 by a Brookfield-led consortium with Mubadala, ADQ and First Abu Dhabi Bank, has merged with Magnati and has absorbed RAKBANK’s merchant portfolio. What is missing from the announcement is the commercial detail: markets live at launch, fees, settlement and onboarding. A company planning a regional roll-out should ask for those numbers first, and keep in mind that a single payments integration does not replace the licensing, tax and consumer-law questions of each market.

FAQ

What did Network International launch for UAE businesses in September 2026?

A regional acquiring service: a merchant based in the UAE integrates once with Network International and can accept payments in several GCC markets through that single integration, with centralised reporting and simplified reconciliation. The launch was reported by Gulf News on 4 September 2026. The service targets retail, e-commerce, hospitality, travel and services companies; the company has not published the list of markets live at launch, fees or onboarding timelines.

Does a UAE company still need a separate acquirer in each Gulf country?

According to the company, no: the point of “one integration, multiple markets” is to replace separate acquiring relationships, integrations, operational processes and reporting per market with one platform. What the merchant still needs to check is whether the target market requires a local legal entity, tax registration or consumer-law compliance for the product it sells, because a payments integration does not create a legal presence.

Who owns Network International?

Since 17 September 2024 the company has been privately owned by a consortium led by Brookfield together with First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mubadala, ADQ and Olayan, which took it off the London Stock Exchange for about GBP 2.2 billion. On 1 October 2025 it completed its merger with Magnati, and in March 2026 it closed the acquisition of RAKBANK’s merchant acquiring business with about 5,000 merchants and more than USD 8 billion of payments volume.

Is merchant acquiring regulated in the UAE?

Yes. Merchant acquiring is one of the retail payment services licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE under the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation issued on 15 June 2021. In Saudi Arabia the equivalent licence comes from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), which granted Network International a Major Payment Institution licence for merchant acquiring in February 2024. Other GCC central banks run their own regimes, so a regional acquirer has to be authorised in each market it serves.