UAE Merchant Account and Payment Gateway — How Businesses Accept Online Payments Guide 2026
UAE businesses selling online need a payment gateway to accept credit cards, Apple Pay, and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) from customers. Setting up a UAE merchant account and payment gateway requires a UAE company and UAE bank account. This guide covers UAE payment processing for 2026.
In this guide:
UAE Payment Gateway Overview
- What it is: a payment gateway is the technology that captures customer payment information and routes it to the payment processor and then to your UAE bank account; e.g. Stripe, Checkout.com, PayTabs, Telr
- Merchant account: a UAE business bank account approved for receiving card payments from a UAE acquiring bank (Emirates NBD, FAB, ADCB, Mashreq are UAE acquiring banks)
- Acquiring bank: the UAE bank that processes card payments for merchants; behind every payment gateway is an acquiring bank that settles funds into your merchant account
Popular UAE Payment Gateways
- Checkout.com: UK-based but with UAE acquiring; accepts UAE mainland and free zone companies; multi-currency settlement; AED, USD, EUR; popular with UAE e-commerce; settlement T+2 (2 business days); competitive rates 2.5-3.5% per transaction
- PayTabs: Saudi-founded; strong UAE presence; accepts UAE and GCC companies; Arabic interface; competitive rates; popular with UAE SMEs; settlement T+3
- Telr: UAE-founded payment gateway; UAE-first support; accepts both mainland and free zone companies; BNPL integration (Tabby, Tamara); settlement T+3
- Stripe: global payment giant; accepts UAE companies; multi-currency; developer-friendly API; more expensive for UAE merchants vs local gateways; settlement T+7 for UAE
- Amazon Payment Services (formerly PayFort): UAE-founded (acquired by Amazon); deep integration with Amazon UAE marketplace; popular for large e-commerce merchants
BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) Integration
- Tabby: UAE/Saudi-based BNPL; pay in 4 interest-free instalments; merchants pay 5-6% fee; very popular in UAE; used by Noon, Carrefour, and 10,000+ UAE merchants
- Tamara: Saudi-founded; similar to Tabby; UAE market penetration growing; 5-6% merchant fee
- Postpay: UAE-founded BNPL; pay later or in instalments; growing merchant base
How to Set Up a UAE Payment Gateway
- UAE company and bank account: you need a valid UAE trade licence and a UAE business bank account before any payment gateway will approve you
- Apply to a payment gateway: go to checkout.com, paymennt.com, or paytabs.com; complete merchant application; upload trade licence, bank account details, website URL, business description
- Website review: the payment gateway reviews your website; must have: SSL certificate (https://); clear product or service description; refund policy; privacy policy; contact details
- KYC/AML review: the payment gateway’s compliance team reviews your company; may ask for UBO declaration, source of funds, additional company documents
- Approval and integration: once approved, integrate the payment gateway API into your website or use their no-code plugins (WooCommerce, Shopify plugins available for most UAE gateways)
- Testing: test transactions before going live; most UAE gateways provide a sandbox environment