Dublin, Feb. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The “Middle East Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook – Q1 2026 Update” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.
The Middle East prepaid card and digital wallet market is expected to grow by 11.3% on annual basis to reach US$44.0 Billion in 2026. The prepaid card and digital wallet market in the country has experienced robust growth during 2021-2025, achieving a CAGR of 15.8%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% during 2026-2030. By the end of 2030, the prepaid card and digital wallet market is projected to expand from its 2025 value of USD 39.6 Billion to approximately USD 63.3 Billion.
Prepaid cards across the GCC are being pulled into mainstream payment journeys through domestic scheme development and fee reforms, app-based issuance by banks and exchange houses, and corporate demand for tighter spend controls via virtual card programs. This is shifting prepaid from a “single-purpose card” product (travel, gifting, payroll) to a configurable instrument that sits inside regulated digital channels.
Over the next 2-4 years, competitive advantage is likely to concentrate on who can distribute prepaid digitally at low servicing costs, operate under clearer licensing and governance requirements, and build acceptance economics that work for merchants (fee reform, domestic routing, and interoperability). Recent regulator actions in Oman, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia show the direction of travel.
Competitive Landscape of the Middle East Prepaid Card Market
- SAMA published a new “Guide to Financial Institutions Services Fees” (Dec 22, 2025) that replaces the Banking Tariff with a broader framework and states it enters into force within 60 days; this is relevant because pricing and disclosure constraints directly affect prepaid program economics and fee design.
- Federal Decree-Law No. (6) of 2025 (effective from mid-September 2025 per the CBUAE rulebook) expands and consolidates the licensed financial activities framework, explicitly including “stored value services” and retail payments/digital money services, raising the bar for governance and licensing alignment for entities underpinning prepaid and stored value models.
Current state of prepaid card
- Prepaid competition in the GCC is splitting into two tracks: domestic scheme-linked consumer prepaid (e.g., Jaywan in the UAE; Maal in Oman), and multicurrency/travel prepaid distributed digitally by banks and exchange houses. Recent launches show prepaid moving from “counter distribution” to “in-app issuance,” which changes unit economics and customer acquisition.
- At the same time, corporate virtual card programs are raising expectations for control features that overlap with prepaid program management (limits, merchant controls, single-use cards). This increases the pressure on issuers to compete on operating capability rather than card branding alone.
Key players and new entrants
- In the UAE, banks and infrastructure-linked players are positioning around domestic scheme readiness (e.g., Emirates NBD working with IDEMIA on Jaywan prepaid), while exchange networks like Al Ansari Exchange are defending share through app distribution and prepaid servicing.
- In Qatar, banks are expanding prepaid and virtual card capabilities (Commercial Bank’s digital multicurrency prepaid; QNB’s corporate VCN program). These moves indicate that “new capability launches” are often from incumbents upgrading their product stacks rather than from entirely new entrants from outside banking.
How the competitive landscape is expected to shape up (next 2-4 years), and the regulatory changes implemented in the last 12 months
- Saudi Arabia: SAMA published a new “Guide to Financial Institutions Services Fees” (Dec 22, 2025) that replaces the Banking Tariff with a broader framework and states it enters into force within 60 days; this is relevant because pricing and disclosure constraints directly affect prepaid program economics and fee design.
- UAE: Federal Decree-Law No. (6) of 2025 (effective from mid-September 2025 per the CBUAE rulebook) expands and consolidates the licensed financial activities framework, explicitly including “stored value services” and retail payments/digital money services, raising the bar for governance and licensing alignment for entities underpinning prepaid and stored value models.
Accelerated rollout of domestic payment schemes and merchant-cost reforms
- UAE: Emirates NBD and IDEMIA announced the “first Jaywan prepaid card” (Jaywan is the UAE’s domestic scheme), indicating domestic scheme readiness extending into prepaid use cases.
- Oman: The Central Bank of Oman approved a fee structure for the national “Maal” consumer debit and prepaid card, including zero issuance/reissuance/annual fees for customers and lower merchant acceptance costs (reported as up to ~50% reduction).
- Central banks are pushing domestic rails and price governance to improve acceptance economics and reduce reliance on external routing for everyday transactions; prepaid is a practical distribution instrument for these schemes.
- As domestic schemes mature (UAE Jaywan; Oman Maal), issuers will have stronger incentives to issue domestic-branded prepaid for everyday spend, not only for travel or gifting, especially if merchant pricing is structurally lower.
Shift to app-based prepaid issuance by exchange houses and banks
- UAE: Al Ansari Exchange introduced instant digital issuance for its prepaid TravelCard and FlexiblePay cards through its app, moving prepaid onboarding away from branch-only processes.
- Qatar: Commercial Bank launched a fully digital multicurrency Mastercard prepaid card (“CB Multi”) with application through the bank’s mobile app.
- Higher share of commerce and service journeys are initiated in-app; prepaid fits these flows when issuance and controls are digital (load, freeze, limits, replacement), lowering servicing overhead and increasing conversion.
- App issuance becomes baseline; prepaid programs that cannot issue digitally (or cannot manage controls in-app) will lose distribution leverage to banks/exchanges that can.
Growth in multi-currency prepaid tied to travel and cross-border spending
- Qatar: Commercial Bank’s multicurrency prepaid card explicitly targets travel spend management by enabling customers to load multiple currencies onto a single card.
- UAE: Exchange-house prepaid (e.g., Al Ansari’s TravelCard) continues to be positioned around travel/FX usage but is being distributed digitally.
- Cross-border spend remains structurally high in the GCC (travel and imported e-commerce). Multi-currency prepaid provides a controlled spend tool with clearer budgeting compared with open-ended credit.
- Issuers will keep expanding multi-currency capabilities, but with more emphasis on monitoring, limits, and dispute/chargeback handling to manage fraud and compliance exposure.
Corporate adoption of virtual card programs increases pressure on “prepaid-like” controls
- UAE: FAB and Mastercard launched a mobile-first virtual corporate card number (VCN) solution for enterprises and government entities, integrating virtual cards into mobile wallets and enabling programmatic controls.
- Qatar: QNB launched Mastercard VCN for corporate clients with single-use/multi-use virtual cards and merchant category controls.
- CFO priorities (auditability, spend control, reconciliation) are pushing corporates toward cash advances and manual reimbursements, away from controlled card rails that behave like configurable prepaid instruments.
- Competition shifts toward controls, policy configuration, and ERP/expense integration rather than plastic distribution; issuers without strong corporate tooling will partner with networks/processors.
Key Attributes:
| Report Attribute | Details |
| No. of Pages | 636 |
| Forecast Period | 2026 – 2030 |
| Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2026 | $44 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2030 | $63.3 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 9.5% |
| Regions Covered | Middle East |
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/raug0p
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- Middle Eastern Prepaid Card and Digital Wallet Market
