Retail Payment Systems

In the OIC Member Countries

quality of services and performance of a number of banks. The Central Bank commitment to

creating a stable economic framework ensures that prosperity reaches all the residents in the

country. Oil and gas exploitation are responsible for the emergence of UAE banks as forces to

reckon with in the Gulf Region.

The Central Bank of UAE owns and operates the following payment systems (CBUAE, 2014):

UAEFTS, which processes high-value payments. The UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS)

is the RTGS system hosted by the Central Bank of the UAE that has been operational since

25 August 2001. The system facilitates the transfer of funds between banks and other

financial institutions in the UAE via their accounts held with the Central Bank. As of June

2013 a total of 108 institutions (52 banks, four non-banking finance companies (NBFC),

five 3rd party service providers, 47 exchange houses) participate in the UAEFTS and

processes more than 1.2 million customer credit transfers and 3,500 institutional credit

transfers monthly. All commercial banks in the UAE participate directly in the RTGS and

ICCS systems

ICCS, the cheque clearing system. ICCS (Image Cheque Clearing System) was introduced in

July 2008 to allow for the truncation of cheques at the point of acceptance whilst providing

a safe, secure, efficient and robust payment mechanism in the UAE. Banks will settle

cheques issued on accounts held by them based on electronic images of these cheques. The

ICCS Cheque Archive is available to all banks, providing access to the images of cheques

cleared via ICCS and available to the presenting bank, the issuing bank, as well as the

clearing house. As of June 2013 the ICCS has 82 direct participants (56 banks, 22

ministries, 4 non-banking finance companies (NBFC)) and clears an average of about 2

million items per month. There are two clearing sessions per day: the first session clears

new cheques while the second exchanges returned items. Final settlement takes place

across participants’ accounts held at the Central Bank via UAEFTS on a same-day basis.

UAESWITCH, the national ATM-sharing scheme. The UAESWITCH was launched in 1996

and now comprises 43 member banks and over 4,500 ATMs. Through its connection to

GCCNET, UAESWITCH allows cardholders to obtain service at ATMs throughout the Gulf

region. At this moment, monthly transaction volumes are over 1.3 million balance

enquiries and 5.2 million cash withdrawals worth AED 7.9 billion.

UAEWPS – UAE Wages Protection System. The Wages Protection System (WPS) was

implemented at the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) since 1st October 2009 to meet the

desired objectives of the Ministry of Labour (MOL) in order to provide a safe, secure,

efficient and robust mechanism to streamline the timely payment of wages to employees