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The Qatar Central Bank has helped support the country’s banks and merchants toward the next wave of digital payment innovation, with some already exploring how to become “AI native,” according to a senior executive at Visa.Fadi Moukaddem, senior vice-president and group country manager for the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar at Visa, told Gulf Times that Qatari banks and merchants have moved well beyond basic digitisation.“I’m very happy to report that partners, like banks and merchants in Qatar, are already very digital native, and some of them are now thinking about how they can be AI native, not only digital native,” he said.“Every time I go to Qatar, I’m energised by the strong commitment to innovation and digital transformation of the government and of the partners, banks, and merchants,” Moukaddem noted, adding that Visa works closely with the QCB and the Ministry of Finance to enable these payments.According to Moukaddem, the push towards smarter, more secure digital commerce comes as global cross-border shopping faces a persistent problem: transactions that stall before they are completed.Global e-commerce has surpassed the $5tn threshold, with forecasts suggesting the broader digital commerce economy could exceed $20tn by 2030. As this opportunity expands, even small points of friction in the checkout experience can have significant implications for businesses.Moukaddem pointed to Visa’s recent Checkout Friction Report, which found that security concerns remain the biggest frustration for online shoppers in Qatar, cited by 39% of respondents, followed by the hassle of manually entering card details (32%).He said reducing checkout friction while maintaining trust and security represents an important opportunity for businesses to improve customer experience, increase conversion and drive growth in digital commerce.To address this, Visa has developed Visa Intelligent Commerce, which it offers to banks, merchants, and marketplaces to make online transactions more secure and trusted, Moukaddem explained.Card numbers are tokenised into random numbers so shoppers are not exposed at checkout, while authentication relies on passkeys such as fingerprints, PINs, or facial recognition, he continued. This helps give consumers greater control and confidence during the authentication process.“Ultimately, people adopt new technologies when they make experiences simpler, more convenient, and more secure,” Moukaddem said.Moukaddem said Visa partners closely with the Qatari government on this front, describing the regulatory environment as supportive of innovation and digital payments development. He said this collaboration positions Qatar’s ecosystem to develop quickly and stay ready for future waves of financial technology and commerce innovation.He also pointed out that Qatar’s growing calendar of major events, from the Formula 1 race to large-scale conferences, is directly shaping how Visa tracks and plans for spending activity in the country.According to Moukaddem, inbound travel into the country continues to grow year after year, noting that Qatar has become a destination for sports and cultural experiences, helped by favourable weather during the winter months.“New travel corridors are opening into the country as a result,” Moukaddem noted.He said Visa’s priority for tourists is two-fold: making sure digital payment acceptance is available wherever visitors go, and encouraging them to spend locally rather than prepaying trips entirely at home.“We want visitors to be able to pay seamlessly and confidently in Qatar while supporting local businesses and the broader economy,” he said.Moukaddem explained that Visa monitors major events by comparing spending data from before, during, and after each one to assess their broader economic impact and spending patterns.Using the Doha Formula 1 race as an example, he said the spending and economic activity generated around major events can be significant.“These events bring cross-border spend, B2B business, and a lot of set-up,” he said, pointing to the logistics behind moving cars, crews, hotel bookings, and airline capacity for a single race weekend.He noted Visa has a partnership with Qatar Airways on co-branded cards tied to some of these events.Moukaddem stressed that Formula 1 is only one example on a much longer calendar that includes the Qatar Economic Forum, Web Summit Qatar, and large concerts, among others. 

Visa has unveiled new capabilities under Visa Accept and Visa Direct that turn smartphones into payment tools for small businesses, part of a global push the company said is already relevant to Qatar’s high contactless retail environment.  The rollout, announced globally on June 30, targets microsellers and merchants in emerging markets, allowing them to accept payments and send payouts on mobile devices, according to a Visa statement.  The statement explained that the updates are intended to make it easier for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in emerging markets, from street vendors to growing online merchants, to manage payments using tools they already rely on.  “Every tap, scan, and swipe is now a defining moment in the customer relationship, and small businesses can’t afford for payments to get in the way,” said Shahebaz Khan, senior vice president and head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa.  He added, “We see a future where a single smartphone is all a seller needs to accept any way customers want to pay, gain powerful insights, and confidently run their business, so they can spend less time on payment friction and more time creating the experiences that keep customers coming back.”  Speaking to Gulf Times, Fadi Moukaddem, senior vice president and Group country manager, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar at Visa, said: “Today, if you are a small shop in Souq Waqif and you don’t have access to digital payment options...you might lose business because many consumers increasingly prefer digital payments.” “Qatar is one of the countries leading the world in terms of contactless payments...across the GCC, around nine in 10 face-to-face Visa transactions are tap-to-pay,” he said in an exclusive interview held on Visa Payments Forum (VPF) Media Day in Paris. He emphasised, “The problem isn’t your product; it’s the availability of that payment option.” Digital payments can help create greater visibility into business activity, which may help support broader financial inclusion and access to financial services, emphasised Moukaddem, adding that this trend reflects Visa's global data on SMBs’ access to affordable financing. As more commerce moves to smartphones, small businesses need simple ways to accept the payments customers use — from cards and digital wallets – the statement further explained, adding that Visa “is helping turn the smartphone into a hub for SMB commerce, combining acceptance, payouts, and customer interactions in one device.” Visa Accept turns a smartphone into a card terminal, letting a seller accept tap to pay or pay by link transactions through a Visa debit or prepaid account without extra hardware, with funds reaching the seller’s account in near real time, the statement noted. The service is live in more than 25 countries through banking partners, including HNB in Sri Lanka, Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala, and SACOMBANK and VPBank in Vietnam. Co op Bank in Kenya and three Ghanaian lenders are due to launch in the coming weeks, with Visa expecting the tool to reach millions of merchants worldwide by 2027, data from Visa showed. The case for such tools is strong, according to Visa’s Global SMB Macro Trends Report, which noted that “99%” of small businesses surveyed already use at least one digital finance tool, and “85%” say it has helped their business. The report also found that “one in five” surveyed SMBs face cash flow gaps daily or monthly, while nearly “28%” reported issues using or applying for credit or borrowing tools in the last 12 months. Visa Direct, the company’s real time payout platform, lets an SMB owner use a phone to pay staff, contractors or drivers instantly, issue refunds or incentives, and move funds across borders to eligible cards, bank accounts or wallets, the statement also said. 

Qatar’s digital payments landscape is seeing a new shift as merchants increasingly struggle to make sense of failed transactions, unclear decline codes, and fragmented customer communication — challenges that cost businesses both time and revenue. To address this, Doha-based payment infrastructure platform Dibsy launched AI Insights, which was designed to help businesses understand payment outcomes faster and take the right action directly from the Dibsy dashboard. According to co-founder and chief technology officer Anouar el-Mekki, AI Insights is “the first merchant-facing capability” built as part of the company’s AI-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) roadmap. El-Mekki explained that when a payment requires attention, merchants can open AI Insights to see what likely happened, what action should be taken next, and how to communicate clearly with the customer in English or Arabic. With the rise of AI in business operations, el-Mekki further explained that Dibsy’s MCP approach makes payment data and operational workflows easier to access through intelligent AI tools. Instead of relying only on support tickets, bank calls, or technical decline codes, merchants can now use AI to get clear, practical guidance from inside their existing payment dashboard, he noted. According to el-Mekki, Dibsy’s MCP roadmap will allow deeper AI-powered workflows across the payment lifecycle, including payment recovery, support automation, settlement visibility, reconciliation, fraud prevention, and operational decision-making. “AI in payments should not be a marketing layer on top of a model. It has to be connected to the real payment infrastructure merchants use every day. AI Insights is built into the same environment that processes Dibsy transactions, with the same operational context, audit trail, and security standards. “This is the foundation for how we see MCP evolving inside payments,” said el-Mekki, who added that AI Insights is available immediately to Dibsy merchants inside the existing dashboard at no additional cost. He said, “For businesses in Qatar, where payments run across multiple rails, schemes, banks, and wallets, failed payments are often more than a technical issue. They create confusion for customers, extra work for support teams, and lost revenue for merchants. “By bringing AI directly into the payment workflow, Dibsy helps businesses move from ‘payment failed’ to ‘here is what happened’, as well as what to do next and what to tell the customer.” El-Mekki added: “With this launch, Dibsy continues to build intelligent payment infrastructure for Qatar’s digital economy — helping businesses accept, understand, and operate payments more effectively.” 

QIIB has once again been awarded the 'Excellence Award' for Straight Through Processing (STP) in international payments by Citibank New York, reaffirming the bank’s consistent operational strength and its ability to maintain superior performance standards in cross-border payment processing.The award was received by QIIB Chief Operations Officer Mohammed Khair Barhoumeh from Seemanti Borkotoky, Head of FI sales Middle East at Citibank, during a ceremony held at QIIB’s headquarters in Doha.The event was attended by Sammy Yassin at Citibank, and Mahmoud al-Ahmad, Head of Treasury and Investments at QIIB and Najeeb Ahmed Nasiruddin, Head of Payments and International Operations at QIIB.Citibank stated that renewing this recognition reflects QIIB’s sustained excellence in executing international payments, its adherence to stringent global standards, and its continued enhancement of technological infrastructure to ensure seamless, accurate, and efficient processing without manual intervention.Commenting on the occasion, Barhoumeh said: “Receiving this award once again from Citibank New York underscores the strength and consistency of QIIB’s operational framework. It highlights our commitment to delivering reliable, high-quality payment services through continuous investment in technology and people.”He added: “Straight Through Processing plays a vital role in ensuring speed, accuracy, and reliability in international payments. Our focus on this area enables us to provide our customers with efficient services that meet the highest expectations of the global banking industry.”Barhoumeh further noted that QIIB continues to advance its digital transformation strategy, emphasising that ongoing technological enhancements have contributed to improved operational efficiency and elevated customer satisfaction.He concluded by reaffirming QIIB’s commitment to strengthening its long-standing partnership with Citibank, aiming to deliver mutual value and ensure the consistent provision of international payment services in line with the highest industry standards. 

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) announced the acceptance of the national payment card ‘Himyan’ in Kuwait. This, the QCB noted, is in line with the Third Financial Sector Strategy and as a continuation of the bank's efforts to develop digital payment systems and services, as well as to strengthen co-operation among the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).  The QCB said the holders of the Himyan card can now carry out purchase transactions and cash withdrawals through various points of sale and automated teller machines across the State of Kuwait, in accordance with the highest standards of security and protection.  It added that this expansion in the acceptance of services of the national Himyan card reflects the QCB's commitment to providing reliable and secure national Himyan card services within the local payment ecosystem, which is fully managed and operated by the QCB.  It also reaffirms its dedication to strengthening regional integration in the field of payment systems. Himyan card is considered the first national payment card with a Qatari commercial brand, owned by the Qatar Central Bank. It was launched as part of QCB's ongoing efforts to enhance and develop digital payment systems, support innovation and digital transformation in Qatar's financial sector, and provide secure and efficient local payment options.

Indicating the increased use of electronic means in the financial sector, Qatar saw a total of 59.95mn transactions valued at QR18.47bn through the country's payment system in October 2025 as the domestic real time payment service Fawran reported a robust double-digit growth in volumes and value, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data.The number of transactions and total value grew 8.84% and 10.73% month-on-month respectively in October 2025, the QCB said in its social media handle X.The Qatar Payment System (QPS) is designed on the concept of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and electronic straight through processing (e-STP).The point-of-sales constituted 50% of the payment system transaction, followed by e-commerce 25%, Fawran or instant payment system at 24% and QMP at 1% in the review period.There were 46.03mn card transactions through point-of-sales – which enables merchants to process payments and log transactions – valued at QR9.19bn in October 2025. The card transactions increased 8.48% and 8.63% month-on-month in volume and value respectively.The e-commerce transactions witnessed as many as 10.82mn transactions valued at QR4.44bn in the review period. The number of transactions and their total value jumped 7.23% and 4.96% respectively compared with September 2025.The point-of-sales and e-commerce together amounted to QR13.63bn through 56.85mn transactions this October, which showed 8.24% and 7.41% surge in volume and value respectively on a monthly basis.Fawran – a real-time payment service in Qatar, allowing users to send and receive money instantly and securely within the country – registered as many as 2.68mn transactions valued at QR4.56bn in October 2025, shooting up 21.27% and 23.58% month-on-month respectively.The total number of Fawran accounts registered a 1.77% month-on-month growth to 3.45mn in the review period.Fawran was launched in 2024 and system members are QNB, Commercial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, Dukhan Bank, Doha Bank, QIIB and AlRayan Bank.QMP – which allows immediate transfer of funds between registered customers through any registered payment service providers – saw as many as 421,491 transactions valued at QR289.42mn in October 2025. While total number of transactions zoomed 17.26%, total value was down 1.77% against September 2025 levels.There has been a total of 1.22mn registered wallets in the review period, registering a marginal 0.83% increase on a monthly basis.The QMP is a centralised payment system that was launched in 2020, to enable individuals and corporates to perform instant fund transfers between e-wallets within payment service providers in Qatar.The system members are QNB, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, QIIB, Arab Bank, HSBC Qatar, AlRayan Bank, Dukhan Bank, i-pay and Ooredoo Money.The QPS is based on the SWIFT network and messages standards and utilises the SWIFT messages to reconcile and settle the local payments and securities ownership transfers.Qatar's retail payment system comprise electronic cheque clearing system; national network system for ATMS and Points of Sales (NAPS); QMP; direct deposit and debit (QATCH); electronic payment gateway (QPay); wage protection system (WPS); and Fawran.

Syrian Minister of Finance Dr. Mohammed Yisr Barniehآ said that the recent Qatari-Saudi $89 million support to enable the payment of salaries for government employees, represents a continuation of the generous fraternal support provided by the State of Qatar, in partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Syria's people and its institutions. He affirmed that this support reflects the deep fraternal relations between the two countries and demonstrates Qatar's firm commitment to backing Syria in its path toward reconstruction and development.In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), he expressed the Syrian government's sincere appreciation and gratitude to the State of Qatar for its ongoing and valued support across various fields. He pointed out that this support had a tangible positive impact during and after the Syrian crisis by strengthening national institutions and supporting the development process.He explained that the Qatari-Saudi grant came at a critical stage, highlighted by Qatar's active contributions to energy and electricity projects that will help improve vital services and ensure their continuity, as these are fundamental pillars for economic growth and sustainable development. This is alongside Qatar's investments in infrastructure projects that support the Syrian economy, he added.The State of Qatar's support, alongside Saudi Arabia, to help cover wage and salary expenses extends their previously well-recognized role, helping the Syrian government in advancing its plan to reform the wage system and close the arrears file with the World Bank, he said, noting that this reflects the State of Qatar's consistent keenness to support the Syrian state efforts to achieve economic recovery and restore the path of sustainable development.The Syrian Minister of Finance confirmed that this generous support embodies the depth of fraternal relations between Syria and Qatar and affirms Doha's firm commitment to supporting Syria on its journey toward comprehensive reconstruction and development.He pointed out that the grant is an important step in supporting the wage and salary system in Syria and contributing to improving the living standards of public sector employees. He explained that this initiative is a continuation of previous grants that helped enhance the stability of public services and alleviate the living burdens on employees and citizens, while also directly supporting the governmentط·s efforts to implement wage system reforms.In his interview with QNA, he noted that the grant will gradually cover about 17 percent of the wage bill for non-military employees, a significant percentage that will enable the government to continue its economic, financial, and social reform program, positively impacting citizens' livelihoods and the stability of state institutions' performance.The Syrian government, he said, is grateful to its brothers in the State of Qatar for their constant support of Syria in regional and international forums and their readiness to provide expertise, knowledge, and technical advice in financial reform areas.He also emphasised that Syria seeks to build on the continuous Qatari-Saudi support to expand cooperation areas in the upcoming phase by developing comprehensive strategic partnerships with sisterly and friendly countries. This, he said, aims to enhance opportunities for economic and social development, attract investments, and improve the quality of basic services. He clarified that the fraternal cooperation with Qatar and Saudi Arabia is especially important in supporting vital sectors, developing economic policies, and transferring institutional expertise, knowledge, and technologies, thereby contributing to supporting institutional reform in Syria, activating the Syrian economy, and improving the overall and sustainable standard of living.In September, an $89 million joint grant from Qatar and Saudi Arabia was announced to support the salaries of public sector employees in the Syrian Arab Republic. This funding also aims to enhance the stability of essential public services. The initiative was launched by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) and the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aiming to support the Syrian government's efforts to implement financial and economic reforms and improve living standards for civil sector employees within the national recovery program.

Qatar witnessed a total of 55.08mn transactions valued at QR16.68bn through the country's payment system in September 2025, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data.Qatar Payment System (QPS) is designed on the concept of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and electronic straight through processing (e-STP).The point-of-sales constituted 51% of the payment system transaction, followed by e-commerce 25%, Fawran or instant payment system at 22% and Qatar Mobile Payment or QMP at 2% in the review period.There were 42.43mn card transactions through point-of-sales – which enables merchants to process payments and log transactions – valued at QR8.46bn in September 2025.The e-commerce transaction winessed as many as 10.09mn transactions valued at QR4.23bn in the review period.Fawran -- a real-time payment service in Qatar, allowing users to send and receive money instantly and securely within the country -- registered as many as 2.21mn transactions valued at QR3.69bn in September 2025.There have been a total of 3.39mn total registered Fawran accounts in September this year.QMP – which allows immediate transfer of funds between registered customers through any registered payment service providers – saw as many as 359,462 transactions valued at QR294.63mn in September 2025. There has been a total of 1.21mn registered wallets in the review period.The QMP is a centralised payment system that was launched in 2020, to enable individuals and corporates to perform instant fund transfers between e-wallets within payment service providers in Qatar.