Annex I: means the list of Retail Payment Services that a Payment Service Provider may provide subject to the requirements of this Regulation.
Annex II: means the Guidance on the best practices for technology risk and information security.
Annex III: means the minimum level of information to be reported by Card Schemes to the Central Bank.
Applicant: means a juridical Person duly incorporated in the State in accordance with Federal Law No. 2 of 2015 on Commercial Companies and as provided for under Article (74) of the Central Bank Law, which files an Application with the Central Bank for the granting of a License for the provision of one or more Retail Payment Services, operation of a Card Scheme or the modification of the scope of a granted License.
Application: means a written request for obtaining a License for the provision of one or more Retail Payment Services submitted by an Applicant which contains the information and documents specified in this Regulation or by the Central Bank, and is in the form specified by the Central Bank’s Licensing Division, including a written request for obtaining a modification to the scope of a granted License.
Auditor: means an independent juridical Person that has been appointed to audit the accounts and financial statements of a Payment Service Provider in accordance with Article (10) (7).
Bank: any juridical person licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Central Bank Law, to primarily carry on the activity of taking deposits, and any other Licensed Financial Activities.
Beneficial Owner: means the natural person who owns or exercises effective ultimate control, directly or indirectly, over a Retail Payment Service User (client) or the natural person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted or, the natural person who exercises effective ultimate control over a legal person or legal arrangement.
Branded: means having any digital name, term, sign, logo, symbol or combination thereof that is capable of differentiating the Card Scheme under which Payment Transactions are executed.
Board: means the board of directors of an Applicant, Payment Service Provider or a Card Scheme in accordance with applicable corporate law.
Business Day: means a day other than Friday, Saturday, public holiday or other non-working holiday or day in the State.
Card-based Payment Transactions: means a service based on a Card Scheme's infrastructure and business rules to make Payment Transactions by means of any card, telecommunication, digital or IT device or software if this results in a debit or a credit card transaction.
Card Issuer: means a category of Payment Service Provider providing a Payer with a Payment Instrument to initiate and process the Payer’s Card-based Payment Transactions.
Cardholder: means a Person who holds a Payment Instrument, physical or otherwise, issued by a Card Issuer based on a contract for the provision of an electronic payment instrument.
Card Scheme: means a single set of rules, practices and standards that enable a holder of a Payment Instrument to effect the execution of Card-based Payment Transactions within the State which is separated from any infrastructure of payment system that supports its operation, and includes the Card Scheme Governing Body. For the avoidance of doubt, a Card Scheme may be operated by a private or Public Sector Entity.
Card Scheme License: means a License for operating as a Card Scheme, as referred to in Article (18).
Card Scheme Governing Body: means the juridical Person responsible and/or accountable for the functioning and operation of a Card Scheme.
Category I License: means a License for the provision of the Retail Payment Services referred to in Article (3) (2).
Category II License means a License for the provision of the Retail Payment Services referred to in Article (3) (3).
Category III License means a License for the provision of the Retail Payment Services referred to in Article (3) (4).
Category IV License means a License for the provision of the Retail Payment Services referred to in Article (3) (5).
Central Bank: means the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.
Co-Branded: means having the inclusion of at least one payment brand and one non-payment brand on the same Payment Instrument.
Controller: means a natural or juridical Person that alone or together with the Person’s associates has an interest in at least 20% of the shares in a Payment Service Providers or is in a position to control at least 20% of the votes in a Payment Service Provider.
Commodity Token: means a type of Crypto-Asset that grants its holder an access to a current or prospective product or service, and is only accepted by the issuer of that token. Commodity token can also be referred to as utility token
Complaint: Means an expression of dissatisfaction by a consumer with a product, service, policy, procedure or actions by the licensed financial institution that is presented to an Employee of the licensed financial institution in writing or verbally.
Cross-Border Fund Transfer Service: means a Retail Payment Service for the transfer of funds in which the Payment Service Providers of the Payer and the Payee are located in different jurisdictions/countries.
Crypto-Assets: means cryptographically secured digital representations of value or contractual rights that use a form of Distributed Ledger Technology and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically.
Customer Due Diligence or CDD: means the process of identifying or verifying the information of a Retail Payment Service User or Beneficial Owner, whether a natural or legal person or a legal arrangement, and the nature of its activity and the purpose of the business relationship and the ownership structure and control over it.
Custodian Services: means the safekeeping or controlling, on behalf of third parties, of Payment Tokens, the means of access to such tokens, where applicable in the form of private cryptographic keys.
Data Breach: means an intrusion into an IT system where unauthorized disclosure or theft, modification or destruction of Cardholder or Retail Payment Service User data is suspected and such is likely to result in a loss for the Cardholder or Retail Payment Service User.
Data Subject: means an identified or identifiable natural Person who is the subject of Personal Data.
Digital Money Services: means, for the purposes of this Regulation, the business activity related to the provision of Payment Token Services.
Distributed Ledger Technology: means a class of technologies that supports the distributed recording of encrypted data across a network and which is a type of decentralized database of which there are multiple identical copies distributed among multiple participants and accessible across different sites and locations, and which are updated in a synchronized manner by consensus of the participants, eliminating the need for a central authority or intermediary to process, validate or authenticate transactions or other types of data exchanges.
Domestic Fund Transfer Service: means the Retail Payment Service of accepting money for the purpose of executing, or arranging for the execution of Payment Transactions between a Payer in the State and a Payee in the State.
Electronic Payment Service: means any and each of the Retail Payment Services listed in points (1) to (4) and (8) to (9) of Annex I.
Employer: means a Person using the Wages Protection System for the payment of wages.
Exchange House: means an exchange business that has been licensed under the Regulations re Licensing and Monitoring of Exchange Business.
Exempted Person: means any Person who is exempted from the requirement to hold a License as per Article (2) of this Regulation.
Facilitating the Exchange of Payment Tokens: means a Retail Payment Service related to establishing or operating a Payment Token exchange, in a case where the person that establishes or operates that exchange, for the purposes of an offer or invitation made or to be made on that Payment Token exchange, to buy or sell any Payment Token in exchange for Fiat Currency or Payment Token, whether of the same or a different type, comes into possession of any Fiat Currency or Payment Token, whether at the time that offer or invitation is made or otherwise.
FATF: an inter-government body which sets international standards that aim to prevent global money laundering and terrorist financing activities.
Fiat Currency: means a currency that is controlled by the respective central bank, has the status of legal tender and is required to be accepted within a given jurisdiction.
Financial Free Zones: means free zones subject to the provisions of Federal Law No (8) of 2004, regarding Financial Free Zones, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time.
Four Party Card Scheme: means a Card Scheme in which Card-based Payment Transactions are made from the payment account of a Payer to the payment account of a payee through the intermediation of the scheme, an issuer (on the payer’s side) and an acquirer (on the Payee’s side).
Framework Agreement: means a payment service agreement for the provision of Retail Payment Services which governs the future execution of individual and successive Payment Transactions and which may contain the terms and conditions for opening a Payment Account.
Group: means a corporate group which consists of a parent entity and its subsidiaries, and the entities in which the parent entity or its subsidiaries hold, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of the shares, or are otherwise linked by a joint venture relationship.
Level 2 Acts: means any written act that may be adopted or issued by the Central Bank complementing the implementation of this Regulation, such as, without being limited to, rules, directives, decisions, instructions, notices, circulars, standards, and rulebooks.
License: means a License issued by the Central Bank to an Applicant to provide Retail Payment Services or operate a Card Scheme in the State. The License is valid unless it is withdrawn, suspended or revoked by the Central Bank.
Licensed Financial Activities: means the financial activities subject to Central Bank licensing and supervision, which are specified in Article (65) of the Central Bank Law.
Major Regulatory Requirement: means any requirement of this Regulation or Level 2 Acts the violation of which is capable of compromising and/or negatively affecting the attainment of the Central Bank’s objectives pursued under this Regulation, as determined at the discretion of the Central Bank.
Management: means the Applicant, Payment Service Provider, Agent and Card Scheme’s senior officers that are involved in the daily management, supervision and control of the business services of the entity, typically including the chief executive officer, his or her alternate(s) and each person directly reporting to that officer. The chief executive officer and his or her alternate(s) shall be a natural person who are ordinarily residing in the State whereas the remaining members of Management shall be based in the State unless the Central Bank allows otherwise.
Means of Distance Communication: means a method which may be used for the conclusion of a payment services agreement without the simultaneous physical presence of the Payment Service Provider and the Retail Payment Service User.
Merchant: means a Person who accepts Payment Instruments as a mode of payment for the purchase and sale of goods and services.
Merchant Acquirer: means a category of Payment Service Provider providing Merchant Acquiring Services.
Merchant Acquiring Service: means a Retail Payment Service provided by a Payment Service Provider contracting with a Payee to accept and process Payment Transactions, which results in a transfer of funds to the Payee.
Money Transfer Services: means the Domestic and Cross-border Fund Transfers Services, excluding Remittances.
Money’s Worth: means value added onto an SVF by the customer; value received on the customer’s SVF account; and value redeemed by the customer including not only “money” in the primary sense but also other forms of monetary consideration or assets such as values, reward points, Crypto-Assets, or Virtual Assets. For example, a value top-up of an SVF account may take the form of values, reward points, Crypto-Assets, or Virtual Assets earned by the SVF customer from making purchases of goods and services. Similarly, value received on the account of the SVF customer may take the form of an on-line transfer of value, reward points, Crypto-Assets, or Virtual Assets between fellow SVF customers.
Payment Account: means an account with a Payment Service Provider held in the name of at least one Retail Payment Service User which is used for the execution of Payment Transactions.
Payment Account Information Service: means a Retail Payment Service to provide consolidated information on one or more Payment Accounts held by a Retail Payment Service User with either another Payment Service Provider or with more than one Payment Service Providers. For the avoidance of doubt, the Payment Account Information Service does not involve the holding of Retail Payment Service User’s funds at any time.
Payment Account Issuance Service: means a Retail Payment Service, other than Domestic and Cross-border Fund Transfer Services, enabling (i) the opening of a Payment Account; (ii) cash to be placed on a Payment Account; (iii) cash to be withdrawn from a Payment Account; and (iv) all necessary operations for operating a Payment Account. The Payment Account is only used for holding fund/cash in transit and not allowed to store and maintain fund/cash.
Payment Aggregation Service: means a Retail Payment Service facilitating e-commerce websites and Merchants to accept various Payment Instruments from the Retail Payment Service Users for completion of their payment obligations without the need for Merchants to create a separate payment integration system of their own. Payment aggregation facilitates Merchants to connect with Merchant acquirers; in the process, they receive payments from Retail Payment Service Users, pool and transfer them on to the Merchants after a time period.
Payment Data: means any information related to a Retail Payment Service User, including financial data and excluding Personal Data.
Payment Initiation Service: means a Retail Payment Service to initiate a Payment Order at the request of the Retail Payment Service User with respect to a Payment Account held at another Payment Service Provider. For the avoidance of doubt, the Payment Initiation Service does not involve the holding and maintenance of Payer’s funds at any time.
Payment Instrument: means a personalized device(s), a payment card and/or set of procedures agreed between the Retail Payment Service User and the Payment Service Provider, and used in order to initiate a Payment Order.
Payment Instrument Issuance Service: means a Retail Payment Service related to the provision of a Payment Instrument to a Retail Payment Service User which enables it to initiate Payment Orders as well as the Processing of the Retail Payment Service User’s Payment Transactions.
Payment Service Provider: means a legal Person that has been licensed in accordance with this Regulation to provide one or more Retail Payment Services and has been included in the Register as per Article (73) of the Central Bank Law.
Payment Token Issuing: means a Retail Payment Service related to the issuing of Payment Tokens by a Payment Service Provider. For the avoidance of doubt, Payment Tokens may not be offered to the public or segments thereof unless the Payment Service Provider issuing the Payment Tokens has obtained a Category I License, drafted a White Paper in respect of those Payment Tokens and received an approval by the Central Bank prior to offering such tokens to the public.
Payment Token: means a type of Crypto-Asset that is backed by one or more Fiat Currencies, can be digitally traded and functions as (i) a medium of exchange; and/or (ii) a unit of account; and/or (iii) a store of value, but does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. A Payment Token is neither issued nor guaranteed by any jurisdiction, and fulfils the above functions only by agreement within the community of users of the Payment Token. For the avoidance of doubt, a Payment Token does not represent any equity or debt claim.
Payment Token Buying: means the buying of Payment Tokens in exchange for any Fiat Currency or Payment Token.
Payment Token Selling: means the selling of Payment Tokens in exchange for any Fiat Currency or Payment Token.
Payment Token Services: means the Retail Payment Services consisting of any of the following activities related to Payment Tokens: (i) Payment Token Issuing; (ii) Payment Token Buying; (iii) Payment Token Selling; (iv) Facilitating the Exchange of Payment Tokens; (v) enabling payments to Merchants and/or enabling peer-to-peer payments; and (vi) Custodian Services. For the avoidance of doubt, a Payment Service Provider may provide only one of the Retail Payment Services referred to in points (v) and (vi); if it wishes to provide both and allows Retail Payment Service Users to redeem the Payment Tokens with any Fiat Currency under a contractual arrangement, it must comply with the respective SVF requirements.
Payment Transaction: means an act initiated by the Payer or on his behalf or by the Payee of placing, transferring or withdrawing funds, irrespective of any underlying obligations between the Payer and the Payee.
Payee: means a Person who is the intended recipient of funds which have been the subject of a Payment Transaction.
Payer: means a Person who holds a Payment Account and allows a Payment Order from that Payment Account, or, where there is no Payment Account, a Person who gives a Payment Order.
Person means any natural or legal Person.
Personal Data: means any information which are related to an identified or identifiable natural Person.
Processing: means Payment Transaction processing necessary for the handling of an instruction, including clearing and settlement, between the Merchant Acquirer and the Card Issuer.
Promotion: means any form of communication, by any means, aimed at inviting or offering to enter into an agreement related to any Retail Payment Service. For the avoidance of doubt, any Person that has been mandated to provide or engage in Promotion activities by a Person providing Retail Payment Services without holding a License shall not be held liable under this Regulation.
Public Sector Entity: means the Federal Government, Governments of the Union’s member Emirates, public institutions and organizations.
Regulation: means the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation.
Remittance: means the receipt of funds from a Payer without any Payment Accounts being created in the name of the Payer or the Payee.
Reserve of Assets: means the pool of Fiat Currencies that are legal tender backing the value of a Payment Token.
Retail Payment Service: means any business activity set out in Annex I.
Retail Payment Service User: means a Person who intends to make use of or makes use of a Retail Payment Service in the capacity of a Payer, Payee or both.
Sensitive Payment Data: means data, including personalized security credentials which can be used to carry out unauthorized activities. For the purposes of Payment Initiation and Payment Account Information Services, the name of the Payment Account owner and Payment Account number shall not constitute Sensitive Payment Data.
Single Retail Payment Agreement: means an agreement which governs the execution of an individual Payment Transaction.
State: means the United Arab Emirates.
Security Token: means a type of Crypto-Asset that provides its holder with rights and obligations that represent a debt or equity claim against the issuer of that token.
Stored Value Facility or SVF: means a facility (other than cash) for or in relation to which a Customer, or another person on the Customer’s behalf, pays a sum of money (including Money’s Worth such as values, reward points, Crypto-Assets or Virtual Assets) to the issuer, whether directly or indirectly, in exchange for: (a) the storage of the value of that money (including Money’s Worth such as values, reward points, Crypto-Assets or Virtual Assets), whether in whole or in part, on the facility; and (b) the “Relevant Undertaking”. SVF includes Devicebased Stored Value Facility and Non-device based Stored Value Facility.
Third country: means a country other than the UAE.
Three Party Card Scheme: means a Card Scheme in which the scheme itself provides Merchant Acquiring and Payment Instrument Issuing Services and Card-based Payment Transactions are made from the Payment Account of a Payer to the Payment Account of a Payee within the Card Scheme. When a Three Party Card Scheme licenses other Payment Service Providers for the issuance of Card-based Payment Instruments or the Merchant Acquiring of Card-based Payment Transactions, or both, or issues Card-based Payment Instruments with a co-branding partner or through an agent, it is considered to be a Four Party Card Scheme.
UAE: means the United Arab Emirates.
Unauthorized Payment Transaction: means a Payment Transaction for the execution of which the Payer has not given consent. Consent to execute a Payment Transaction or a series of Payment Transactions shall be given in the form agreed between the Payer and the Payment Service Provider. Consent to execute a Payment Transaction may also be given via the Payee or the Payment Initiation Service Provider.
Virtual Assets: A Virtual Asset is a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, or transferred, and can be used for payment or investment purposes. Virtual Assets do not include digital representations of Fiat Currencies, securities and other financial assets that are already covered elsewhere in the FATF Recommendations.
Virtual Assets Service Providers: Virtual Asset Service Provider means any natural or legal person who is not covered elsewhere under the FATF Recommendations, and as a business conducts one or more of the following activities or operations for or on behalf of another natural or legal person: (i) exchange between Virtual Assets and Fiat Currencies; (ii) exchange between one or more forms of Virtual Assets; (iii) transfer of Virtual Assets; (iv.) safekeeping and/or administration of Virtual Assets or instruments enabling control over Virtual Assets; and (v) participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer and/or sale of a Virtual Asset.
Virtual Asset Token: means a type of Crypto-Asset that can be digitally traded and functions as (i) a unit of account; and/or (ii) a store of value. Although some Virtual Asset Tokens may be accepted as a means of payment, they are generally not accepted as a medium of exchange, may not have an issuer and do not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. A Virtual Asset Token is neither issued nor guaranteed by any jurisdiction, and fulfils the above functions only by agreement within the community of users of the Virtual Asset Token. For the avoidance of doubt, a Virtual Asset Token does not represent any equity or debt claim, and it is not backed by any Fiat Currency.
Virtual Asset Token Services: means any of the following services: (i) enabling peer-to-peer Virtual Asset Token transfers, and (ii) custodian services of Virtual Asset Tokens.
Wages Protection System or WPS: means a reconciliation system implemented at the Central Bank aimed at providing a safe, secure, efficient and robust mechanism for streamlining the timely and efficient payment of wages.
Wire Transfer: means any transaction carried out on behalf of an originator through a financial institution by electronic means with a view to making an amount of funds available to a beneficiary person at a beneficiary financial institution, irrespective of whether the originator and the beneficiary are the same person
WPS Payment Account: means a WPS account opened in the infrastructure of the Central Bank and held for the purposes of holding and payment of wages.
WPS Payment Account Holder: means a holder of a Payment Account held with a Payment Service Provider who has been given access to the Wages Protection System for the purpose of executing transfers of wages.
White Paper: means a detailed description in Arabic and English of: (i) the Payment Service Provider issuing a Payment Token and a presentation of the main participants involved in the project’s design and development; (ii) a detailed description of the project and the type of Payment Token that will be offered to the public; (iii) the number of Payment Tokens that will be issued and the issue price; (iv) a detailed description of the rights and obligations attached to the Payment Token and the procedures and conditions for exercising those rights; (v) information on the underlying technology and standards applied by the Payment Service Provider issuing the Payment Token allowing for the holding, storing and transfer of those Payment Tokens; (vi) a detailed description of the risks relating to the Payment Service Provider issuing Payment Tokens, the Payment Tokens, the offer to the public and the implementation of the project, and other disclosures that the Central Bank may specify; (vii) detailed description of the Payment Service Provider’s governance arrangements, including a description of the role, responsibilities and accountability of the third-parties responsible for operating, investment and custody of the Reserve of Assets, and, where applicable, the distribution of the Payment Tokens; (viii) a detailed description of the Reserve of Assets; (ix) a detailed description of the custody arrangements for the Reserve of Assets, including the segregation of the assets; (x) in case of an investment of the Reserve of Assets, a detailed description of the investment policy; and (xi) information on the nature and enforceability of rights, including any direct redemption right or any claims that holders of Payment Tokens may have on the Reserve of Assets or against the Payment Service Provider issuing the Payment Tokens, including how such rights may be treated in insolvency procedures. For the avoidance of doubt, the White Paper shall be written in a simple, easy to understand and non-misleading language, and shall be dated. The White Paper shall be endorsed by the Payment Service Provider’s Management and published on the Payment Service Provider’s website after receipt of an approval by the Central Bank.