Mastercard has expanded Mastercard Installments, its innovative “buy now, pay later” program that delivers greater choice at checkout, both in-store and online, to consumers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The BNPL program will meet growing consumer demand for flexible, digital-first payment options, and support the region’s e-commerce ecosystem through a new program focused on providing consumers choice.
Mastercard Installments — set to go live later this year — uses the power of the company’s trusted network to make BNPL available to millions of consumers and merchants worldwide. It enables banks, lenders, fintech companies, and wallets to offer a variety of flexible installment options to consumers, including a zero percent interest, pay-in-four model. Implementation is handled by Mastercard and the acquirer with no lift to the merchant to offer this new payment choice, and no disruption to the existing customer experience.
Mastercard is working with leading partners representing a significant market share in the region including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Network International, and National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE and Saudi National Bank in the Kingdom.
Mastercard Installments enables consumers to digitally access BNPL offers, either pre-approved through their lender’s mobile banking app or through instant approval during checkout. Consumers will have full transparency on lender practices up-front during the approval process, and unlike most current BNPL offerings, consumers will continue to benefit from zero liability fraud protection, the ability to challenge unrecognized charges, and the peace of mind that comes with Mastercard’s acceptance footprint.
Khalid Elgibali, division president for Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard, said: “Above everything, consumers today demand flexibility and choice. With Mastercard Installments, we want to give people the choice to pay how, when and where they want. This most recent product innovation builds on the trust between businesses and their customers with ‘buy now, pay later’ options benefitting everyone in the ecosystem.”
As Mastercard continues to design solutions for an evolving digital economy, we see BNPL becoming a standard for shopping, and we look forward to implementing this offering in the UAE and Saudi Arabia later this year.”
The Mastercard Installments program helps merchants scale BNPL offerings to consumers to turn convenience into a competitive advantage. BNPL solutions have been shown to increase average sales by 45 percent and reduce cart abandonment by 35 percent post-implementation. The program provides seamless merchant integration with a streamlined process for millions of merchants who already accept Mastercard. Meanwhile, acquiring banks can offer installments capabilities to their entire merchant base with minimal, simple integration.
