Dubai: Dubai will add another feather to its cap in April when it will become first in the world to launch a prepaid card which can be issued instantly from an unmanned machine in a kiosk.
Dubai-based National Pay, in collaboration with Tuxedo Money Solutions and Kiosk solutions provider Atam are the entities behind the card known as DubaiCard.
“The activation and issuance of a personalised card with the PIN [personal identification number] will take less than a minute,” Frank Creighton, sector head of relationship management at Tuxedo, told Gulf News.
Sallie Henry, contracts manager at National Pay, said that there will be 200 kiosks in Dubai in phase one and expansion to other emirates.
To get a card, she said that a customer needs to have the passport or Emirates ID. The Emirates ID is later checked with the fingerprint.
The cards a machine dispense are general purpose reloadable cards, travel cards in different currencies, gift cards, a disposable virtual card for online purposes in collaboration with MasterCard and a SIM card for mobile phones.
Payroll
“Customers can recharge their cards at the kiosk or online. We are looking at other emirates also for similar kiosk installations,” Henry said.
She said that National Pay is also looking to add payroll cards later where employees or people who do not have bank accounts can get their salary on the card.
The issuing bank behind the DubaiCard is Commercial Bank International.
Creighton said that Dubai is adopting the latest technologies very fast and there is a “real need” for this system.
Arun S Thampi, general manager at Atam, said that consumers can get a live etisalat or du SIM card from the machine after checking the customer details such as Emirates ID or passport.
He said that Atam is working with other local and regional banks in the region to introduce staffless branches to dispense cash and accept cheques.
