Join Gulf News' webinar on the future of cashless payments

In the UAE, cash has traditionally been king, and prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, up to 75 per cent of transactions were conducted using hard currency.

Kartik Taneja, Head of Payments, Mashreq Bank agrees that Covid-19 may have accelerated the pace of a big societal shift from cash to digital.

“The key driver for this has been the convenience and speed of waving a device near a terminal as opposed to a card dip or taking out and counting cash,” says Taneja.

Register now: https://www.nunify.com/events/acceleratingcashless/home

Now that we are being urged to switch contactless payment methods - for health reasons, as well as convenience - could coins and banknotes actually become a thing of the past?

One of the biggest shifts in the UAE’s e-commerce space has been the conversion of cash-on-delivery customers to online payers.

The big question is whether customers will remain loyal to cashless transactions or will they return to paying in person. What dynamics will be at play and what is the future of cashless payment?

Taneja isn’t able to predict the future, but believes contactless now seems to be the clear preference of consumers across markets and that will evolve even further.

“I have no doubt that we may move to a non-card based biometric payment system in the future once we overcome the issues of privacy and acceptance,” says Taneja.

Gulf News will delve deep into the dynamics of this golden era for card companies and online retailers in our latest webinar event.

Join panelists from Mashreq Bank, Visa and Noon as we discuss how the pandemic has propelled the shift towards electronic transactions like no single event in history.

Register to be part of this exclusive discussion on Tuesday 28 July at 10:45am and put your questions to these industry leaders:

Reserve your place in this exclusive webinar now.