PhonePe secures UAE domestic payments licences
The IPO-bound company this week received in-principle approval for two domestic payments licence from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).
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PhonePe has secured licences to offer domestic payment services in the UAE, paving the way for the payments major to launch operations in the country.
The IPO-bound company this week received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) and Stored Value Facilities (SVF) licences, a person familiar with the matter told The Head and Tale.
The RPSCS licence allows companies to acquire merchants and offer domestic payment services, while the SVF licence enables them to offer wallet-type or prepaid-value products.
"PhonePe is going global. We just received our first international licences from the Central Bank of the UAE. So, PhonePe will be launching its operations locally in the UAE as our first foreign market," PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said at the Global Fintech Fest.
PhonePe is the second Indian payments company to secure the UAE payments licences for local operations. Pay10 was the first fintech from India to receive the licences.
Paytm, which applied for the licences early last year, has yet to receive them. The company has since diluted its stake in its UAE arm and brought in a local investor amid uncertainty over the licence. Paytm dilutes UAE arm, brings in local investor amid licence uncertainty
Separately, Paytm recently secured a payment institution licence from Luxembourg's financial regulator.
The Bengaluru-based PhonePe is also preparing to revive its IPO plans. In January, the company filed an updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering. However, it temporarily put the IPO on hold in March, citing geopolitical tensions.