Introduction
Open Finance isn’t just a regulatory mandate — it’s a payment infrastructure upgrade. For businesses, it offers a new way to collect funds that’s faster, cheaper, and more reliable than traditional card-based payments.
In this article, we explore the specific advantages of Open Finance-powered payments for merchants, marketplaces, and digital platforms operating in the UAE.
Cost Efficiency
Card payments come with a range of costs — interchange, acquiring fees, processing fees — that eat into margins. Open Finance eliminates many of these costs by enabling direct account-to-account transfers.
Merchants benefit from:
For high-volume businesses, these savings can translate into significant increases in net revenue.
Improved Reliability and Speed
Payments initiated through Open Finance are typically processed in real time or near real time, depending on the banking rails. This means:
The reliability of payment confirmation also helps reduce operational complexity for finance and reconciliation teams.
Reduced Checkout Friction
Card payments often involve multiple steps: entering card numbers, CVV codes, expiry dates, and sometimes 3D Secure authentication. With Open Finance, users authenticate directly through their bank app in a single step.
This improves the checkout experience and helps reduce drop-offs — especially in mobile commerce, where speed and ease of use matter most.
Support for New Payment Models
Open Finance infrastructure supports not just one-time payments but also:
This allows businesses to design payment flows that are tailored to their products, improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Future-Proofing Your Payment Stack
As more banks, fintechs, and regulators embrace Open Finance, account-to-account payments will become the standard for domestic transactions. Businesses that adopt these capabilities early can reduce dependency on legacy systems, enhance flexibility, and stay aligned with future payment innovations.