MEPS to pilot Zwipe Pay ONE Biometric Cards with key executives at multiple Financial Institutions in Levant

Middle East Payment Services (MEPS) and Zwipe are pleased to announce the launch of a pilot of Biometric Payment Cards based on the Zwipe Pay ONE platform to top-level executives and key decision makers at up to 20 banks and issuers in the Levant region. MEPS is a key regional player in card issuing, payment processing and merchant acquiring services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Zwipe is a biometric fintech pioneering next generation contactless payment globally.

In June, MEPS and Zwipe announced their partnership to bring Biometric Payment Cards to banks and consumers in MENA. Both organizations have noted a strong interest in biometric payment cards in the region.

Highlighting this development, Ali Abdel Jabbar, Chief Executive Officer at MEPS shared, “Nothing brings more trust in Biometric Payment Cards than the first-hand experience of using them. With this pilot, MEPS will offer the top-ranking officers and key decision makers at up to 20 banks and issuers a chance to gain such first-hand experience by trying these state-of-the-art payment cards in a live environment, making it the largest multi-bank trial of these cards globally. The pilot will be concluded in Q4 2021 with Zwipe Pay ONE Cards delivered from Inkript. We are confident that after these trials, most banks will launch pilots leading to multiple commercial launches.” 

The General Manager of Zwipe MENA, Ramzi Saboury  commented, “We are proud that our partner MEPS is amongst the global pioneers and first in MENA to pilot Zwipe Pay ONE, paving the way for issuers to try and ultimately launch this great technology”.

As part of the collaboration, Inkript will deliver Zwipe Pay ONE-based cards to MEPS. Inkript supplies 100 million smart cards annually across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. In 2020, it selected Zwipe for its next-generation contactless cards.

“We are impressed with the innovativeness and boldness of MEPS to launch such a large-scale, multi-bank pilot of Zwipe Pay ONE cards across the Levant region. This is a completely new approach to piloting our technology, providing a unique opportunity for top bankers and decision makers in up to 20 individual banks to experience first-hand the enhanced convenience, security and hygiene benefits of biometric payment cards. We are extremely happy and excited that our collaboration with MEPS is proceeding at such great pace,” added André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.