Corporate banking
Merchant accounts and taking card payments
Three ways to accept cards, priced very differently, and the cheapest headline rate is usually the one with the reserve, the setup fee and the settlement delay.
The reality
What the bank is actually deciding.
There are three broad ways a UAE business accepts card payments. A direct merchant account with an acquiring bank gives the best pricing and the slowest onboarding. A payment gateway sits between your website and an acquirer, handling the technical side — Telr, PayTabs, Network International and Checkout.com are the familiar names. A payment aggregator or platform onboards you onto its own merchant account, which is fast and simple and costs more per transaction. Which suits you is largely a function of volume.
The comparison people make is on the headline percentage, which is the least important number. What actually determines cost is the combination of that rate, the per-transaction fee, the setup and monthly charges, the settlement period — money held for seven days is working capital you do not have — and any rolling reserve. A new merchant offered 2.5% with a ten per cent reserve held for six months is paying substantially more, in cash flow terms, than one offered 2.9% with next-day settlement and no reserve. Model the whole structure against your actual volumes rather than comparing percentages.
What gets asked for
- Direct merchant account
- Best pricing, slowest onboarding, highest requirements
- Payment gateway
- Technical layer over an acquirer — the common route
- Aggregator
- Fast onboarding, higher per-transaction cost
- Rolling reserve
- A percentage held back — common for new merchants
- Settlement
- Same-day to weekly; directly affects working capital
- Chargebacks
- Charged per case, and a high rate ends the facility
Where the time goes
Proportions indicative — they shift with visa count, premises and activity.
The file
What to put in front of them.
- Estimate real monthly volumeBelow a certain level the aggregator's simplicity wins; above it, the acquirer's pricing does.
- Compare the full cost structureRate, per-transaction fee, setup, monthly minimum, settlement period, reserve. Not the percentage alone.
- Prepare the website before applyingRefund policy, delivery terms, contact details, and an activity matching the trade licence.
- Model the reserve as working capitalIt is not a fee, it is cash you cannot use, and for a growing business that is the larger effect.
- Manage chargebacks actively from day oneA high early rate on a new facility is the fastest way to lose it.
Related
Questions
A percentage plus a per-transaction fee, with setup and monthly charges varying by provider. The reserve and settlement period often matter more than the rate.
An aggregator can be days. A direct merchant account with an acquiring bank is usually weeks, and requires more documentation.
To cover potential chargebacks on a merchant without a track record. It typically reduces or releases as history builds.
Yes. Acquirers and gateways onboard licensed entities, and the licensed activity must match what you are selling.
One question
Where will the money actually come from?
Then the account is a cross-border file, and the compliance question is which countries and in which currencies. Name the corridors in the application rather than waiting to be asked — an unexplained payment from a jurisdiction the bank did not expect is what freezes accounts in month three.
What the file has to containOr just ask usThen substance is the question rather than geography. A local trading history, an Ejari and a customer list make this straightforward; a flexi-desk with no domestic contracts yet is where onboarding slows, and the fix is evidence rather than a different bank.
Why applications get declinedOr just ask usThen source of wealth carries the file, and 'savings' is not an answer. A share sale agreement, a property disposal, audited accounts from an overseas company or a series of tax returns are. Assemble that before the first meeting, not after the first question.
Evidencing source of fundsOr just ask us