Checkout.com has been granted provisional in-principle approval for a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) license from UAE’s Central Bank, marking another step in the rapid rise of the country as one of the largest payments markets in the world.
With a Stored Value Facilities (SVF) license, a payment business is able to hold customers’ funds in account and use them for payments, transfers, and other financial services under supervision. By acquiring this license, Checkout.com may use it to go beyond merely being a payments processor that transfers money between banks and engage in payment processing and storage.
For the London-headquartered company, it opens up new horizons for servicing merchants with a complete range of financial services from one regulatory-approved vendor, which is quite important for operations of businesses in the UAE and broader MENA region. Namely, the licence opens the door to offering merchants a broader suite of financial services, i.e. digital wallets, payment acceptance, issuing and fund management, through a single regulated platform.
While the announcement clearly expands Checkout.com’s local capabilities, the broader story is how the UAE has transformed regulation into a competitive advantage that is attracting global payment providers ahead of many established financial centres.
Checkout.com already reported 62% year-on-year processing volume growth across MENA between 2024 and 2025, underlining the region’s accelerating demand for digital payment services. However, the milestone SVF licence itself may be less significant than what it represents.
As digital commerce evolves, competitive advantage is increasingly being determined not only by payment technology but also by the quality and predictability of regulatory frameworks. The UAE appears to have recognised that early, positioning itself as a jurisdiction where innovation and regulation advance together.
Rather than treating payments regulation as a barrier to innovation, the UAE has spent several years developing licensing frameworks that encourage financial technology companies to launch new products while operating under clear regulatory oversight. The Central Bank’s SVF regime governs businesses that hold customer funds and provide stored-value services such as digital wallets, prepaid accounts and certain issuing activities, creating legal certainty for companies expanding into the market.
This approach increasingly differentiates the UAE from many mature markets, where payment providers often navigate fragmented regulatory environments or lengthy approval processes before launching new services.
For international payment companies like Checkout.com, obtaining a UAE licence has become more than a regional compliance exercise. It provides access to one of the fastest-growing digital commerce ecosystems spanning the Gulf Cooperation Council, while positioning firms to serve merchants expanding throughout the wider Middle East and North Africa.
Besides Checkout.com, in 2026, Adyen obtained a Retail Payment Services Category II license from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for direct access to handling local payments within the country. The implications of payment giants coming to UAE market extend well beyond traditional payment processing.
As merchants increasingly adopt embedded finance, they expect providers to deliver multiple fintech capabilities through integrated platforms rather than choosing separate vendors for every function they need. Regulatory approvals such as the SVF licence make it easier for payment companies to build these connected financial ecosystems within a single jurisdiction before scaling internationally.
If that becomes a broader trend, businesses expanding into MENA may gain access to unified payment infrastructure capable of supporting customer payments, payouts, stored balances and embedded financial products through one regulated provider.
For global payment providers deciding where to invest next, that combination of favourable regulations and potential of offering merchants a full service suite instead of separate tools may prove just as valuable as market size itself. Though UAE e-commerce market size is estimated to be worth about $17 billion, which is another welcome bonus for payment providers entering it.
