WITH the Middle East anticipating a significant growth in e-commerce in the coming years, Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, and PAYFORT, the Arab world's leading online payment service provider, have announced a strategic collaboration to introduce the next generation of payment solutions – enabled by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services – that will help consumers in the region enjoy greater ease and enhanced security when shopping online. Building on Mastercard's proven approach to helping businesses create better online purchase experiences for their customers, the agreement will enable e-commerce merchants using PAYFORT's online payment solution to provide shoppers with another layer of security, powered by Mastercard's cutting-edge fraud-screening solutions. Further, PAYFORT customers in the UAE will also benefit from Mastercard's digital wallet solution, ‘Masterpass', which delivers a simplified and secure shopping experience with an easier checkout process, while further underlining Mastercard's innovation leadership. By storing consumers' payment, billing and shipping information in one secure and convenient place, Masterpass makes online shopping safe and hassle-free. Another step forward in Mastercard's journey to achieving its vision of a ‘World Beyond Cash', the agreement will also offer online shoppers the convenience to pay with their Mastercard cards at the time of delivery through Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) solutions. Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard, said "the online business industry in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to reach $69 billion by 2020, according to PAYFORT State of Payments 2016. With this tremendous growth comes a greater need to make e-commerce transactions simpler, more secure and seamless for both merchants and consumers. Our collaboration with PAYFORT will help create a sophisticated and safe online payments environment – increasing the confidence of all stakeholders involved in an e-commerce transaction through our cashless solutions." The collaboration reiterates Mastercard's commitment to continuously investing in its network and technology to support the convergence of physical and digital payments, at a time when the payments industry in the region is undergoing a seismic shift in technological advances and consumer preferences. Leveraging on Mastercard's industry-leading innovation capabilities, the agreement will enable PAYFORT to simplify the consumer experience at every stage of the payment journey. "We are pleased to partner with Mastercard and allow PAYFORT merchants to quickly and easily integrate breakthrough security solutions into their payment processes, helping them to increase credit card acceptance both online and offline," said Omar Soudodi, Managing Director, PAYFORT. "The addition of Mastercard solutions on top of PAYFORT's secure payment platform offers online shoppers in the Arab world the convenience of one-click payments, while assuring them of safe and secure transactions." "Enterprise customers using The FORT, PAYFORT's next generation payment gateway, can add Masterpass to their online checkout options easily," continued Soudodi. "Masterpass options will also be included in START, PAYFORT's solution for SMEs. By meeting the security concerns of the online shoppers in the region, PAYFORT expects to see an increase in e-commerce, as more and more shoppers opt to shop online."
