saves more money and is more se-
cure and easy to obtain.
What mechanism is used for custom-
ers to obtain the e-Dirham cards?
There are two mechanisms through
which the card can be obtained from
the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and
Islamic Finance Company (Aafaq) as
well as all Tas’heel centers. These
three entities are authorized to sell
new cards and reload old ones. The
truth is we seek for every citizen and
resident to have an e-Dirham card.
Is there a roadmap for entities
to join the system?
Yes, there is a roadmap for local
entities to join the system, many of
which welcome the process. Next
year, all the service ministries and
authorities will be operating under
the system. Recently, the Abu Dhabi
Tourism Authority joined the system
because it found that it will be able to
save much money through it. It pays
AED 20,000,000 annually to a visa
company while it will pay only AED
400,000 annually with the e-Dirham
system.
How many transactions are complet-
ed through the e-Dirham system?
There are about one million and two
hundred thousand transactions con-
ducted monthly through the system
and expected to reach 80 to 90 mil-
lion transactions annually after all
ministries and authorities join the
system. For example, DNRD Dubai
has 8 million annual transactions by
itself and it has not joined the system
yet.
Do you plan to launch an app
through which individuals can
reload their cards?
Of course we are working on that.
In GETEX 2013, we launched the
eWallet app which is a smart wallet
with a username and password. The
wallet contains all private accounts
in e-Dirham or visa. For example, I
can log in the site to apply for an em-
ployment card which costs, say, AED
100, meaning I will pay AED 103. I
will receive a code on my phone and
when I go ahead to complete the
transaction, I enter the code on the
site which receives the money. We
started applying that.
Do you plan to have these
cards available in other places
such as gas stations?
We have recently held a meeting with
ADNOC, IPIC and EPPCO so that
they may join the entities that provide
the cards and reload old ones.
We will soon provide the UAE univer-
sity students with e-Dirham card so
that they may use it instead of their
ID. They can also use it to enter the
university and make purchases.
Is there a home delivery service
for the cards or transactions?
We are currently working on offer-
ing this service. We met with several
companies specialized in deliver-
ing completed transactions through
smart phones. We are in the selec-
tion stage now. We are likely to offer
an option for customers to pay an ex-
tra AED 20 to deliver the card, which
costs AED 7.
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e-dirham
Reportage
