Jaywan: The UAE's NationalCredit Card Network Explained

What Is Jaywan?

Jaywan (جيوان) is the UAE's national domestic credit card scheme, operated by Al Etihad Payments — a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The name "Jaywan" means "jewel" in Arabic, reflecting the scheme's ambition to become a prized asset in the UAE's financial ecosystem.

Launched in 2023, Jaywan was created as part of the UAE's broader financial infrastructure strategy to establish a sovereign, domestically controlled payment rail — similar to how Saudi Arabia has Mada, India has RuPay, and China has UnionPay.

Jaywan cards are co-badged with Visa or Mastercard, meaning they carry both the Jaywan logo and an international network logo. This gives cardholders the best of both worlds: domestic processing within the UAE and international acceptance abroad.

How Does Jaywan Work?

When a Jaywan cardholder makes a payment at a UAE merchant, the transaction is routed through the domestic Jaywan network rather than Visa or Mastercard's international infrastructure. This has several important implications:

Which Banks Issue Jaywan Cards?

All major UAE banks are mandated by the CBUAE to issue Jaywan co-badged cards. The following banks are among the key issuers:

The CBUAE has set a phased rollout timeline requiring all licensed banks to issue Jaywan cards to their credit card customers, making it one of the fastest-growing card schemes in the GCC.

The Market Opportunity for Merchants

The UAE has one of the highest credit card penetration rates in the GCC, with millions of active credit card accounts. As Jaywan rolls out across all major banks, a growing share of UAE credit card transactions will be processed through the domestic scheme.

For merchants, accepting Jaywan means:

• Access to the full UAE credit card market — not just debit card holders
• Potentially lower merchant discount rates (MDR) on domestic transactions
• Compliance with CBUAE merchant acceptance requirements
• Future-proofing your payment stack as Jaywan adoption grows

Jaywan vs. Visa / Mastercard: What's the Difference?

Accepting Jaywan with Miles Pay

Miles Pay supports Jaywan as part of its unified GCC payment API. Rather than integrating directly with Al Etihad Payments or managing separate acquiring relationships, you can accept Jaywan through the same Miles Pay integration you use for Mada, KNET, Apple Pay, and every other GCC payment method.

Our API handles the routing logic automatically — when a UAE customer pays with their Jaywan co-badged card, the transaction is processed through the domestic Jaywan network, giving you the benefit of lower fees without any additional integration work.

// Miles Pay — charge with Jaywan support
const charge = await milesPay.charges.create({
  amount: 15000,       // in fils (AED 150.00)
  currency: 'AED',
  payment_method: {
    type: 'card',      // Jaywan routes automatically
    card_token: token,
  },
  metadata: { order_id: 'ORD-001' },
});