Network International sees boost from UAE card fee cuts

Payments processing company Network International Holdings said it to benefit from a cut in transaction interchange fees in the United Arab Emirates as more merchants adopted card and digital payments.

The Middle East and Africa-focused company said the UAE Central Bank had cut the fees charged to merchants on debit card transactions, “in line with our expectations” with the reductions set to be introduced in a phased manner.

Shares in the company were up almost 5%, outperforming the market on Monday.

“There is no proposed regulation of the fees charged by acquirers, such as Network International. The reduction in interchange is a pass-through cost from Network International to merchant customers, and therefore we expect no adverse impact to our financials as a result of this change,” the company said.

“In the medium to longer term, we expect this will further accelerate the adoption of card and digital payment acceptance by merchants and will therefore be beneficial to our business.”