QNB recognised for 'highest growth' in Visa 'Tap to Phone' solution

The largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa gets award in support of local SMEs, micro-merchants transactions in QatarQNB, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, was awarded for its "exceptional milestone” in enabling local SMEs and micro-merchants in Qatar to accept digital payments through Visa’s ‘Tap to Phone’ solution.The award presented by Visa, a world leader in digital payments, recognises QNB’s efforts in recording the highest growth in ‘Tap to Phone’ volume and transaction in Qatar for 2023, and further reinforces QNB’s leadership in Qatar and the region in expanding digital payment acceptance network and fostering innovation in line with the Qatar Central Bank’s vision for the payments industry.QNB's ‘Tap to Phone’ is an innovative solution from Visa that allows merchants to use their existing android mobile devices to accept digital payments via Near Field Communication (NFC), with zero dependency on Point of Sale (PoS) hardware.It is a low cost, low maintenance and paperless solution for merchants to accept multi-form electronic payments including mobile wallets, contactless cards and wearables.QNB has been working closely with SMEs and micro merchants in this regard and the response has been extremely encouraging.Commenting on this success, Adel Ali al-Malki, senior executive vice-president, QNB Group Retail Banking said, "We are pleased to be recognised by Visa for our industry-leading role in the digital economy, specifically in the digital payment acceptance. QNB is fully committed to further accelerate the digital payments journey and enable our merchant partners to migrate into the digital economy in a fast, seamless and cost-effective way for payment acceptance."We recognise that SMEs play a pivotal role in the economy and we are thankful to Visa for being a true strategic partner in our joint-quest to further digitise Qatar’s economy”.Shashank Singh, Visa’s vice-president and general manager for Qatar and Kuwait, said, "Visa is proud to recognise QNB's leadership in enabling more SMEs and micro-merchants in Qatar to accept digital payments. Our recent Value of Acceptance study revealed that 80% of merchants in Qatar have seen their revenues increase thanks to digital payments."QNB’s efforts are not only making more transactions more seamless and secure for consumers, but also helping local businesses grow and be competitive in the digital economy, a key priority of the Qatar government."