Dubai, United Arab Emirates — UAE payments company NEOPAY is due to sign a memorandum of understanding with Dubai Finance covering the One Pay strategic project and a split payment solution, one of three agreements the government department plans to conclude at Dubai FinTech Summit 2026.
The other two MoUs are with American Express, aimed at supporting and widening digital payment acceptance, and with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), focused on regulated virtual assets. DOF said the three agreements form part of its work on the Dubai Cashless Strategy.
NEOPAY will also take part in the department's live demonstrations at the event. Working with NEOPAY and Network International, DOF plans to show how artificial intelligence and newer payment technologies can be used in government services and in everyday purchases.
Those demonstrations will connect the payment system to domestic methods such as Jaywan and Aani, and to international ones including Alipay, WeChat Pay and RuPay. Visitors will also see payments accepted in a stablecoin backed by the UAE dirham, and a live example of a government service paid for with cryptocurrency.
The summit, now in its fourth edition, runs on November 2 and 3 at Madinat Jumeirah under the theme Artificial Intelligence for Financial Innovation. DOF said it will use the event to look at where Dubai's cashless payments are heading, building on the cashless strategy results it published last month.
Two of the department's own platforms are also on display. DP3 is used to manage public-private partnership projects, while AIltizam is an AI tool that helps with compliance with financial laws and regulations. According to DOF, AIltizam flags compliance gaps, analyzes the related risks and produces recommendations and reports for decision-makers.
The wider program covers AI-assisted purchasing, digital tools for businesses, international payments and payments made with digital assets. Network International plans to show agentic commerce, in which AI agents find products, weigh the options and start purchases for consumers within limits set in advance. It will also present Network Max, which lets SMEs receive, manage and spend revenue digitally, and Slice, its flexible payment product.
Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, Director-General of Dubai Finance, said: “Guided by our leadership, Dubai's vision inspires us to advance public finance in ways that support economic growth and improve quality of life. Our participation in Dubai FinTech Summit reflects our commitment to innovation and partnerships that strengthen Dubai's readiness for the future of finance.”
“We are harnessing technology to build a more efficient, sustainable financial ecosystem and strengthening public-private collaboration to turn technological progress into tangible value for the economy and society,” he added.
Ahmad Ali Meftah, Executive Director of the Central Accounts Sector at Dubai Finance, added: “A cashless economy requires connected payment systems that serve government, businesses and individuals. We are working with our partners to explore solutions that improve financial efficiency, broaden payment choice and make transactions easier and more flexible. The summit allows us to demonstrate practical applications that support the next phase of the Dubai Cashless Strategy, explore new ways to improve government revenue collection and strengthen integration across payment channels.”
Huda Hamdan Al Shaikh, Executive Director of the Corporate Services Sector and Chief AI Officer at Dubai Finance, stated: “We focus on AI applications that deliver tangible value for public finance. By combining innovation with effective governance, we aim to improve financial processes, support decision-making and build capabilities that meet government's evolving needs and ambitions. We also want these advances to translate into more efficient, reliable services that simplify everyday transactions and strengthen the competitiveness of Dubai's businesses.”
Amna Mohammed Lootah, Director of the Digital Payment Systems Regulatory Division at Dubai Finance, commented: “Our demonstrations will take visitors through payment journeys from both the customer's and merchant's perspectives, showing how emerging technologies can be integrated into payment processes. We aim to explain how these solutions work and how they can simplify transactions and improve the user experience, from selecting a payment method to completing the transaction.”
DOF said the three partnerships reflect its aim of working more closely with industry and regulators and of turning the emirate's cashless goals into practical projects for businesses and individuals. It also expects the summit to deepen its ties with financial institutions, technology providers and government entities, and to open new areas of collaboration.
The cashless strategy was launched in October 2024. On October 9, Dubai Finance reported that the emirate's cashless transactions index had reached 90.1%, ahead of the 90% target set for 2026, and that cashless payment initiatives had added more than approximately $2.18 billion (AED 8 billion) to the economy. Government cashless collections stood at 99.66% in the first half of 2026, and DOF counted more than 70 strategic partnerships with government and private-sector bodies.
Jaywan, the national card scheme run by Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE, already has a foothold in Dubai government payments. In August, Dubai Finance and Digital Dubai enabled Jaywan on DubaiPay, the government-owned gateway shared by public bodies. Al Etihad Payments also operates Aani, the instant payments platform.
The Dubai Finance agreement comes weeks after NEOPAY agreed to buy a 65% controlling stake in noon payments, a deal that would combine its merchant acquiring business with the online payments arm of e-commerce group noon across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The two companies had already worked together on an Aani instant-payment pilot for UAE merchants, announced on October 27, 2025.
In 2024, Mashreq announced that Arcapita and DgPays had agreed to take a majority stake in NEOPAY, with the bank keeping a significant minority interest. That announcement put NEOPAY's approximate enterprise value at $385 million, and Mashreq confirmed completion on January 6, 2025.
The One Pay agreement could give NEOPAY a part in how Dubai government entities collect payments, an area Meftah tied to the next phase of the cashless strategy.
