Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Payments company Network International has renewed its agreement to run payment processing and back-office management for Emirates Islamic, the Islamic banking arm of the Emirates NBD Group, extending a relationship that has grown to cover real-time data and interest-free installments.
Under the new contract Network will keep handling the processing and back-office work it already performs for the Dubai-based lender. According to the two companies, the renewal shows the bank still trusts Network to supply secure, resilient and scalable payments infrastructure while it develops its digital banking offer.
The partnership is a long-standing one, over the years Network has helped Emirates Islamic keep up with its customers' changing payment needs and has reinforced the systems that sit behind the bank's payments operations.
The two sides have also layered several services on top of the core processing contract in recent years. They include real-time data services and value-added products that rely on Network's acquiring business, the part of the company that processes card payments for merchants.
The latest addition is Slice, an installment product that, according to the release, allows customers to break a payment into four to eight installments without paying extra fees. Network's product page describes Slice as an easy payment plan that turns a credit card purchase on a Network point-of-sale terminal into 4 or 8 monthly installments, with zero interest and zero fees for the shopper and no separate app or registration.
Merchants pay their standard merchant service fee plus a Slice fee only on purchases that are converted into installments, Network says. Minimum amounts differ slightly from bank to bank but start at about $27 (AED 100) for a four-month plan and about $272 (AED 1,000) for an eight-month plan. Emirates Islamic appears on the page among the participating banks, alongside First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and Network says it intends to bring every major domestic bank into the program.
Murat Cagri Suzer, Group Chief Executive Officer of Network International, said: “Our longstanding relationship with Emirates Islamic has grown alongside the bank’s ambitions and the changing needs of its customers. This renewal builds on a strong foundation in payment processing while creating further opportunities to bring new capabilities and value-added services to the partnership. As the payments landscape evolves, we remain focused on combining resilient infrastructure with innovation and expertise to support Emirates Islamic’s continued growth.”
Farid AlMulla, Chief Executive Officer at Emirates Islamic, added: “Our renewed agreement with Network International reflects the strength of a well-established partnership that has continued to evolve in line with our customers’ needs and our digital banking ambitions. Beyond core payment processing and back-office services, our collaboration has expanded to include real-time data capabilities and customer-focused solutions, which provides greater payment flexibility. As we further enhance our digital proposition, Network’s secure and scalable infrastructure will continue to support our commitment to delivering seamless, convenient and Shariah-compliant banking experiences.”
The renewal follows Emirates Islamic's nine-month results for 2026, in which operating profit rose 7% to approximately $898.57 million (AED 3.3 billion). Customer financing grew 14.4% to approximately $27.67 billion (AED 101.6 billion) and customer deposits climbed 13.4% to approximately $31.53 billion (AED 115.8 billion), while higher non-funded income drove total income to approximately $1.28 billion (AED 4.7 billion).
Established in 2004, Emirates Islamic sells Shariah-compliant products to personal, business and corporate customers through 36 branches and 213 ATMs and cash deposit machines in the UAE. The bank says it was the first Islamic bank in the country to launch a mobile banking app and to offer Apple Pay, and the first Islamic bank anywhere to provide chat banking over WhatsApp. It serves more than 45,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in the UAE.
Staying with its current processor could let the bank add products such as Slice on systems it already uses, rather than moving card operations to a new platform. Because Slice runs at Network terminals and is offered by several large UAE lenders, it may also mean Emirates Islamic cardholders get the same installment option at the checkout as customers of rival banks.
Network describes itself as the leading fintech company in the Middle East and Africa. It works with more than 250 financial institutions and 240,000 merchants across more than 50 countries and has a workforce of over 3,000.
Network has been adding UAE bank business since then. In March, RAKBANK finished moving its merchant acquiring arm over to Network, a portfolio of more than 5,000 merchants.
