noon payments and NEOPAY Introduce the First AANI Instant Payment System

noon payments and NEOPAY have partnered to introduce the AANI instant payment system for UAE merchants, enabling businesses to receive real-time payments from customers' bank accounts.

The integration allows merchants using noon payments' platform to accept AANI instant payments at checkout, providing an alternative to card-based transactions. Customers initiate the payment through their banking app, and funds settle in the merchant's account instantly, eliminating the settlement delays associated with traditional card processing.

NEOPAY, a payment technology provider, facilitated the technical integration between noon payments' merchant platform and the AANI instant payment infrastructure operated by Al Etihad Payments. The connection enables noon payments' merchant network to access AANI's real-time account-to-account payment capabilities.

The deployment represents one of the first merchant-facing implementations of AANI, which has primarily been used for peer-to-peer transfers since its launch. Extending AANI to merchant payments opens a new use case that could drive significant transaction volume growth on the platform.

For merchants, AANI payments offer the advantage of instant settlement and potentially lower processing costs compared to card transactions. For consumers, the service provides a payment option that debits their bank account directly without requiring card details to be shared.

The partnership supports the UAE's cashless economy objectives by adding another digital payment option that reduces reliance on cash transactions at the point of sale.