OSLO, NORWAY: Zwipe, and areeba, one of the Middle East’s leading financial technology companies and payment service provider, are partnering to bring Zwipe Pay ONE enabled biometric payment solutions to banks across the Middle East and North African markets, a news release said.

 Zwipe Pay ONE will be a market leading solution since it will combine a disruptive single chip secure element and a next generation sensor with a fingerprint registration process supported by a mobile app.

areeba and Zwipe have a long-standing collaboration, launching the first biometric payment card pilots in the Middle East and winning the Seamless Award for Best Technological Innovation in Payments for that joint project.

“We are happy to take this next big step with Zwipe, a well-known brand in biometric payments. Their disruptive Zwipe Pay ONE platform and 100% focus on biometric payment solutions complements our strong relations and end-to-end payments offering to banks and merchants across the region. We pride ourselves on being innovators and, together with Zwipe, we will give banks a new perspective on how to drive deeper customer engagement and acquisition by offering safer and more secure payments,” says Maher Mikati, CEO at areeba.

As part of this collaboration areeba has agreed to work exclusively with Zwipe in delivering biometric payment solutions including the Zwipe Experience services to help its banking customers through all stages, from early trial stage to mass market rollout.

 “We are proud that areeba has now decided to roll-out biometric payments and selected Zwipe Pay ONE as its platform for doing so. We have worked closely together to introduce and strengthen the business case of biometric payments in the region and we are happy to see the market moving towards larger scale adoption,” says André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.

The two companies have engaged multiple smart card manufacturing partners to support the volume deployment of biometric payments, expected to start in 2021 and grow exponentially over the following years.

areeba is an electronic payment technology company licensed by Visa and MasterCard and has an agreement with American Express. Established in 2017, areeba adopts the latest technologies and provides solutions and payment services to banks, governments and merchants to suit their aspirations and needs.

areeba offers services tailored to global requirements, from card issuance and management, non-contact payment solutions, contactless and mobile payment. It also provides merchants and governments with the latest e-commerce platform and point-of-sale machines that adopt the highest standards and safety systems. areeba operates a wide range of loyalty programs, including: collecting points and miles, cashback programs, and providing consultancy services for the planning, design and development of electronic products and payment solutions. www.areeba.com

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards and wearables that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy.

Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is “Making Convenience Safe & Secure” for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe’s solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. www.zwipe.com