Mastercard and Arab Financial Services (AFS) have partnered to introduce corporate credit and prepaid cards integrated with the AFS Pro mobile app, initially in the UAE and later in Egypt. The offering aims to give businesses a single platform for issuing cards, controlling spend, tracking transactions and accepting payments.
Through the AFS Pro app, companies can issue and manage corporate cards, set spending limits, monitor activity in real time and streamline expense management. Beyond card issuance, the platform includes payment acceptance tools such as SoftPOS (tap-to-phone on smartphones) and Pay-by-Link for remote and e-commerce transactions, creating an end-to-end business payments ecosystem.
Businesses gain Mastercard’s global acceptance network, security features and value-added services alongside AFS’s digital capabilities. The solution is designed for rapid deployment with limited integration complexity, allowing banks and financial institutions to offer a ready-made corporate payments proposition without heavy internal development.
AFS Group CEO Dr Samer Soliman described Mastercard as a trusted partner for expansion into the two growth markets, saying the alliance would boost efficiency, visibility and control over corporate spending for businesses in the UAE and Egypt. The collaboration bridges issuing and acquiring capabilities on one scalable digital platform.
Corporate payments in the region are increasingly shifting from paper-based and fragmented processes toward digital tools that improve oversight and reduce friction. By combining card products with acceptance and expense management in a single app, the partners are addressing a practical gap for companies that need both outbound spending control and inbound payment collection.
The initial focus is the UAE, with Egypt to follow. Success will depend on how quickly banks adopt the platform and how effectively businesses use the combined issuing and acquiring features. For now, the launch expands Mastercard’s commercial payments footprint in two key Middle East and North Africa markets while giving AFS a stronger corporate proposition.
