Payfort Adds Mastercard Tech to Boost Security in Middle East

Dubai-based payment service provider Payfort has formed a partnership with Mastercard to improve fraud-screening and streamline the checkout process for e-commerce and mobile point of sale transactions for hundreds of merchants across the Middle East.

The strategic collaboration includes introducing Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to Payfort’s online shopping platform to enhance security, and making the Masterpass digital wallet available to participating merchants, the companies said in an Aug. 8 press release.

Adding Mastercard’s solutions to Payfort's platform will introduce a secure, one-click checkout approach for e-commerce customers across the Arab world, said Omar Soudodi, Payfort’s managing director, in the release.

Payfort, one of the largest e-commerce payment services providers in the region, will make Masterpass available to all its merchants, from airlines including Air Cairo and AirArabia, to startups and other small enterprises, Soudodi added.

E-commerce in the Middle East and North Africa region is growing. If present trends continue, e-commerce sales volume will reach at least $69 billion by 2020, said Khalid Elgibali, division president for the Middle East and North Africa at Mastercard. "With this [growth] comes a greater need to make e-commerce transactions simpler, more secure and seamless for both merchants and consumers."