Ninety percent of ‘Apple’ users in Kuwait are expected use the Apple Pay services when the company begins its service over the next few days, as it will facilitate payment operations via iPhone and Apple Watches, enabling those who won these devices to use them as a direct and secure payment tool without the need to using their bank credit cards.
Two experts in electronic payment systems told a local Arabic daily that entering this service constitutes a quantum leap in electronic payment systems, as it achieves nine direct and indirect benefits for customers, which can be summarized as follows:
— Allowing payment by iPhone or Apple Watch.
— The customer will not need to carry his credit card.
— Apple Wallet collects all your bank cards, even if there are many banks
— Payments with “Apple Pay” do not need the Internet.
— A high level of security, privacy and protection for operations.
— It provides an alternative transaction identification number that reduces the circulation of your banking data.
— Reliable and proven processes over 9 years with complete safety and quality.
— High documentation and verification between the card holder, the bank and Apple.
— Every payment process requires a face or fingerprint verification process.
Experts say that the new service will attract a large number of users of “Apple” devices, and the following are the details:
First of all, the founder and CEO of the “Kisma” project, Abdul Rahman Al-Hammadi, estimated that the “Apple Pay” service will attract 90% of Apple phone users in Kuwait, due to its ease of use and its security and protection system.
He indicated that the launch of the “Apple Pay” service in 2014 allowed iPhone users to add their bank cards to the electronic wallet, and pay through it, so that it provides security for users from not publishing their cards on websites, as bank card numbers are saved for users through the “Wallet” application on iPhones, after authenticating their identities, the application creates a virtual number for the card, and when the user makes a purchase, the original number of the card is not shared, but rather the default number, which contributes to enhancing privacy.
Al-Hammadi pointed out that the number of users of the “Apple Pay” service around the world has now reached 507 million users, pointing out that cooperation took place between “Apple” and “MasterCard” in providing these services, and this alliance is what Kuwaiti banks are supposed to implement in cooperation with initiators with expertise in the field of financial technology and introducing new initiatives and services in the Kuwaiti market.
Speaking about initiatives in the field of financial technology in Kuwait, he mentioned that the initiators of financial technology ‘Fintech’ do not aim to compete with traditional banks, as some projects are based on alliances with banks to provide what is best for users, indicating that the Central Bank of Kuwait and banks are keen to provide everything that is new to develop the electronic payment system in Kuwait, and to keep pace with global financial technology, which is witnessing great developments in the Western world as well as in the Gulf, which makes it necessary to find solutions to speed up work so that Kuwait is at the forefront.
For his part, Ali Al-Habashi, Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer of Upayments, said that there is a great keenness on the part of Kuwaiti banks to provide the latest services in all fields, especially in the field of payments, as there is a race between local banks to provide advanced services and make them available to users. Therefore, the percentage of online payments is the highest in Kuwait compared to other countries in the region.
Al-Habashi pointed out that the number of users of the new payment service “Apple Pay” in Kuwait may witness a great demand by Apple phone holders, whose number is greater compared to users of phones that rely on the “Android” operating system.
He added that the security of new payment services such as “Apple Pay” and “Samsung Pay” is considered very high, because the process of adding a bank card to the Apple wallet requires high authentication and verification between 3 parties, which are the card holder, the bank issuing the card, and the Apple company verification process through face or fingerprint, which enhances security when using.
He explained that the recent period witnessed a speed in digital transformation in Kuwait in the private and public sectors, and this transformation comes in conjunction with several initiatives from legislative bodies to facilitate digital transformation and encourage initiatives that contribute to providing innovative digital solutions such as organizing digital wallets, organizing buy now and pay later, which is something that It will definitely benefit in improving users’ experience and facilitating their transactions.
He indicated that the service will attract most users of Apple devices, just as it attracted users of Android systems in Kuwait, due to the ease of use and the lack of the need to carry bank cards everywhere and because of the high security and confidence provided by these services, not to mention the clear and detailed reports provided by Apple, such as the location of the payment process on the map and the destination for which it was made.
“Central” keeps pace with best practices
The Central Bank of Kuwait always seeks to keep abreast of the best practices in the field of electronic payment and financial technologies, and is always keen to follow all international events and developments with regard to payment systems, and always seeks to cooperate with the regulatory authorities at the global and regional levels.