Careem Pay Expands UAE Digital Remittance Services Through Adyen Partnership
Careem Pay has expanded its international money transfer capabilities through an extended partnership with global payments platform Adyen, as the company looks to scale its digital remittance services in the UAE. The collaboration is aimed at improving settlement, reporting, and authorization performance for users sending funds abroad.
The move builds on an eight-year relationship between the two companies and is designed to support Careem Pay’s cross-border transfer offering within the Careem app. Adyen will provide the payments infrastructure underpinning the service, with the partnership focused on strengthening operational efficiency as the remittance business grows.
Careem Pay currently enables international transfers from the UAE to more than 35 countries. Its remittance service is offered in partnership with Lulu Exchange, which is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The combined setup is intended to streamline transaction handling across the service’s digital payment flows.
Infrastructure Integration to Support Cross-Border Transfers
According to the companies, Adyen’s platform will consolidate settlement and reporting into a single framework for Careem Pay. The integration is expected to improve transaction visibility and simplify back-end operations for the remittance provider.
In addition to operational support, the partnership is also intended to enhance payments performance across Careem Pay’s UAE network. Both companies said the arrangement is designed to help increase conversion and authorization rates, which are key metrics for digital payment and remittance services.
Adyen said the collaboration reflects the broader shift from physical to digital remittance channels in the UAE. Daumantas Grigaravicius, Head of Middle East at Adyen, said the company’s single-platform approach helps reduce operational complexity as remittances increasingly move online.
Mohammad El Saadi, Vice President at Careem Pay, said the competitive nature of the digital remittance market requires ongoing technical improvements. He added that deepening the partnership with Adyen is intended to keep the service fast and reliable as Careem Pay continues its global expansion.
UAE Remittance Market Continues Digital Shift
The announcement adds to a series of recent developments in the UAE’s cross-border payments space, where digital remittance services are gaining momentum. As more providers focus on improving speed, reliability, and transparency, partnerships between fintech platforms and payments infrastructure companies are becoming increasingly important.
Careem Pay’s latest move also highlights the growing role of integrated payments systems in supporting remittance scale. By combining infrastructure capabilities with licensed transfer operations, providers can better manage the demands of international payments while improving customer experience.
Industry Analysis
The Careem Pay-Adyen partnership underscores a broader trend in the UAE toward digital-first remittance services supported by scalable payments infrastructure. For fintech providers, the ability to centralise settlement, reporting, and authorization processes can improve operational control and support service expansion across multiple corridors.
From an industry perspective, the move suggests that competition in cross-border payments is increasingly being shaped by backend performance as much as customer-facing features. As remittance volumes continue to migrate from traditional channels to digital platforms, infrastructure partnerships like this are likely to play a central role in helping providers maintain efficiency and service quality.
