Lean Technologies Launches Pay-by-Bank Suite in the UAE
Lean Technologies has introduced a suite of four Pay-by-Bank products in the United Arab Emirates, expanding the options available for businesses that want to collect payments directly from customer bank accounts rather than relying on card networks. The launch was reported on 19 June and comes as the UAE continues to develop its open finance and digital payments infrastructure.
The new products operate on the Central Bank of the UAE’s Open Finance framework, which allows licensed firms to initiate regulated bank-to-bank payments. Lean said the suite was unveiled during its Pay-by-Bank event in Dubai on 18 June.
Four Products Target Different Payment Use Cases
The launch includes four distinct solutions designed for different sectors and transaction types. Deposits is aimed at trading, investment, and remittance platforms, and supports one-click top-ups as well as up to 12 months of account-on-file consent.
Collections is built for recurring payments and credit repayments, with a pre-transaction balance check feature intended to help reduce failed payments. Checkout is designed for e-commerce and uses delegated strong customer authentication for first-time buyers. Payment Links offers a low-code option for merchants, schools, and property firms that need to request payments without building a full integration.
According to Lean, the company has processed more than AED 20 billion in Pay-by-Bank transactions to date. It added that shifting payment flows away from card networks has saved clients hundreds of millions of dirhams in fees.
Built on UAE Open Finance Infrastructure
Lean has been active in account-to-account payments in the UAE since 2022. The company previously completed the country’s first customer-initiated Open Finance payment with Ziina in January.
Tewfik Cassis, co-founder and chief product officer at Lean Technologies, said the UAE’s Open Finance programme, together with the Central Bank’s Nebras platform and Al Tareq API framework, provides the standardised infrastructure supporting the new suite. He also said the products could be extended to Saudi Arabia in the future.
Lean recently secured a Major Payment Institution licence for open banking from Saudi Arabia’s central bank, enabling the company to move from sandbox testing to live deployment in that market.
Launch Partners and Future Expansion
Among the launch partners is Careem, which is using the Deposits product for wallet top-ups and remittances. Lean also noted that it has raised more than US$100 million from investors including General Catalyst, Peak XV, and Shorooq.
Beyond Pay-by-Bank, the company is exploring opportunities in stablecoins and cross-border payments, signalling broader ambitions across the regional financial technology landscape.
Industry Analysis
Lean’s launch highlights the growing role of open finance in the Gulf’s payments ecosystem. By enabling bank-to-bank transactions, Pay-by-Bank solutions can offer businesses an alternative to card-based acceptance while potentially lowering costs and improving payment efficiency. The product mix also suggests strong demand across multiple verticals, including e-commerce, remittances, recurring collections, education, and property payments.
For the broader UAE market, the rollout may further encourage adoption of account-to-account payments as regulatory infrastructure matures. It also reinforces the UAE’s position as a regional testing ground for advanced payment models that could later be scaled into other markets, including Saudi Arabia.
