MoF enhances the status of the e-Dirham system within the UAE’s wider e-payment and collection network

The Ministry of Finance (MoF), represented by the e-Dirham team, is committed to providing its customers with all the facilities to pay for government services through the e-Dirham system. MoF is also keen to provide all the necessary technical support for the system with specifically by: Growing the number of auditors for government companies; conducting specialised studies which aim to identify the system’s activities and transaction processes; increasing daily transactions and continually assessing the geographical location of the sale and shipment centers for e-Dirham cards within the UAE.

HE Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Undersecretary of Resources and Budget Sector at MoF stressed the Ministry’s commitment to implementing an effective operational plan to support the e-Dirham system following the UAE Cabinet Decision, No.2 of 2012, concerning service fees of the e-Dirham system. MoF’s role is to facilitate the processing of transactions for e-Dirham customers. 

With regards to the sale and shipment centers, the Ministry has added 25 new ATM and cash deposits machines to the e-Dirham network across the UAE, bringing the total number of machines to 89. These machines allow customers to easily charge and recharge their e-Dirham card. The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) allocated 530 ATM and cash deposit machines offering the same services. This brings the total number of machines offering e- Dirham services to 629.

The number of POS and e-collection machines has reached 4,000, accepting all types of cards including ‘Al Hasila’ e-Dirham card, cards issued by another banks or cards supported by Visa or MasterCard. 

The Ministry is also working on recharge cards, scheduled to launch in the near future. It is also committed to providing innovative solutions and services to maintain the e-Dirham project’s ambitious and nationwide focus. MoF recently launched 10 advanced e-kiosks which are more sophisticated and provide more services, allowing e-Dirham customers to pay for government services.

E-Dirham services are provided across all 126 NBAD branches within the UAE, with selected branches in Umm al Quwain, 42 service facilitation centers, 62 Aafaq Islamic Finance branches, and 765 printing houses. 

HE Saeed Rashid Al Yateem said: “The studies and audits conducted by the Ministry on the e-Dirhams fees and operations enable us to keep up with the latest technologies and determine the future growth and requirements of ATM and cash deposit machines. These improvements stop customers paying extra charges when charging or recharging their e-Dirham cards."

For his part, Saif Al Shehhi, Senior Managing Director, UAE Government and VVIP Clients, National Bank of Abu Dhabi: “As a strategic partner of the Ministry and the e-Dirham project, NBAD works in accordance with the approved plan to further develop and upgrade the system to eventually become part of a global electronic payment network. Despite the youth of the system, the project has already accomplished several successes with regard to the technologies used to collect government services fees, and the geographical expansion of the system across the UAE.”

The e-Dirham system continues to affirm its importance in the rationalisation of the consumption of government financial resources, where the number of transactions processed through the website reached 7,282,134 in 2014 with a total revenue amounted to AED 2,041,144,849. While the number of transactions processed through POS reached 26,175,861 transactions with a total revenue of AED 4,739,769,510.

This brings the total number of transactions paid through the website, POS and e-collection payment reached 33,457,995 with a total revenue of AED 6,780,914,359 AED in 2014.

The Ministry has celebrated the activation of the one millionth e-Dirham card during the GITEX Technology Week 2014. The total number of activated e-Dirham cards reached 1,023,753.

HE Saeed Rashid Al Yateem also highlighted that the studies carried out by the Ministry support efficient and continual upgrades. HE then said: “The e-Dirham system aims to raise the level of efficiency in delivering government services electronically, as well as reduce the costs and efforts needed for service providers and customers to benefit from it. In fact, results from the Ministry’s statistical study on the processing time of a transaction showed that it takes less than one second per transaction with the use of POS, compared to 1.18 seconds through the website."

The statistics of the e-Dirham system showed that the systems’ call centers and the technical support team have carried out more than 102,000 operations in 2014. This empowers the system’s status as a safe nationwide project, implementing the smart government plan through the adoption of direct debit methods from bank accounts and linking them with the UAE Direct Debit System.