CBUAE Issues No-Objections to Mawarid Finance for MSME Financing and Earned Wage Access Through Employers

The Central Bank of the UAE has issued no-objections to Mawarid Finance PJSC that allow it to offer financing to MSMEs together with Liabify, and to issue prepaid cards through which employers can offer staff earned wage access. The cards run on Mastercard and the service is delivered through LiaPay, Liabify’s financial wellness platform.

Key Takeways

What was cleared

There are two separate no-objections. One lets Mawarid Finance provide financing to MSMEs with Liabify. The other covers prepaid cards. Following the prepaid-card clearance, the companies said, participating employers can give employees access to eligible financing and EWA through prepaid Mastercard cards, subject to regulatory requirements and eligibility criteria.

A no-objection is a central bank’s clearance for a proposed activity. It isn’t a licence, and the companies say they will follow its conditions and applicable regulations.

Also, read Emirates NBD to Run OpenAI’s GPT Models on Servers Inside the UAE

Who does what

Mawarid Finance provides the financing and prepaid cards under CBUAE rules. Liabify supplies the technology platform and leads employer engagement. Mastercard provides the payment network. EWA lets an employee draw part of the salary they have already earned before payday.

Allan Villegas, Liabify’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “This development brings us closer to making financial wellness part of everyday working life in the UAE.” The companies stress consumer protection, responsible financing and Sharia compliance.

Not the first sign of EWA

Mawarid and Liabify launched LiaPay in March as a prepaid Platinum Mastercard for middle-income workers, with EWA at its core. What the October clearances add is financing for MSMEs and a route through employers, which that launch didn’t cover.

Mawarid also sponsors the Mastercard-powered corporate card behind KamelPay’s AbsoluteCard, which we covered here.

What’s next

The companies haven’t published fees, financing limits, eligibility thresholds, the number of participating employers or users, or a launch date. They haven’t said how employers enrol or how repayment is collected. No CBUAE statement on the clearances was found.

FAQs

Editor’s Take: The clearances widen what LiaPay can do: MSME financing from Mawarid and EWA offered through employers on a prepaid card. LiaPay already carried EWA when it launched in March, so the new part is the employer route and the financing. No pricing, limits or employer names have been published. The companies’ wording is a no-objection under conditions, and the conditions haven’t been made public. Fees, the repayment mechanism and the first employer clients would show how the product works in practice.