American Express eases payment for Dubai eGovernment services

This includes health card services, airport services, online educational courses, subscription to media services, parking tickets and traffic fines, and tendering services for government projects.

The agreement with Dubai eGovernment allows American Express Cards to be used online to pay for services from eight institutions including Dubai Municipality, Department of Health and Medical Sciences (DOHMS), Dubai Civil Aviation (DCA), E-TQM College, Dubai Police, Tejari.com and media services from Al Bayan newspaper and Arabian View (for Al Sada magazine).

Mr. Simon Mitchell, American Express Country Director - UAE said:

"The e-payment facilities add further value to our existing Cardmembers. It also reflects our response to the need to provide swifter and more convenient payment solutions as people become more pressured by lack of time. This is a good example of how we can use technology to increase convenience."

Mr. Mitchell added: "American Express appreciates and fully supports the Dubai eGovernment initiative in setting the trend for the development of the region's e-landscape.

Mr. Salem Al Shair, eServices Director at Dubai eGovernment, stated: "We are very pleased that American Express is part of this initiative which encourages their Cardmembers to opt to use online transactions, thereby supporting Dubai eGovernment's move towards fast and efficient payment processing."

eGovernment will play an increasing role in speeding up millions of transactions per month, which has tremendous benefits for both government, through cost saving, and consumers through convenience and flexibility.

According to Abdulla Hashim, Assistant General Manager, eCompany, Etisalat, "We are very happy to play the enabling role in providing American Express Cardmembers with the service to utilize the Dubai eGovernment services through our payment platform. This reflects Etisalat's continuous efforts in driving the benefits of ePay in the UAE through our diverse solutions. Our solutions reassure consumers about the security and safety of Credit Card transactions which is a critical factor in ePay in addition to providing a versatile and convenient online payment solution for consumers."

Dubai eGovernment services are based on ePay system - payment platform for the online payments that uses the advanced 3D secure (3DS) technology, an industry recognised authentication programme that greatly reduces the incidence of fraud.

In addition, American Express provides all its Cardmembers a unique service of online fraud protection guarantee, whereby all purchases are protected against fraudulent transactions.