Adyen, a global financial technology platform, has announced an expansion of its partnership with Careem Pay, the digital payments platform within the Careem app, to support the growth of Careem Pay's remittance service in the UAE.
The partnership builds on a relationship of more than eight years between the two companies. Careem Pay currently enables international transfers from the UAE to more than 35 countries across Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond, offered in partnership with Lulu Exchange, which is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE. Through the expanded partnership, Adyen will deliver an integrated payments infrastructure designed to improve conversion and authorisation rates, enhance operational efficiency, and provide a scalable foundation for continued expansion.
Operational capabilities and strategic context
A central element of the partnership is unified settlement and consolidated reporting through a single framework, designed to reduce operational complexity and improve transaction transparency for Careem Pay's remittance operations. The infrastructure is also intended to strengthen payment resilience and support long-term service reliability as the remittance service scales geographically.
The UAE is one of the world's largest remittance source markets, driven by a large expatriate workforce sending money to home countries across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The market is undergoing a structural shift from cash-based and physical transfer channels to digital platforms, creating both competitive pressure and growth opportunities for digital remittance providers.
Commenting on the news, Daumantas Grigaravicius, Head of Middle East at Adyen, said the single platform approach reduces operational complexity while delivering reliable payment experiences that support Careem Pay's continued expansion. Mohammad El Saadi, Vice President at Careem Pay, said deepening the Adyen partnership ensures the remittance service stays fast and reliable as it expands globally.
Shortly before this, just at the end of March 2026, Cathay Pacific and Adyen extended their long-term payments collaboration to include direct acquiring services across six markets. This expansion broadens the scope of Adyen's role, extending direct acquiring capabilities into markets where the agreement had already been finalised.
