“Can the MEA region's dominant card processor evolve from acquiring/issuer-processing into a full embedded-finance platform for banks, fintechs, and merchants?”
Founded 1994 as Emirates Bank's card-processing arm, Network International became the dominant payments processor across the Middle East and Africa via a regional acquisition strategy. After a 2019 LSE IPO, the company was taken private by Brookfield in 2024 and merged with UAE rival Magnati in 2025 to consolidate the regional payments market. The current strategic pivot is from pure acquiring/issuer-processing into embedded financial services — particularly SME merchant lending (via Biz2X, CredibleX, CBD), cross-border remittance-as-a-service, and modular issuer-processing APIs targeting banks, fintechs, and telcos.