Adyen Gets CBUAE Category II License, Giving It Direct Local Payment Access in the UAE

Adyen has secured a Retail Payment Services Category II license from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), which gives the Dutch payments platform direct access to handle local payments in the UAE. For PSPs and merchants in high-risk verticals, the important bit is that Adyen is no longer relying on the same partner-routed settlement setup for local processing.

1. Adyen said it revealed the regulatory milestone on June 28, 2026. The company has been processing transactions in the UAE since 2020, and the new license formalizes a more direct regulatory relationship with the central bank.
2. The license replaces structures that previously routed local settlement through partners. In practice, that usually matters when a PSP wants tighter control over settlement flows, local operations, and the regulatory chain between merchant, processor, and bank.
3. The CBUAE’s Category II license sits under its Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) Regulation. It is aimed at payment companies, as distinct from banks, and can cover payment account issuance, payment instrument issuance, merchant acquiring, payment aggregation, and domestic or cross-border fund transfers.
4. The license does not include Payment Token Services, which cover regulated activity involving payment tokens, including certain stablecoin-related payment functions. That sits under Category I, the broader of the two licenses in the framework.
5. Adyen said the license supports its work on fraud prevention, emerging payment methods, and unified commerce in the UAE, and also lays groundwork for future technology, including agentic AI applications. The company recently launched Adyen Agentic, a suite of APIs for enterprise merchants selling through conversational AI platforms without rebuilding their commerce stack for each new channel.

Adyen already counts Careem, Ellington Properties, Gargash Group, Noon, and Ziina among its customers in the UAE. For high-risk operators, the practical takeaway is straightforward: Adyen now has a cleaner local regulatory setup in a market where settlement structure, acquiring access, and product scope can matter just as much as headline coverage.