• The new advanced version of Hosted Checkout technology will enable businesses to benefit from embedded Click to Pay experience
  • Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to power new improved online checkout journey
  • Click to Pay will enable Kuwaiti merchants to integrate intelligent consumer recognition into their website’s online checkout flow 

Kuwait City, Kuwait – 26 October 2022: Gulf Bank of Kuwait (GBK), one of the leading banks in Kuwait, and Mastercard have announced a partnership that enables local merchants to benefit from frictionless online checkout technology that removes manual card and password entry for online shoppers.

Featuring advanced payment technology built on industry standards and intelligent security from Mastercard, Click to Pay is a simple, secure, and consistent way for consumers to check out online across any device and participating merchants. Once registered, shoppers can simply start the checkout process, and intelligent consumer recognition will retrieve cards securely stored in their profile to complete the payment, thereby eliminating the need to remember passwords, and resulting in faster checkouts without compromising security.

 

The innovative embedded Click to Pay experience will be available via the latest version of Hosted Checkout technology (powered by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services), which means that merchants can offer this new convenient payment method with minimal effort on their end. At the same time, it allows merchants to improve their approval rates by using sophisticated tokenization technology and increase conversion rates thanks to the enhanced user experience. GBK now offers this frictionless embedded checkout experience solution to its merchants and ecommerce businesses on the MPGS Platform. In the launch phase, GBK and its partner Ottu, a leading regional online payment gateway solution, offered Click to Pay to enable fast and secure checkouts for its merchants and post this launch this feature will be offered to all GBK’s merchants on MPGS platform.

Erdem Çakar, Country Manager, Kuwait and Qatar, Mastercard, commented: “We continue to innovate and foster strategic partnerships as part of our quest to build a thriving digital economy that works for everyone, everywhere. We are delighted to collaborate with Gulf Bank of Kuwait to launch Click to Pay and help remove online checkout friction, providing consumers with an easier, faster and more seamless experience.”

According to Mastercard’s New Payments Index 2022, 64% of MENA users (compared to 61% globally) increased their use of at least one digital payment method in the last year, including digital cards, SMS payments, digital money transfer apps and instant payment services. These behaviors are expected to continue, with comfort and security key to growing adoption. The index also found that, across the MENA region, Gen Z is less likely than Millennials or Gen X to use cash or make in-person purchases and payments. They proactively seek out new digital payment alternatives, such as click-to-pay accounts.

Gulf Bank Assistant General Manager of Consumer Banking, Mohammad Taqi, commented: “As part of our vision to be the leading Kuwaiti bank of the future, we are constantly looking for innovative solutions to streamline and simplify processes for our customers. With increasing demand across the online economy, Mastercard’s Click to Pay will help to reduce the barriers to shopping and encourage shoppers to visit newer and more diverse e-commerce websites, safely and securely, without the hassle of entering information each time.”