Dubai's Department of Finance (DOF), in collaboration with Smart Dubai and emaratech, has launched a digital wallet to facilitate the payments for government service fees.
The new payment channel, 'noqodi', enables individual and corporate customers to pay quickly, easily and securely for different government and non-government fees under Dubai Pay, the digital platform for payments.
"DOF is keen to raise government customer happiness by providing more secure and easy-to-use payment options, such as noqodi e-wallet, through cooperation with Smart Dubai," said Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, DOF director general.
The new digital wallet, noqodi, is the latest option available to pay government fees through Dubai Pay gateway, the Dubai Now smart application.
Jamal Hamed Al Marri, executive director of Central Accounts Sector at DOF, said: "The launch of noqodi comes in the context of the continuous efforts of the Government of Dubai to facilitate payments of government transactions. The new digital wallet is characterised by enabling high-volume transactions, which could reach up to millions of dirhams. This prepares government entities to stop accepting cheques and bank transfers.
"We have listed in a number of national banks and financial institutions that allow customers to feed the wallet with credit from their bank accounts, and we will include other financial entities in our list to enable a wider stake of customers to benefit from the digital wallet."
Customers can add credit to their noqodi account online from their bank accounts in a number of national banks, including Mashreq Bank, Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Credit can be added to the wallet through a number of exchange houses such as Al Ansari. DOF is working to include more banks and exchange houses to allow a wider range of customers to benefit from this new payment method.
Wesam Lootah, CEO, Smart Dubai Government Establishment, said: "Through the consolidated efforts with its strategic partners, Smart Dubai is keen to improve the quality of government services offered to residents and visitors, in order to deploy innovative technologies to achieve greater efficiency in customer service, which, in turn, will contribute to making Dubai the happiest and smartest city in the world."
"The launch of the noqodi Wallet in collaboration with Dubai's Department of Finance is a new addition to the digital services portfolio offered by the emirate's smart transformation system, which provides users with more payment options that are easy, smooth and highly secure. This payment channel saves customers both effort and time, enhancing their happiness and making Dubai government a global model in using the best technologies and practices to serve individuals and communities," added Lootah.
Thani Al Zaffin, director general & board member of emaratech, said: "We are delighted to launch noqodi to contribute to supporting the emirate's smart and digital transformation and achieve the Smart Dubai's plans for the government to completely become paperless. noqodi is a distinct UAE product that is dedicated for electronic payments through Dubai Pay, especially high-volume payments, with one of the easiest and most secure ways that enables government entities to stop accepting cheques and bank transfers as ways of payments."
"noqodi works with a wide network of banks and financial institutions and enjoys a wide range of features, including the provision of integrated solutions for payment collection, cashback, settlements and others. The wallet is certified with PCI DSS, one of the highest certificates of cybersecurity standards in the world, which ensures full protection for customers’ wallet data," concluded Al Zaffin.
Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/538104/Dubai-launches-digital-wallet-for-paying-govt-fees