Fintech company Astra Tech, which is based in Dubai, announced that as a result of a partnership with Mastercard, it managed to expand its payment ecosystem.

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The company announced that its PayBy service became one of the first firms of this profile in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to receive a license as the main participant of Mastercard.

The firm’s press release says that thanks to cooperation with Mastercard, Astra will issue digital and physical cards for millions of users of its BOTIM and Payby platforms, providing authorization services and multi-currency prepaid cards.

The partnership also provides Astra with the opportunity to offer BIN (Bank Identification sponsorship) services. This allows other third-party fintech to issue prepaid cards and connect to the Mastercard network.

Abdullah Abu Sheikh, co-founder, and CEO of Astra Tech says that the financial services sector is of great importance in the global dimension, but its level of development is insufficient to meet current needs. He also noted that cooperation with Mastercard allows the company to provide customers with the best service.

Earlier this year, Astra Tech acquired BOTIM. The deal was made as part of an effort to launch a super app for the Persian Gulf region, which is one of MENA’s largest technology communication platforms.

BOTIM in the UAE carries out its activities in the most favorable conditions since in this country there is a ban on calls from such popular applications as FaceTime, Skype, and WhatsApp. The company does not allow this niche to be empty, providing its services for making home voice calls over the Internet.

The partnership with Mastercard provides Astra Tech with the opportunity to use the specifics of the MENA financial system for its own benefit, where millions of people do not have full access to the banking infrastructure, but actively use advanced digital technologies.

As we have reported earlier, Mastercard and Obopay to Launch Prepaid Card in Rural India.