The AFS and Tabby partnership puts instalment payments on shop counters across the UAE. Arab Financial Services, a Bahrain-based payments company, has plugged Tabby into the card terminals it supplies to local merchants. Merchants on its network can now offer Tabby at the till, letting customers split a bill into instalments.
AFS and Tabby announced the tie-up this month. The option already works for AFS merchants in the UAE. AFS plans to bring it to the other markets where it operates, but it has not set a date.
Operating since 1984, AFS handles card payments for businesses across the Middle East and Africa. The Central Bank of Bahrain licenses it as an ancillary service provider. In the UAE, it launched co-branded smart POS terminals with Mawarid Finance in 2025. Riyadh-based Tabby counts more than 25 million registered users across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. It competes with Tamara across the region.
Buy now, pay later in the UAE grew up online. Research firm P&S Intelligence estimates online sales still made up about 75 percent of the market in 2025. That leaves the shop counter with room to grow, and Tabby wants a bigger share of it.
What the AFS and Tabby partnership changes at the till
Tabby in-store is not new. One route has been Tabby Card, a digital Visa card shoppers add to Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Shoppers set it up once, in about five minutes. It works on any terminal that accepts Visa. You pay a quarter of the price on the day and the rest over three months, with no interest or fees.
Terminal deals exist too. Network International offers Tabby on its N-Genius POS terminals, alongside rival Tamara. Both firms first linked up online in 2021, when Network added Tabby to its gateway for UAE e-commerce merchants.
The AFS and Tabby partnership widens the terminal route. Here, the merchant offers Tabby as a payment choice on its own AFS terminal. With the card, you bring Tabby to the store. Under the AFS setup, the store brings Tabby to you. AFS says checkout stays as simple as before. It pitches the feature to merchants as a way to grow sales and the size of each basket.
Zarik Nabi, Chief Commercial Officer at Tabby, said the deal places flexible payments “right where customers are ready to buy, at the register.” In his view, the choice shoppers get on a website belongs at the counter too.
Who controls the till
Whoever runs the terminal controls which payment options appear on its screen. For a pay-later brand, each acquirer deal is a distribution deal. Tabby has been signing up terminal operators one by one. In Bahrain, EazyPay carries Tabby across its terminal network. With this deal, AFS adds its UAE merchant base to the list.
Tabby is also showing up outside retail. The UAE Ministry of Finance lets people pay federal service fees and fines through Tabby in instalments. Tabby pays the government straight away, and the person pays Tabby back in parts. Dubai’s DubaiPay platform has added Tabby for deferred payments as well.
AFS knows this play. In 2022, it became the first acquirer in Bahrain to switch on a pay-later option, through a tie-up with Spotii.
Mahmoud Ismail, Group Head of Acquiring Products at AFS, said shoppers want “greater choice and flexibility in how they pay.” Merchants, he added, need an easy way to answer that demand.
Think of the terminal as shelf space. The AFS and Tabby partnership gets Tabby onto one more shelf in a market where rivals already compete for room. Every new network puts Tabby in front of shoppers at the moment they pay.
What the deal leaves out
The AFS and Tabby partnership announcement skipped the details merchants will ask about first. It listed no fees and no spending limits. Nor did it say how many stores are live, or which Tabby plans run on AFS terminals.
Tabby’s usual offer splits a purchase into four interest-free instalments. Depending on the store and the shopper, Tabby also offers plans of up to 12 months, or payment in full. Whether that full menu reaches AFS tills is still unconfirmed.
Tabby has the funding to keep pushing. It raised $233 million in September at a $6.5 billion valuation, as it widens its business beyond short-term instalments.
My read: the online fight over pay-later buttons in the Gulf is crowded, and the next gains sit at the counter. The AFS and Tabby partnership puts Tabby on more of those counters. Watch for the fee terms. They will tell you how hard AFS merchants push Tabby at the till.
About AFS:
Arab Financial Services (AFS) was formed in 1984 to provide payment products, services, and expertise to banks and merchant groups and deliver customized payment solutions in an increasingly divergent, disruptive, and dynamic payment ecosystem.
AFS is owned by 36 banks and financial institutions and serves over 60 clients in more than 20 countries across the Middle East and Africa. Today, AFS is the region’s leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler. Regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Central Bank of Egypt and licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE, its dedication to innovation has made AFS a driving force in the market, offering a rich portfolio of payment solutions including Open Banking Hub, popular digital wallets, market-leading merchant acquisition services, digital payroll solutions, and more. Providing the highest quality payment solutions that are trusted by businesses, AFS has offices and data centers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Arab Republic of Egypt, Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
About Tabby
Tabby is a financial technology company that gives millions of people power over their money and flexibility in everyday spending. Over 70,000 global and local brands, including SHEIN, Amazon, Apple, IKEA, Jarir, Samsung, and noon, use Tabby’s technology to accelerate growth and gain loyal customers. Tabby serves Saudi Arabia and the UAE and processes $18 billion in annualised transaction volume.
