QNB Syria issues the country’s first internationally accepted payment card

Syria’s locally-issued int’l card, finally: QNB Syria, a subsidiary of QNB Group, has issued Syria’s first locally issued, internationally accepted Mastercard card, in collaboration with Mastercard, with wider rollout to eligible customers to happen in phases. The launch extends Mastercard and QNB Group’s Syria collaboration from acceptance to issuance, after the pair processed the country’s first transaction in over 15 years using an internationally issued Mastercard card last month.

REMEMBER- We reported last month that Syrians were still not able to issue a Visa or Mastercard card domestically, even as banking connectivity to the international SWIFT system was finalized, and the technical reconnection of Syria’s payments system to Mastercard’s and Visa’s global network. That changed this week.

Visa has been moving in parallel: The same week in August, Visa tested its own first live international transaction in Syria, working with Fransabank Lebanon and Syrian payments firm Paymera. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa took part in the test transaction at a Damascus restaurant, which came two days after the US removed Syria from its state sponsors of terrorism list.

GO DEEPER- This local issuance closes one gap, but plenty remains to rehabilitate Syria’s payments infrastructure. Many players are making bets on filling gaps that traditional banks can’t fill just yet, such as cross-border remittances, merchant acquiring, digital wallets, as we reported in June. And in August, we looked at Syria’s first superapps, which are betting on the recovery even as the payment rails they need are only now coming online.