National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Comtrust a business unit of Etisalat, have signed an agreement to enable NBAD to utilize Comtrust's Payment Gateway infrastructure to facilitate online Internet based credit card processing. NBAD is the first Abu Dhabi based bank to enable online credit card transactions.

"This service will be available for Government departments, utilities and all merchants in the UAE, thus enabling them to set up their online 'real' e-commerce presence on the Internet", said Mr.Khamis Mohammed Buharoon, Head of Domestic Banking at National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Mr.Buharoon also mentioned that this is the first of many steps that NBAD is taking in order to establish its presence in the e-commerce space.

Mr.Omran Al Owais, General Manager, Comtrust said that, "Comtrust will be providing a robust and secure infrastructure to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi to offer governments, merchants and consumers a secure and efficient way to conduct Internet based transactions. The service will allow merchants to accept credit card transactions online and provide UAE based businesses, a significant advantage for them to compete in the new economy of the on-line world."

Merchants will be allowed to accept credit card payments online through several secure options allowing them to select one or more security options, which they feel has relevance to their business.

The process for merchants who are interested in setting up their online presence is to first approach Comtrust for a detailed review of their requirements. Comtrust will be able to advise the customers on the most effective, efficient and cost effective option. Once they have clearly understood the business processes and the technological requirements, they then will have to conclude an agreement for online payment processing with the bank.

Comtrust is a business unit of ETISALAT that provides end-to-end electronic commerce infrastructure services to the organisations in the region.