Qatar Based QPAY to Offer IBAN Accounts with MasterCard to Low-Wage Foreign Workers
Qatar based QPAY announced that they have partnered with MasterCard in order to launch the first Wage Protection System (WPS) banking solution.
QPAY is calling it the WPS Wage Card. The WPS Card complies with the latest wage protection system laws from the Qatar Central Bank, which was put in place to safeguard the interest of the low-wage foreign laborers working in the country.
The bad reputation regarding treating low-wage immigrant workers in the Gulf States prompted the Qatar government to put the Wage Protection System in place. Since the Wage Protection System went live in Qatar, employers are required to make all salaries and other payments to workers via a bank account.
QPAY has developed a secured WPS IBAN platform. With the partnership with MasterCard, now they can basically offer a prepaid MasterCard linked to a bank account. Workers can use the card to make ATM withdrawals, use it at stores or use it online.
“We have chosen MasterCard as our partner, thanks to its global market reach, and because it offers us the ability to design a local Qatari product that promotes laborer financial inclusion in Qatar as well as their home country,” said Nebil Ben Aissa, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of QPAY.
Mr. Aissa called the WPS requirements and the QMLSS Salary Information File (SIF) generation process a “complex problem” and thanked MasterCard for “their trust and confidence in being a key ingredient” in developing the QPAY platform.
On the other hand, Raghav Prasad, the General Manger of MasterCard in the Gulf commented that MasterCard is “thrilled to be collaborating with QPAY on the new salary cards.”
QPAY’s customers would be banks and other financial institutions in the country who will be dealing with employers via its white label service. Employers can simply leverage the QPAY platform to open as many bank accounts via the financial institutions who would partner with QPAY.