"We're behind the scenes. We make money move."

In the latest episode of Couchonomics, Arjun was joined by Jan Pilbauer, Chief Executive Officer of Al Etihad Payments, a national payments utility and fully owned subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE.

Al Etihad Payments recently launched Aani, a "payments experience" that allows you to make instant payments to people or merchants from your bank accounts, wallets, or other sources. We spent a good portion of the episode exploring this latest venture, and how it is furthering Al Etihad's mission of powering the payments that make the UAE thrive. 

In the episode, Arjun and Jan spoke about: 

• The emergence of national payment infrastructures, whether they're commercially owned, state-owned, or mutual/cooperative models
• All things Aani, from how Al Etihad identified this gap in the market to the problems they’re solving with this payment experience 
• The unique challenges facing payments in the UAE, with the dichotomy of the region being digitally enabled but still relying strongly on cash in particular areas 
• Trends shaping the payments sector, such as the technologies enabling transformation in the industry 
• The cashless versus "less cash" debate and how it applies to MENA 
• How to enable faster payments: will CBDCs help? 
• Open finance and debit card innovations taking place in the UAE 
• Opportunities in the space of B2B payments 
• Future banking models and the challenges facing the adoption of open banking 

If you, like Arjun, are a "payments geek", this episode is definitely one to add to your listening lineup for the week! 

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