Card Issuing API for the Middle East

Yes. Fyatu's card issuing API supports virtual card and prepaid card programs for businesses operating across the GCC, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. You receive Visa and Mastercard BIN access with our pre-approved sponsorship, so you do not need to negotiate independently with a regional bank. Cards are issued programmatically via REST API calls, and each card can carry your brand identity.

Absolutely. Every card issued through Fyatu's platform is eligible for Apple Pay and Google Pay tokenization. For Middle Eastern users — who have some of the highest Apple Pay adoption rates globally — this is critical. Your cardholders can add their Fyatu-issued virtual card or prepaid card to their device wallet instantly after issuance, without any additional integration work on your side.

JIT (Just-in-Time) authorization allows your platform to receive a webhook the moment a cardholder initiates a transaction, approve or decline it in real time, and only then debit the funds. This is invaluable for prepaid card programs and expense management platforms in the Middle East where you need to enforce per-merchant category (MCC) rules, daily limits, or currency restrictions without holding large pre-funded balances. Fyatu delivers JIT authorization webhooks with sub-100 ms median latency.

Rain targets the MENA card issuing market with Visa-only USD BINs. The key cost differences are significant: Rain's setup fee runs up to $80,000 (time-based during a 4-month implementation window), and monthly platform minimums escalate from $5,000/month at launch to $10,000/month after 6 months and $20,000/month from month 13 onward — locked into a 2-year contract. Fyatu starts at $1,200 with no monthly minimum. Both platforms support Apple Pay and Google Pay and offer stablecoin settlement (Rain charges 10bps on USDT; Fyatu includes it). The decisive advantage for growing Middle Eastern programs is Fyatu's dual Visa & Mastercard BIN access and flat $0.50 per virtual card — no escalating cost structure as your program scales.

Through Fyatu's card issuing API you can issue virtual cards (instant, no physical production), prepaid debit cards (physical or virtual), and reloadable debit cards. All card types support 3D Secure 2.0 for online transactions, MCC-level spend controls, per-card and per-user limits, real-time transaction webhooks, and Apple Pay / Google Pay tokenization. Physical card production with custom branding is available for programs requiring a physical card for retail or ATM use in the GCC.