Mastercard has partnered with Liabify’s payroll technology platform, LiaPay, to introduce Mastercard Platinum prepaid cards for salaried employees across four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets, expanding access to digital payments and earned wage access.
The collaboration will initially launch in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, before expanding to Saudi Arabia and Oman. It will enable employees to access their earned wages through the LiaPay mobile application and use their prepaid cards for everyday transactions, both online and in physical stores, as well as cross-border remittances.
LiaPay combines payroll services with earned wage access (EWA), allowing employees to withdraw or use a portion of their salaries before the regular payday, provided the wages have already been earned. The service operates in line with local Wage Protection Systems (WPS) and is supported by regulated financial institutions, offering an alternative to traditional credit for workers seeking earlier access to their income.
Under the agreement, employees will receive Mastercard Platinum prepaid cards linked to their LiaPay wallets. The cards will provide access to Mastercard’s global payment network, with authentication and fraud protection features designed to support secure transactions.
Muhammad Nana, Senior Vice President, Digital Partnerships, EEMEA at Mastercard, said the partnership reflects the company’s commitment to expanding digital financial access and supporting fintech innovation across the region. He described LiaPay as a home-grown Gulf fintech addressing a practical financial need among workers and noted that the agreement marks Mastercard’s entry into the payroll and earned wage access segment as a card partner.
The partnership builds on LiaPay’s existing operations, which include Mawarid Finance as its Bank Identification Number (BIN) sponsor and Paymentology as its payment processor. The company has also entered into an agreement with DEEL and Anvin ERP, expected to extend its services to more than 200,000 employees within its network.
READ ALSO: Kenya nominates Lydia Sitienei as next Data Commissioner
Dr. Allan Villegas, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Liabify, said the company was established to give workers in the Gulf faster and more dignified access to wages they have already earned. He described the Mastercard collaboration as a significant milestone for the company and an opportunity to expand its employee financial services offering across the region.
Beyond prepaid cards and early wage access, the partnership’s development roadmap includes a loyalty and rewards platform aimed at increasing employee engagement. It will also explore Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s portfolio of money movement capabilities, to support the expansion of payment and remittance services.
The initiative targets a gap in the GCC’s financial services landscape, where millions of workers receive their salaries through Wage Protection Systems but may still have limited access to everyday digital payment services. By integrating payment cards directly into payroll and wage-access services, LiaPay aims to use employers’ payroll systems as a channel for delivering a broader range of financial products.
The company’s longer-term plans include developing an employee financial services ecosystem covering payments, lending and remittances, while using the partnership to support expansion across the GCC and other emerging markets.
The collaboration also aligns with Mastercard’s wider financial inclusion objectives. The company says it has connected one billion people worldwide to the digital economy over the past decade. Earlier in 2026, it announced a further commitment to connect and protect 500 million people and small businesses on their journeys towards financial health by 2030.
